A Saga of Love Warren Hastings & Marian Imhoff

Anindita Mazumder

It was 1769, the Duke of Graftonhad set sail from the ports of England for Madras. An Englishman in his mid-thirties was on its deck, watching the vast expanse of the grey ocean, wondering perhaps what the future held for him. He had just been appointed as the second in Council at Madras. And this was not his first visit to India. He had left his wife and little daughter buried in its hostile soil; his beloved son, George whom he had sent away to his relations in England to escape the unhealthy air, had died too, of an ulcerated throat. In fact that was the first news that had greeted him when he arrived home, four years ago. After settling some of his relatives he hardly had enough money left and chose to come to India for the second time. Watching the relentless waves lap against the ship’s side as the great hulk moved through the open sea he recalled how dull and monotonous this voyage would have been if not for the beautiful and vivacious Baroness von Imhoff.

Warren Hastings was yet to be appointed as the Governor General of Bengal but he had already met the woman whom he went on to love with all his passions for the rest of his life. But there was a small hitch. Anna Maria Apollonia Chapuset, the German born Baroness, then only 22 years of age, was married with children. Her husband, Karl von Imhoff had been a captain in the army of a minor German state but without a fortune. He was a portrait painter of some skill and the couple had managed a recommendation for cadet-ship in Madras army from Queen Charlotte of England.

Apparently, the affair between Hastings and the Baroness flourished due to neglect on the part of her husband and incompatibility between the couple. And when during the voyage Hastings fell violently ill, she nursed him back to health, administering medicines with her own hands and sat up in his cabin as he slept. Hastings’ love like his other passions – ambition and hatred – was strong but not impetuous. It was calm and deep, patient and unaffected by the ‘delay of time’. Upon reaching Madras, the husband was told that the Baroness would file for divorce in the court of Franconia, all expenses paid by Hastings. Till the divorce came through, the Baron and his wife would continue to live together. After the divorce, Hastings would marry the lady and adopt the sons of Imhoff. Meanwhile, the husband-wife and their child moved lock, stock and barrel to the same quarters as Hastings.

After a year, the husband resigned his cadet-ship and decided to go to Calcutta for better opportunities for his artistic pursuits and Hastings left the quarters he shared with Imhoffs. The Baroness followed her husband next year and Hastings too came to Calcutta four months later after being appointed the Governor General in 1772. This time they lived as neighbours and the Imhoffs rented a small house near Belvedere House in Alipore. After a few days, the company ordered the Baron to be sent back home for steadfastly refusing military service. He left without his wife but far richer and it is said that Hastings paid him 10,000 pound sterling through a relative for a portrait he had commissioned. It allowed him to buy an estate in Saxony and remarry two years later.

Meanwhile, the Baroness stayed back apparently under the protection of her mother but whether the notorious Calcutta gossip was agog with scandal over the Governor-General’s ‘fair female friend’ is not known. In July 1777, information reached Hastings that the amicable divorce had come through. Warren Hastings and Baroness Imhoff were married on August 8. The marriage lasted for the next 41 years. Though Hastings’ rival Phillip Francis recorded in his journal that Lady Impey, the wife of Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was against the match, she came around to allow Impey to give away the bride during the ceremony conducted by Reverend William Johnson, the last husband of Begum Johnson.

Evidently, the presence of the echelons of Calcutta society proved that the union was accepted. Though there was no time for honeymoon, the Governor-General chose to present his wife to Calcutta society in a reception held on August 11. She turned out to be a dazzling figure in social circles, fond of jewellery and proud of her beautiful hair which she wore loose and unpowdered. Marian Hastings was a superb hostess as the First Lady of India who regularly held balls, dinner parties and suppers during Christmas and New Year.

Her husband even built a new residence – Hastings House for her.Though Hastings was a doting, indulgent husband, no doubt taken in by her “singularly attractive manners, a very engaging figure and a mind largely curious” she too, was a devoted wife. When she learnt that her husband had suddenly taken ill while she was away with friends, Marian took the risk of a boat voyage during the monsoon, fraught with dangers of storm and high water level and narrowly escaped being boat-wrecked in Bihar. No wonder when Hickey chose to cast aspersions on her, writing that the way to a good Company post was to pay your“constant devoirs to Marian Alipore” Hastings retaliated by gagging Hickey and eventually throwing him into the gaol for “vilifying private characters”.Before she left for England on account of her health he commissioned the noted painter Zoffany to do a portrait. It showed Marian, robed in brilliant yellow and flanked by her husband and a female servant; the fact that she and not he, became the central figure was indicative of her “fixed ascendancy over his mind.” Their separation till Hastings joined her in London, produced many amorous letters to“Beloved Marian”. She quickly adapted to the London society despite quaint way of speaking English but her fondness for opulent and eccentric dresses and jewellery quickly roused the suspicions of the critics of Hastings like Edmund Burke who accused him of abusing his position during the long impeachment trial.

One of her satin riding habits trimmed with diamonds and pearls was said to be worth some 25,000 pounds. Satirical verses about her loose curls adorned with numerous jewels were published. Yet her husband even in this darkest hour of facing impeachment commissioned a painting of her boat wreck by William Hodges for their country house in London to honour his devoted wife.

Hastings and Marian never had any children. Yet, the former Governor General left his property in Alipore to his step son Julius Imhoff and his Daylesford Estate in London to Marian and then to her son, Charles Imhoff. Despite being acknowledged as an able administrator the conduct of Hastings towards Marian was considered by many as a blemish yet it was far more honourable than that of his rival, Phillip Francis who left his wife and children behind in London and was caught near the bed chambers of the beautiful Madame Grand.