Fanny Parkes

Fanny Parkes or Parks (née Frances Susanna Archer) (1794–1875) was a travel writer from Wales, known for her extensive journals about colonial India, where she lived for 24 years. These are recorded in her memoirs Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque. in which she acknowledged authorship only by a signature in Urdu script. In 1970, extracts from her memoirs, renamed as, Begums, Thugs and White Mughals, became available for the first time since their original appearance in 1850. The first biography, by Barbara Eaton, Fanny Parks: Intrepid Memsahib, appeared in 2018.

Early life and family Fanny Parkes was born Frances Susanna Archer in Conwy, Wales, the daughter of Ann and Captain William Archer, 16th Lancers. On 25 March 1822 she married Charles Crawford Parks (17 November 1797 – 22 August 1856), a writer for the East India Companies.

She took up horseback riding and enjoyed travelling alone throughout the country, which shocked some of the English neighbours living in the area; she travelled to Simla, Fatighar, Meerut and Benares and served as interpreter to other English parties.

Her detailed memoirs, written in a lively style, reveal independence of mind. Parkes allows an affectionate pre-colonial perspective of northern India and its peoples and customs, recording changes in Britain's governing of India, the economic impact of such policies, and domestic problems in Indian society. People she encountered included wealthy socialites and famine-stricken residents of Kanauj, seen on a trip over mountains from Landour to Simla. Parks' narrative reflects admiration and respect for the richness of Indian culture. It includes a glossary of terms and a collection of translated Indian proverbs. The historian William Dalrymple rediscovered and edited this travelogue as Begums, Thugs & Englishmen, the Journals of Fanny Parkes (Penguin Publishers). Iris Portal referred to Parks as a "kindred spirit" because of her curious writing style and the fact that her book expresses an open-minded approach to Indian customs.

In 1851 she invested money, organised and wrote the catalogue of the "Grand moving diorama of Hindostan, from Fort William, Bengal, to Gangoutri in the Himalaya", which was displayed at the "Asiatic Gallery, Baker Street Bazar, Portman Square. It was so popular that it was also shown in Hull in 1853.