Anne Elwood

Anne Elwood (née Curteis, 1796 – 24 February 1873) was a British traveller, writer, and biographer. It was claimed that she was the first woman to travel overland from Britain to India.

Life Anne was born in 1796 to Edward Jeremiah Curteis, a writer and independent Member of Parliament for Sussex, and his wife Mary Curteis. They lived near Battle. She described her journey using the device of letters home which she published after her return as Narrative of a Journey Overland from England to India in 1830. The book describes her journey to India via Egypt and it is illustrated by Elwood and her husband. In addition to descriptions of her time in India while her husband was leading a regiment, Elwood's book also includes material on the couple's return to England in 1828 by sea.

Her second book was also remarkable. Elwood claims in the preface that she could not find a book about women writers and so she decided to write one. Memoirs of the literary ladies of England from the commencement of the last century, published in 1841, describes the lives of 29 leading women writers. Memoirs was reprinted in a modern edition in 1973 by AMS Press.

Elwood died in Clayton Priory, Sussex, in 1873.

Works Narrative of a Journey Overland from England, by the Continent of Europe, Egypt, and the Red Sea, to India, Including a Residence There, and Voyage Home, in the Years 1825, 26, 27, and 28 By Mrs Colonel Elwood. London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830. (Vol. I, Vol. II, Internet Archive) Memoirs of the literary ladies of England from the commencement of the last century. London: H. Colburn, 1843. (Vol. I, Vol. II, Google)