Before marrying in the Church of England in 1787,1 Gerard Ducarel and Elizabeth Sharaf un-Nisa had cohabited together in British India from 1770-1783.2 Engaging in a committed relationship without a marriage certificate recognized by the English government was common for interracial couples during this time period. Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa’s marriage stands as one of the few documented instances of a marriage between an Englishman and a native woman within the Church of England.3 In order to understand why, one must appreciate the complicated nature of the legal system and the lack of clear legislation on interfaith (which often denoted interracial4) marriages in East India Company Bengal.5
The transfer of Bengali political and legal power from the Mughal Empire to the EIC was protracted over several decades. When Sharaf un-Nisa was born in 1758,6 Bengal was part of the Mughal Empire, whose central power was already beginning to fracture after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb. This created a plethora of political entities tied to the Mughal Empire governed as independent political bodies,7 commonly termed as “successor states.”8 It was in this environment that the EIC acquired Bengal, which was at that time under the rule of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daulah.9 In the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Robert Clive secured a victory for the EIC over the Nawab, increasing EIC influence over the region. Through their victory, the Company helped install Mir Jafar as the new Nawab of Bengal, who in all but name was an EIC proxy.10 The position of Nawab changed hands several times,11 and in 1764, a coalition between several Indian rulers (one of them the former EIC backed Nawab of Bengal, Mir Kasim) clashed with the EIC over control of Bengal in The Battle of Buxar.12 Emerging victorious, the EIC was formally granted the diwani of Bengal by the Mughal Emperor, which gave them direct power over revenue collection and civil law, with the Nawab now little more than a figurehead.13 Under the direction of Clive, the EIC administered Bengal under what is commonly termed a “double government,” keeping the native governmental structure intact yet firmly under EIC influence.14 In 1772, this system was replaced. The EIC publicly assumed responsibility over the diwani and instituted Warren Hastings as the Governor of Bengal. He restructured the Bengali legal system, assuming EIC control over both civil and criminal law (assuming EIC control over the nizamat as well as the diwani15) and instituting a system that gave each district two courts. The Diwani Adalat, the civil courts, would apply Hindu and Islamic law to their respective populations. The Foujdari Adalat, the criminal courts, would only use Islamic law. Hastings also established an appellate system. The Regulating Act of 1773 altered this structure further by creating four councilors and a Governor General, all with the power the write legislation. A supreme court was also established with jurisdiction over British subjects in Bengal, native subjects employed by the EIC, and natives who agreed to place their case under the court’s jurisdiction.16 This final iteration of the Bengal court system existed for the vast duration of Sharaf un-Nisa and Ducarel’s cohabitation in Bengal.
Numerous jurisdictional disputes occurred due to the unclear boundaries between the district courts and the supreme court.17 Because of the courts’ division along religious and ethnic lines, there was no clear process to handle legal arrangements that transcended those boundaries. There were three different types of marriage under civil law within this system: Islamic, Hindu, and English. Sharaf un-Nisa was likely Muslim at the start of her cohabitation with Ducarel,18 and, as such, would have fallen under the jurisdiction of Islamic civil law. Laws governing Islamic marriages were interpreted by local religious authorities, many of whom allowed interfaith marriages so long as the partner was ahl-i kitab or a “‘person of the book.” This means that Islamic law did not necessarily preclude interracial and interfaith marriages, so long as the European partner was Muslim, Jewish, or Christian. Alternatively, Hindu marriages occurred in accordance to caste rules, which generally (but not always) excluded Europeans.19 However, even if an interracial and interfaith couple were to marry through an Islamic or Hindu ceremony, under EIC Bengali civil law, there would have been doubt as to whether the marriage would be binding for all parties, as an English partner would not fall under the jurisdiction of native courts, and instead would be governed by English law.
In English law, marriage was governed by the English Marriage Act of 1753, which among other specifications stated that a valid marriage must take place in a church and be conducted by a registered clergyman.20 This opened up the possibility for interracial couples to establish a legal marriage through marrying within the Anglican church; however, there appears to be no official EIC Bengali legislation issued on marriages involving an English subject, casting the applicability of the English Marriage Act of 1753 within Bengal into question. Shockingly, despite the supposed prevalence of interracial relationships within eighteenth century EIC India, the first acknowledgement of the possibility of interracial marriages in British India from a legal authourity occurred in 1837. No official legislation on marriages involving Europeans in British India was issued until the Indian Marriage Act of 1851.21 Given all of the above, obtaining an interfaith marriage in EIC Bengal that would be legally valid for both partners was extraordinarily difficult during the time period Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa were together. An assured avenue for interracial marriages simply did not exist.
