Author Description

Harriet Tytler was the only woman present at the siege of Delhi in 1857, the most crucial encounter of the Indian Mutiny. Her unique eyewitness account of the siege and description of her life in India are remarkable as much for their compelling readability as for their historical significance. A woman of singular courage and independence, Harriet Earle was born into an army family in India and at the age of nineteen married Captain Robert Tytler, a widower ten years her senior. Her memories of childhood in India and England before the Mutiny are vivid with incident, and her suffering at the hands of a tyrannical aunt molded a strong and resilient personality. No adventure story could be more exciting than the tale of her dramatic escape from Delhi at the outbreak of the Mutiny. Eight months pregnant at the time, with her husband, two children and French maid she returned to witness the three-month British siege of the city, during which she gave birth to a son, subsequently christened Stanley Delhiforce. Her memoirs tell a fascinating personal story that illustrates very well the attitudes and assumptions of the English in India.