She
was born in 1725, and died in 1812. She had four husbands, namely (l)
Parry Purple Temple, whom she married when she was only thirteen
years of age; (2) James Altham, who died of smallpox a few days after
his marriage; (3) William Watts, Senior Member of Council, and for a
short time Governor or President of Fort William in 1758; (4) in 1774
Rev. William Johnson, who became principal chaplain of Fort William
in 1784, and left India in 1788. She was known as 'the old Begum ',
and her epitaph asserts that she was when she died 'the oldest
British resident in Bengal, universally beloved, respected, and
revered'. Mr. A. L. Paul kindly communicated the full text of the
inscription on her tomb, with some additional notes. The author met
her in 1810, when she was about eighty-five years of age.
6. The tragedy of the Black Hole occurred in June, 1756.
7. Of late years the rigour of the custom exacting midday calls has
been relaxed in some places.
8. Moat people would require some training before they could find
this very abstemious regimen 'the most agreeable'.
9. It will, I hope, be admitted that this observation still holds
good.
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