Elisabeth Acworth Prinsep (1803 - 1885)

Elisabeth Acworth Prinsep

Elisabeth Acworth Prinsep, née Ommanney, later Beachcroft, was a British artist and writer.

At the age of 23, Elizabeth arrived in Calcutta, India, where she met her future husband, Augustus Prinsep, who was working as a clerk for the East India Company. Later, Elizabeth's husband, trying to cure himself of tuberculosis, took a sea voyage to Australia, describing his experiences in his diary and letters to his wife. He reached Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in September 1829 via Batavia, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Prinsep's health failed to improve, however, and he died at sea.

Elizabeth Prinsep, having collected all her husband's letters, notes, and sketches, published on their basis "Journal of a Voyage from Calcutta to Van Diemen's Land" (1833), adding her drawings as well. In addition, Elizabeth Prinsep published with Smith, Elder, and Co. a fiction novel, Babu and Other Stories Describing Society in India (2 vols., 1834), which contains scenes from their travels.