The Journal of Mrs Fenton

Penned by a witness to the heyday of Empire, but read by those who were soon to experience its decline, Mrs. Fenton's account of Calcutta, French Mauritius and Tasmania provides a rare insight into the life of an adventurous but 'respectable' nineteenth-century woman.

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Penned in the 1820s but not published until 1901, Fenton's Journal is an intimate portrait of the lives of European expatriates in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Written by a witness to the heyday of Empire, but read by those who were soon to experience its decline, Fenton's diary leads readers from Calcutta to Tasmania. The focus is domestic and relates 'a familiar picture of the everyday occurrences, manners and habits of life of persons undistinguished either by wealth or fame', but it is this informality that makes Fenton's account especially engaging. The reader remains with the author intermittently until her return to the family's English home. Together, her contrasting accounts of exotic foreign lands and the 'dull and downright reality' of Britain provide a rare insight into the life of an adventurous woman. For more information on this author, see http://orlando.cambridge.org/public/svPeople?person_id=fentel.