Diana Lockhart

Role Widow of an EIC civilian; independent Nationality British Status alive Age 30

Description

Thirty. Widowed fourteen months ago when her husband, an EIC civilian, died of fever. No children. She has enough money to stay or to go and she has chosen to stay, which scandalises the older memsahibs considerably more than anything she has actually done.

Independent, well-read, and slightly dangerous by reputation because she answers to nobody.

Background

Came out married, was widowed, and declined to be sent home. Retains her husband’s house and a competence, and lives in it alone with her own servants, which the settlement finds harder to forgive than a scandal would be.

What Meg Says

Diana Lockhart terrifies the married women because she’s proof you can survive here alone. She doesn’t need a husband, doesn’t want one, and isn’t discreet about either. I like her enormously. She says things I think but am too married to say aloud.

Connections

• Katherine Ward — a natural ally
• Margaret Cavendish — likes her enormously
• Percy Cartwright — warned Georgiana away from him at the ball
• Ashworth Dinner Garden Reach

In Play

Chapter 4, Session 9 (9 October 1814) — met, and she came to them. During the cocktail hour at Garden Reach she gravitated straight to the women of the party with the professional courtesy of someone recognising kindred spirits. She went in to dinner on Samuel Wright’s arm and sat opposite Katherine, offering dry commentary on the peacocking of the men.

A widow of about thirty who stayed in India by choice after her husband’s fever, independent, well-read, and considered slightly dangerous because she answers to nobody. She is Katherine’s most natural ally in Calcutta and the connection is now made.

Chapter 4, Session 10 (9–10 October 1814) — gossip aloud, nautch recommended, and a sharp word on the steps. She said the Ashworth-and-Harriet line out loud to the newcomers in Harriet’s hearing, recommended Mullick’s nautch entertainments as the best in the city and named the zebra carriage as his, waved off Lady Anne’s objections, and questioned Katherine about Paris. At the carriages, when Georgiana announced the unconscious Cartwright to the whole company, Diana gave her a sharp remark for it.

Chapter 4, Session 11 (10 October 1814) — a warning for Georgiana. At Hugh’s evening gathering she pulled Georgiana aside to warn her bluntly that her outspoken behavior at recent social events was already being discussed in both the servants’ quarters and the drawing rooms of Calcutta.

Appearances

Campaign Log

• Session 12 - The Governor’s Ball — Warned Georgiana again, more urgently, to be quieter about her opinion of Mr Cartwright: “five hundred, not forty” guests in the room tonight. Was left nearly speechless when Katherine firmly declined Adrien’s dance card.