What Barbara did...
"Tunis is still the ‘white city’. The other name of El Hadhera, the green, hardly seems so suitable from this point, for at an early hour the whiteness is more noticeable". Frances E. Nesbitt.
This article about Barbara is connected to next week’s article about myself (Kate). For both articles I have used the list of prompts which will be published in my upcoming book.
Barbara’s article elaborates on an event concerning my ancestor, where there are few facts, and no photos or further information.
My (Kate’s) article recalls an event from my own past, when I thought I could only recall a very few details, and have no photos.
What are the facts?
My great-grandmother Barbara went to Tunisia, Africa around 19001. Barbara left no letters or diaries, and there are no family stories, or pictures, or even mementos of Tunisia. Which I found odd, because a young woman aged 27 going all the way to Africa was extraordinary, especially given her background.
My grandmother always told me that my great-grandparents had met in Tunisia, but as a child, at a time when foreign travel was unremarkable, I did not think much about it. Recently I started to wonder why Barbara went to Tunisia, and how she could afford to pay for the holiday. I never met my great-grandparents and my grandmother is now dead, but I found an old photo album and in it a note that said Barbara did not go on holiday, she went to be housekeeper in the British Consulate in Tunisia.
Context & history
Barbara was born in 1873, in a small, remote Highland village in Scotland. She was one of 16 children. All but one lived to be adults, which was remarkable as the infant mortality rate was very high at the time. One boy was kicked in the head by a horse, but family lore fails to tell if he was badly injured or died as a result. Barbara was a Victorian, brought up with the strict codes of womanly behaviour that were expected at the time. Queen Victoria died in 1901, after Barbara’s trip to Africa.
In 1900 it was a very long journey from Scotland to North Africa; it took several days, and very costly2.
Luckily, since Barbara was not from a wealthy family when she started her new job, her travel expenses would have been paid for by the British Consulate. It may seem improbable that Barbara could have landed such an important job, considering she came from a small, remote village in Scotland. But the village was near Balmoral Castle, and Queen Victoria’s presence had brought many wealthy people and tourists into the area. They either stayed in their own holiday homes, or in one of the two large hotels that had been built in Barbara’s village. Since Barbara was 27 when she went to Africa, she could have previously gained a lot of experience as a housekeeper at one of the hotels, or in a large private house, and come to the notice of the consul (or more probably his wife).
By the time Barbara went to Tunisia it was much easier for British travellers to travel further abroad than in previous decades, due to the expansion of the railway network and faster, more reliable steamships.
However, at the beginning of the 20th Century most working people would not have been given paid days off for holidays. Only wealthy British holidaymakers had the time and the money to travel to Tunisia. They went for the sunny weather (a welcome change from their rainy, cold native land), to see the Roman ruins, experience a different culture, or to visit the many sea & health resorts – especially suited for those suffering from rheumatism.
At that time there was a considerable British expatriate community in Tunisia, as Britain had many political, strategic and commercial interests in North Africa.
What was the view of other people at the time?
Standards for women in Victorian Britain were strict. They were expected to marry young and have children. For Barbara to remain unmarried at the age of 27 was unusual, though presumably the pool of men in her remote highland village was limited. Married or unmarried, women were expected to stay home and keep house. I don’t know what her father did, but he was probably not very well off (they lived in a small cottage) and they were of the working class. Scotsmen were renowned travellers, but it would have been astonishing for a woman of Barbara’s class to decide she was going to travel the world, even if she had had the money, which she would not have had. Barbara was probably advised not to go to Africa. Of course, there were exceptions; a few women of a higher class, who were wealthy, did travel.
Sadly, British views of Tunisians and their culture was often prejudiced at that time. Visitors wrote racist and stereotypical descriptions of Arabs, disregarding their accomplishments and history, with only occasionally a tiny sprinkling of admiration. Most Europeans felt culturally superior, a sentiment no doubt enhanced by the colonisation that was prevalent at the time. Tunisia was colonised by France until 1956, and when Barbara lived there, around 1900, the regime was generally admired.
I have been unable to find any Tunisian views of the British and their French colonists translated into English, though I presume they were mostly unfavourable. Barbara would have managed a household of Tunisian servants - did she speak some Arabic (probably not) or French (possibly, as Scottish education was very good at the time)?
Replace what you don’t have
I found a book written by Frances E. Nesbitt (1863 to 1934), who was an English artist who visited Tunis about the same time as Barbara. Unusually for the time, she had been allowed to study at the Slade School of Art. Her father died young. Frances never married. She was wealthy and travelled extensively with her mother, including a trip to North Africa.
