Memsahibs: The Real Lives of British Women in the Raj

The memsahibs were blamed for making the British Raj colder and more divided. But the real lives of British women in India were stranger and sadder. This documentary follows the British women of the Raj, from the early days of bibis and mixed households to the Suez Canal and the 'fishing fleet' of husband hunters. You will see the household of servants, Flora Annie Steel's housekeeping manual, the club, the hill stations and the constant shadow of disease and children sent home, including Kipling's House of Desolation. We look at 1857, the Ilbert Bill, missionaries and women doctors, and at the women who crossed over, like Annie Besant, Sister Nivedita and Mirabehn. Chapters 0:00 Who were the memsahibs? 0:44 Bibis and the early Company days 1:20 Suez and the women who came out 1:59 The fishing fleet 3:13 A new bride in India 3:50 Servants and the Indian Housekeeper 5:44 A day in the life and the club 6:56 Hill stations and grass widows 7:35 Death, disease and childbirth 8:48 Children sent home, Kipling and the ayahs 10:38 1857 and the threatened memsahib 12:00 The Ilbert Bill 12:42 Missionaries and women doctors 14:02 Writers, artists and Mary Curzon 15:20 Annie Besant, Nivedita and Mirabehn 16:36 What Indian women thought Sources and further reading Margaret MacMillan, Women of the Raj (1988) Anne de Courcy, The Fishing Fleet: Husband-Hunting in the Raj (2012) Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner, The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook (1888) Elizabeth Buettner, Empire Families: Britons and Late Imperial India (2004) Emily Eden, Up the Country (1866) Music: "Cylinder Four" by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Music: "Out of the Skies, Under the Earth" by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Music: "Cylinder Seven" by Chris Zabriskie (chriszabriskie.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Music: "There Was A Time" by Scott Buckley (scottbuckley.com.au), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Archival images: Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Some scenes are AI-generated reconstructions for illustration. Subscribe for more untold stories of British India. Watch next in this series: "Shimla: How the British Raj Ruled India From a Hilltop" and "British Raj: How 1,000 Men Ruled 300 Million Indians". #BritishRaj #IndianHistory #Memsahib