The Biography of Maria Graham
By Nahirah Izaz
Maria Graham was a well-known travel writer of the late eighteenth century and had an extensive oeuvre covering places from all over the world. In addition to her travel writing, Graham was a poet, diarist, and children’s book writer (Brown et al). Throughout her life, Graham had three names that she was referred to: Maria Dundas, which was her maiden name; Maria Graham, the name she had after her first marriage and the one she was most well-known by; and lastly, Lady Callcott, the title she received from her second marriage. I will be addressing her in my essay as Maria Graham simply because this is the name she is still widely recognized by due to a significant number of works that are published under this surname. In this essay, I will focus on critical elements of Graham’s life such as her early life, education, travels, acquaintances, published works, and her late life.
Early Life and Family
Graham was born to parents George Dundas and Ann Thompson on July 19, 1785. Her father was a naval officer, and her mother was an American and was born in Virginia; however, she immigrated to England because her parents were “American loyalist refugees” (Brown et al). Graham was born at Papcastle near Cockermouth in Cumberland and was the eldest of three other siblings (Mitchell). She had an eventful childhood and a loving home, despite having to move repeatedly due to her father’s occupation. Dundas grew up in Douglas on the Isle of Man and at the age of six her family moved to Wallasey in Cheshire (Mitchell). Unfortunately, Graham's mother passed away shortly after she went off to school, and her death prompted the family to move to Edinburgh (Brown et al).
Education
Graham was extremely well-educated; she began learning at home with her mother who taught her how to read, and also attended multiple schools. Graham started school at the age of six at a village school in Wallasey, Cheshire, and in 1793 at the age of eight, Graham went to a school at the “Manor House” at Draycot in Berkshire (Brown et al). Throughout her schooling, Graham became skilled in subjects such as “Latin, French, Italian, botany, history, geography, English literature, music and drawing” (Mitchell), and truly believed that “education was good for women of every class” (Brown et al). Graham had many opinions on education and even stated that "the only difference between the sexes was women's lack of education", an extremely unpopular thought at the time that caused great offence (Brown et al).
Travels
Graham was able to further her interest in learning as her sisters, brother and herself joined their father on an excursion to Bombay, India as part of his naval career in December 1808 (Mitchell). This voyage is where Graham met her husband Lieutenant Thomas Graham, who like her father was a naval officer. The two were engaged in Bombay in May 1809, and their wedding followed a few months later on December 9, 1809 (Mitchell). Graham and her husband travelled extensively around India for two years after they wed and visited “Madras, Calcutta, and Ceylon” (Mitchell). After settling back in London for a few years they continued to travel to Spain in 1815, Italy in 1818, and Rome in 1819. The couple went back and forth between travelling and their residence in London. Graham and her husband embarked on a new journey and sailed to South America where they met an unfortunate fate, as Thomas Graham passed away at sea on April 9, 1822 while en route from Brazil to Chile.
Acquaintances
Through Graham's travels, she built a name for herself and made many new friends that would follow her throughout her life. However, she also had familial connections to the literary world that helped establish herself. Her first interaction with prominent figures were through her father’s connections, and her uncle Sir David Dundas with whom she would stay with in Richmond during holidays and meet “French émigrés as well as “cultural celebrities” of London (Mitchell). Also at a young age, she had a network to the influential literary figure Samuel Johnson as her teacher Miss Bright was in his circle (Brown et al). She formed many friendships with prominent individuals of society while travelling; for example, she took a trip with her husband to Italy and it “led to a close friendship with Charles Lock Eastlake and the publication of her Memoirs of the Life of Nicholas Poussin in 1820” (Palmer). Graham also became well-acquainted with the Emperor of Austria and his wife during her stay in Rio de Janeiro and was asked to be the “governess of their young daughter Maria da Gloria” (Brown et al).
Published Works
Graham began publishing works with the Longman company in 1812 and continued publishing her work with their firm all the way until 1825 until she switched publishing houses (WPHP). Graham's first publisher Owen Rees whom she wrote to in the letter included in the Upcott album, was a partner in the Longman firm; the letter from March 2, 1824, is regarding one of the last pieces she published with them. A few of her works published with Longman include Journal of a Residence in India (1812), Letters on India (1814), Memoirs of the life of Nicholas Poussin (1820), Three Months Passed in the Mountains East of Rome (1820), Journal of a Residence in Chile And a Voyage from Chile to Brazil (1824), and lastly Journal of a Voyage to Brazil and Residence There (1824). The first four works were written as Graham travelled with her husband by her side, whereas she compiled the last two journals after making the difficult decision to continue travelling after the passing of her husband (Burrows). As previously mentioned, Graham switched publishers from Owen Rees of the Longman company in 1825, to John Murray II of the John Murray publishing house (WPHP). She may have possibly began working with John Murray to reach greater fame as they published acclaimed writers such as Jane Austen, Lord Byron, and many more.
Late Life and Legacy
Graham remarried five years after her late husband’s death to Augustus Wall Callcott, a notable landscape painter who was later knighted, at which time she received the title Lady Callcott. Shortly after her marriage to Callcott her health declined, and she was regarded to as an invalid (Brown et al). She passed away in Kensington on November 21, 1842, at 57 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery (Brown et al). One of Graham’s greatest achievements was that she was the first woman to have her paper published in one of the Geological Society’s journals, titled “An account of some effects of the late earthquakes in Chili” (The Geological Society Of London - Maria Graham). Not only did she write an unprecedented number of travel journals, but she disrupted the field as it had been previously dominated by men. Although Graham is not largely celebrated today, she was an important intellectual figure of the eighteenth century because of her revolutionary thinking that helped establish women's position in the literacy sphere.
Works Cited
Brown, Susan et al. "Maria Callcott". Orlando Cambridge University Press | Women's Writing In The British Isles From The Beginnings To The Present, 2021.
Burrows, Isabelle. "Narratives Of Empire: Cultural Colonialism In Maria Graham's "Journal Of A Residence In Chile During The Year 1822"". The Women's Print History Project, 2021.
Mitchell, Rosemary. "Callcott [Née Dundas; Other Married Name Graham], Maria, Lady Callcott". Oxford Dictionary Of National Biography, 2003.
Palmer, Caroline. "Maria, Lady Callcott (19 July 1785–21 November 1842)." 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century.28 (2019)
"The Geological Society Of London - Maria Graham,". Geolsoc.Org.Uk,
"Titles By Graham, Maria In MLA Format". Women's Print History Project.