1 OF 2 
Emily Eden
1 of 2 portraits of Emily Eden
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Emily Eden
by Simon Jacques Rochard
watercolour and pencil, August 1835
14 1/4 in. x 10 1/4 in. (361 mm x 261 mm) corners diagonally cut
Bequeathed by Andrew Morton Drummond, 1999
Primary Collection
NPG 6455
Sitterback to top
- Emily Eden (1797-1869), Novelist and traveller; sister of the Earl of Auckland. Sitter in 2 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Simon Jacques Rochard (1788-1872), Miniature painter. Artist or producer associated with 11 portraits.
This portraitback to top
This drawing was made just before Emily Eden and her sister Fanny, both unmarried, accompanied their brother Lord Auckland to India where he was Governor General, from 1836 to 1842. An observer, whom Emily called 'not one of us', described them as 'both …great talkers…both ugly, and both s[tin]k like polecats.' Emily was also accompanied by her spaniel, Chance, neither of them greatly enjoying the voyage. In 1837 Emily travelled to the north and wrote her extremely popular account Up the Country: Letters Written to her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India (1866). The names she and her brother gave to their tents on this journey, including 'Misery Hall' and 'Foully Palace', suggest their sense of humour. She also made a series of drawings of Indian princes, which were later published as lithographs. She was keen to come back to Britain again where she published her Indian letters and portraits and then began to write novels.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Birkett, Dea; Morris, Jan (foreword), Off the Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers, 2004 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 7 July to 31 October 2004), p. 58
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 193
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1835back to top
Current affairs
Lord Melbourne, Whig, becomes Prime Minister following Peel's resignation. Melbourne's government took steps to suppress trade union activity, introducing legislation against 'illegal oaths', contributing to the failure of Robert Owen's Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union.Art and science
Felix Dujardin, the French biologist, reveals protoplasm.Work on the enlargement and remodelling of Buckingham House to designs by the architect John Nash is completed, creating Buckingham Palace.
International
Juan Manuel de Rosas becomes dictator of Argentina, invoking a seventeen year rule dominated by terror. A powerful cattle rancher, he represents the rise of the estancieros, the new landed oligarchy based on commercial ranching.Comments back to top
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