However, there are several instances around this time period of native women and Englishmen obtaining a marriage that was widely considered legally binding. A prominent one is that of James Kirkpatrick and Khair un-Nisa, whose relationship has attracted a lot of interest in recent years.22 Kirkpatrick was the EIC Resident in the court of Hyderabad when he was introduced to Khair un-Nisa by the women in her family (in the hopes that a match between them would prevent an undesirable arranged marriage). Kirkpatrick and Khair un-Nisa’s relationship leaked to the Hyperabadi public and caused a massive scandal for the EIC, nearly derailing their plans for the region. Kirkpatrick eventually quashed the scandal by marrying Khair un-Nisa in 1800.23Kirkpatrick’s ability to marry Khair un-Nisa was due to his decision to convert, becoming a Muslim and marrying her under Shi’a Islamic law.24
Despite examples such as the one above, Elizabeth Sharaf un-Nisa and Gerard Ducarel’s marriage still stands as a remarkable example of an interracial marriage that was unequivocally recognized within the English legal system.25 Before their marriage in England, no formal records within governmental colonial archives of their marriage existed, meaning that it had not achieved legal status within the EIC. While the possibility exists that Ducarel converted and they were married in a Muslim ceremony, this claim is impossible to support or deny given the archival records of their relationship.26 However, it should be noted that Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa appear to have been regarded to be in a marital relationship far before they were legally married. This is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in a letter sent to Sharaf un-Nisa from Ann Collie in 1784, who refers to her as “Mrs. Ducarel.” Despite the letter being sent years before Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa’s official marriage, Collie gives Sharaf un-Nisa the same title as that of a married woman.27 Their period of “unmarried” cohabitation in India lasted from 1770-1787, during which Sharaf un-Nisa had four of their five children. In 1783 Ducarel, Sharaf un-Nisa, and the two children (who had not yet been sent to England) moved to England, where Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa had another child in 1785 before getting officially married in 1787 in the Church of England.28 Phillip grew up to become the family heir and is listed in Ducarel's will as one of its executors,29 indicating that Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa’s marriage secured their children’s legal status as legitimate.30
1: Megan Eaton Robb, “Becoming Elizabeth,” The American Historical Review 128, 1 (March 2023): 152, 10.1093/ahr/rhad008.
2: “Timeline of Ducarels,” Unstable Archives (August 2021): https://unstable-archives.github.io/unstable _archives/timeline/.
3: Valerie Anderson, “The Eurasian Problem in Nineteenth Century India,” PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London): 119-121, 149-150, https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1 3525/1/Anderson_3334.pdf. See Durba Ghosh, Sex and the Colonial Family, for examples of the plethora of relationships that were not acknowledged through a legal marriage.
4: Valerie Anderson, “The Eurasian Problem in Nineteenth Century India,” PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London): 122. https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1 3525/1/Anderson_3334.pdf.
5: This article focuses primarily on the Bengali legal system as while Ducarel and Sharaf un-Nisa lived together in EIC India, they primarily resided in Bengal. However Ducarel did briefly move to Lucknow from 1784 to 1786 and probably brought Sharaf un-Nisa with him. Given the unstandardized legal system at this time, Lucknow’s legal system likely differed from Bengal’s.
6: Megan Eaton Robb, “Becoming Elizabeth,” The American Historical Review 128, no. 1 (March 2023): 144, 10.1093/ahr/rhad008.
7: Neelam Hussain, “The Mughals During the Long Eighteenth Century: Instability and Successor States,” Medieval and Early Modern Orients (December 2020): https://memorients.com/articles/the-mughals-during-the-long-eighteenth-century-instability-and-successor-state.
8: Vinay Lal, “The Mughal Empire,” MANAS (2001): https://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/ mughals-and-medieval/.
9: Vinay Lal, “Siraj-ud-daulah,” MANAS: https://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/british-india /siraj-ud-daulah/ and Vinay Lal, “British India,” MANAS: https://southasia.ucla.edu/history-politics/british -india/.
10: Mark Cartwright, “Battle of Plassey,” World History Encyclopedia (November 2022):https://www.worldhistory.org /article/2107/battle-of-plassey/ and The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, “Mīr Jaʿfar: Bengali ruler” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mir-Jafar.
11: Vincent A. Smith, The Oxford History of India, From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911 (1923): 498-500.
12: Mark Cartwright, “The Battle of Buxar,” World History Encyclopedia (November 2022): https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2116/battle-of-buxar/.
13: Vincent A. Smith, The Oxford History of India; From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911 (1923): 501-503.
14: Marie Xavier Loubert, “The Regulating Act of 1773: Background and Consequences,” Masters dissertation, Fordham University (New York City, April 1965): 3, http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/regulating-act-1773-background-consequences/docview/2539935251/se-2 and Robert Travers, “Ideology and British Expansion in Bengal, 1757-72,” The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 33, no. 1 (January 2005): 14-15. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/0308653042000329997?needAccess=true&role=button.
15: Marie Xavier Loubert, “The Regulating Act of 1773: Background and Consequences,” Masters dissertation, Fordham University (New York City, April 1965): 43-45, http://ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/regulating-act-1773-background-consequences/docview/2539935251/se-2.
