From Calcutta to St Helena: the Harriet Marshall travel journal

Join us on a journey from Calcutta to the Island of St Helena through the pages of a journal kept by Harriet Marshall between 9 January and 4 April 1847 on her way from Allahabad to County Tyrone. 

A weekly blog post series on our Special Collections and Archives website, will run from January to April 2025, presenting transcriptions from her journal for the preceding week. 

Harriet Susan Swayne was born in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, India on 16 February 1826 to Major Stephen Swayne of the 5th Native Infantry and Harriet Maria née Johnstone. She married Dr Robert George Marshall, an army surgeon, on 13 May 1840 at the exceptionally young age of 14. The couple had two children, Robert (born in 1841) and Harriet (born in 1842). She and her husband lived at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, where Robert died on 23 March 1857. Following his death, Harriet moved to England.  She died at Iron Acton, Gloucestershire on 4 December 1909.

Harriet Marshall’s journal was donated to University of Limerick by Dr John Logan.  It was one of a series of diaries kept by Harriet, but its provenance and the fate of her other journals remains unknown. 

Harriet’s journal has been digitised, and is available to read in full on the UL Digital Library.