Personal Reminiscences in India and Europe 1830-1888 of Augusta Becher

The Bechers were stout Royalists and we find at the Restoration Sir William Becher grandson of the above designated for the Order of the Knights of the Royal Oak and standing first among the gentlemen of the county of Bedford with the then enormous income of £1 600 per annum. [...] He was the second son viiiINTRODUCTION of William Becher of Howbury and seventh in descent from the ' Becher of Kent.' His rise was meteoric : by 1756 he had become Senior Merchant Fourth Member of the Bengal Council and Governor of Murshidabad.2 And then came the terrible tragedy of the Black Hole of Calcutta. [...] a 1 on entering the hall door then a large oval sort of ante-hall out of which went the doors to the hall of the house to the back premises and the third into the office. [...] From the hall of the house rose ag oval 3REMINISCENCES OF AUGUSTA BECHER well-staircase lighted by a great skylight ; a big dininroom looking to the back of the house ; and to the left through a little ante-room fitted up with old china and cabinets of shells and curios (my delight) the drawing-room with a large bow and French widows on to a balcony whence were to be seen all the steamer [...] Mother carried Peter Parley's Tales of the Voyage of the 'Hector' and !Erebus ' to the Arctic Seas for my entertainment in the carriage and Mag's Grandmama and The Swiss Family Robinson and the girls did lessons most of the time.