16: Laura A. Benton, Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 400-1900, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2004): 134,136, https://hdl-handle-net.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/2027/heb30961.0001.001.
17: Laura A. Benton, Law and Colonial Cultures: Legal Regimes in World History, 400-1900, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 2004): 136-137, https://hdl-handle-net.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/2027/heb30961.0001.001.
18: Megan Robb, “Religion,” Unstable Archives (August 2021): https://unstable-archives.github.io/unstable_archives/exhibits/religion/.
19: Valerie Anderson, “The Eurasian Problem in Nineteenth Century India,” PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London): 136-138, https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1 3525/1/Anderson_3334.pdf.
20: Civil marriages did not exist in England until 1817, and did not exist in British India at all.
21: Valerie Anderson, “The Eurasian Problem in Nineteenth Century India,” PhD thesis, School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London): 124-126, https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/1 3525/1/Anderson_3334.pdf.
22: White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-Century India, a nonfiction account of Kirkpatrick and Khair un-Nisa’s relationship, was published in 2002 by the well known public academic William Dalrymple and garnered attention in the public sphere.
23: William Dalrymple, “White Mughals,” Unfamiliar Relations: Family and History in South Asia (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004): 122, 132, 140-141, 144-145.
24: There is of course an open question as to how valid their relationship would have been considered if they had moved to England, and both been subject to English law. Kirkpatrick was a resident (essentially an EIC representative) to the court of Hyderabad, which was not under EIC control at this time. As such, the legality of Kirkpatrick’s marriage to Khair un-Nisa was not determined by the Bengali legal system, instead falling into a legal gray area in regards to English law. [Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, A Concise History of Modern India 3 (New York City: Cambridge University Press, September 2012): 72, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/columbia/detail.action?docID=977222.]
25: The discovery of Sharaf un-Nisa and Ducarel’s marriage opens up the possibility of other interracial relationships formalized in the Church of England in a similar manner to theirs, hidden under anglicized names.
26: Megan Eaton Robb, “Becoming Elizabeth,” The American Historical Review 128, no. 1 (March 2023): 145, 152, 10.1093/ahr/rhad008.
27: From Ann Collie to Mrs. Ducarel. Letter. 1 December 1784. Gloucestershire Archives. D2091/F14.
28: Timeline of Ducarels,” Unstable Archives (August 2021): https://unstable-archives.github.io/unstable _archives/timeline/.
29: Extract of G. G. Ducarel’s Will,” Colenda Digital Repository (1800-1801): https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3p844873.
30: Other sources used: Joseph Minnatur, “Legal Systems in British Indian Settlements,” Journal of the Indian Law Institute (October-December 1973): 582-593, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43950230.pdf; Kavita Saraswathi Datla, “The Origins of Indirect Rule in India: Hyderabad and the British Imperial Court,” Law and History Review 33, no. 2 ( American Society for Legal History, May 2015): 321-350, https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/stable/pdf/43670778.pdf ?refreqid=excelsior%3A08656103fef69ab5cd1387d5a6139fb0&ab_segments=&origin=&initiator=&acceptTC=1; B. Lindsay, “British Justice in India,” The Univeristy of Toronto Law Journal 1, no. 2 (University of Toronto Press, 1936): 343-348, https://www.jstor.org/stable/824712; Alice B. McGinty, “Clive’s Conquest of India,” Current History 12, no. 65 (University of California Press, January 1947): 51-56, https://www.jstor.org/stable/45307012; M.B. Hooker, “The East India Company and the Crown 1773-1858,” Malaya Law Review 11, no.1 (National University of Singapore, Faculty of Law, July 1969): 1-37, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24863503; Bernard S. Cohen, “Law and the Colonial State,” History and Power in the Study of Law (Cornell University Press, 1989): 131-152, https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501723322-008; Piyush Kumar Tiwari, “The East India Company and Criminal Justice: The Role of Orientalists,” International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention 3, no. 4 (April 2014): 59-62, http://www.ijhssi.org/papers/v3(4)/Version-1/J0341059062.pdf; Jörg Fisch, Cheap Lives and Dear Limbs: The British Transformation of the Bengal Criminal Law 1769-1817, Franz Steiner Verlag (Wiesbaden: 1983); Damini Nagar, “The East India Company: Legal and Judicial System and its Reform,” Pen Acclaims 2 (July 2018): http://www.penacclaims.com/wp-content/uploads /2018/08/Damini-Nagar.pdf; Sally Engle Merry, “Legal Pluralism,” Law and Society Review 22, no. 5 (Wiley, 1988): 869-896; https://www.jstor.org/stable/3053638; Abdul Majed Khan, The Transition in Bengal 1756-1775: A Study of Saiyid Muhammad Reza Khan (Cambridge University Press, 1969): https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-transition-in-bengal-1756-75/97C06609E702A47164A61BF25F159834.