Emily Bayley Explained

Emily Bayley
Birth Name:Emily Anne Theophila Metcalfe
Birth Date:[1]
Birth Place:Meerut, Bengal, British India
Death Place:Ascot, Berkshire, England
Known For:Memoirist
Children:11, including Georgiana Chapman
Parents:Grace (Clarke) and Sir Thomas Metcalfe, 4th Baronet
Nationality:British

Emily Anne Theophila, Lady Clive Bayley (Metcalfe; 31 August 1830 – 6 March 1911) was an English memoirist. A book of her reminiscences was published in 1980. Edited by M. M. Kaye, it was called The Golden Calm: An English Lady's Life in Moghul Delhi: Reminiscences by Emily, Lady Clive Bayley, and by Her Father Sir Thomas Metcalfe.[2]

In 1844, her father sent her an illustrated book that he had commissioned. Known as the Delhi Book, it is currently housed in the British Museum.

Life

Bayley was born in India, the daughter of Grace (born Clarke) and Sir Thomas Metcalfe, 4th Baronet, a British civil servant in India[3] known as the British Resident (de facto Ambassador). She was educated in England before rejoining her father in Delhi at the age of seventeen.

Her father had built two houses called Metcalfe House in Delhi[3] and he created a book for her known as the Delhi Book which he had sent to her in 1844 while she was still in England.[4] This remained with her family after her death in 1911 until it was discovered by Lt.-Col. John Mildmay Ricketts M.C. The resulting book was built around the thoughts recorded by Emily's father and illustrated by the paintings he commissioned. This is in the British Museum. To this is added a narrative created by Emily Bayley and then these are then presented by the popular writer M. M. Kaye. in a contemporary book.[5]

Bayley collected coins, and sold 75 Indian copper coins to the British Museum in 1889.[6]

Personal life

In 1850, Bayley married Edward Clive Bayley. He became Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India in 1877, and Emily became "Lady Clive Bayley". They had a family of one son and seven daughters. One of their daughters, Georgianam was a writer who helped with higher education for women in London.[7]

She died at The Wilderness, her residence at Ascot, Berkshire, aged 80.[8]

Notes and References

  1. India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947
  2. Book: Bayley . Lady Emily . The Golden Calm: An English Lady's Life in Moghul Delhi : Reminiscences . Metcalfe . Sir Thomas . 1980 . Viking Press . 978-0-670-34400-0 . en.
  3. Book: Anderson. Tracy. The Afterlives of Monuments. The Lives and Afterlives of Charlotte, Lady Canning (1817–1861): Gender, Commemoration, and Narratives of Loss. 2015. Routledge. 47. 9781317704515. https://books.google.com/books?id=hD-DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA47. 6 February 2016.
  4. Web site: 2003-08-16 . William Dalrymple on The Dehlie Book . 2022-10-15 . the Guardian . en.
  5. News: Fuller . Edward . 22 December 1980 . review (as recorded by M M Kaye) . https://www.mmkaye.com/ReviewGoldenCalm.html . Wall Street Journal.
  6. Web site: Lady Emily Anne Theophila Bayley . . 15 October 2022.
  7. Chapman [née Bayley], Georgiana Charlotte Clive, Lady Chapman (1855–1941), college administrator ]. 2004 . 10.1093/ref:odnb/52742 . 11 October 2022 . en.
  8. News: Obituary: Lady Bayley . . 8 March 1911 . 11 .