In 1906 Frances E. Nesbitt published a book about her trip, 'Algiers and Tunis'3, which included many of her paintings, and it is a very interesting read. The quotes and paintings in this article are from Frances’ book.
“Tunis is still the ‘white city’. The other name of El Hadhera, the green, hardly seems so suitable from this point, for at an early hour the whiteness is more noticeable. The sunlight falls on the houses at an angle that suggests pre-arrangement, a scheme without a shadow. This gives a look of unreality, a curious lack of substance. If the actual lines were finer the effect would be that of a fairy city built of pure light, but as it is now, a later moment is more beautiful, when the shadows creep across the white walls and give value to the graceful forms of the minarets.
“All this pearly whiteness is full of colour, though in the ordinary sense of the word there is little or none. What there is, however, is green, as becomes a Moslem stronghold. Far below, as it seems looking down from the roof, lies a garden full of orange trees and one feathery palm. This hardly comes into the picture, but a few other trees do, and one or two lonely palms, and the colour of the foliage is repeated in the wondrous green of some of the domes. The minarets and two or three of the mosques have pointed roofs of green tiles, and green also predominates in the tiles used for decoration; so that even in the heart of the city there is more than a mere suggestion of green.”
“This is one of the many ways in which the French have gained experience in Algeria and profited by it in Tunisia. The old cities are left intact, instead of being destroyed to make way for new boulevards, and the French quarter, its public buildings, theatre, shops and restaurants, grow up outside the walls. The two races dwell apart, but both flourish together. Street names, lighting, and cleaning have been introduced, and the old town itself is incredibly clean for an Eastern city—cleaner by far than many cities of France and Italy. Though trams encircle the city and run through the suburbs, all proposals to disfigure the central quarter, the Medina, have met with a stern refusal. To walk through its gates is to step into another world—a world as full of surprises and romance as it is of variety.” Frances E. Nesbitt.
In 1900 Tunisian women were rarely seen by men outside their family home. But some European women were invited to visit women in their houses, or harems. As may be expected, European women commented on the Tunisian women’s lack of freedom.
“Poor women are little seen in the streets, and those of their rich sisters who have no pretensions to rank are only permitted to walk about occasionally, and then do so under the surveillance of servants, and with such heavy silk veils that they must be almost smothered. These so-called veils are of black silk, with decorative borders and fringed ends of many colours. The width is considerable, and the length sufficient to cover the head and fall nearly to the ground on either side. Exactly in the centre a small square of thinner material is let in, but the wearer, in order to breathe and see the ground at her feet, lifts the lower border a few inches with both hands, and then toddles along in her high-heeled slippers. Over the black veil comes the white haïck completely covering the whole figure.” Frances E. Nesbitt.
What are my conclusions & views?
I think Barbara was a very independent, spirited woman. Since she would have been pressurised to marry, the fact that she did not showed a woman of determination and confidence. That, in her late 20s, Barbara made the decision to travel to North Africa, so far from home, showed that she was adventurous and defied convention, even if she was employed and presumably travelled with others.
I still have questions. I wonder how long Barbara lived in Tunisia, and if she met Frances E. Nesbitt, who would probably have been invited to the British Consulate? I would love to know what Barbara, a young woman from a remote Scottish village, thought of Tunisia, and what the Tunisians thought of her. Did she make any friends while she was there? Did she stay in contact with them?
While she was in Tunisia my great grandmother Barbara met her future husband, though again there are no stories about the meeting. They were probably introduced at a reception at the British Consulate. The conversation may have gone along these lines;
“Hello my name is Albert, I understand you are also from Scotland.”
“Yes, my name is Barbara, how lovely to meet another Scot."
"Where are you from in Scotland?"
"Oh, you won't know it, the village is in the middle of nowhere. It is close to Balmoral Castle - have you ever visited?"
"Well yes, actually I grew up in the village next to the castle, and my family still live there."
"Oh, my goodness! I grew up just nine miles away, and here we are meeting for the first time hundreds of miles away in Africa!"
Barbara and Albert married in Scotland in 1903 and settled in his home village. They had five children, including my grandfather, and stayed in Scotland, never travelling abroad again. I have no idea how or why Albert was in Tunisia, though he worked as a banker before his marriage, and presumably he had a good salary, so he may just have had a fancy to see Tunisia.
I am very sad that Barbara never wrote of her time in North Africa, and that no stories of her adventure has been passed down the family. I am pleased to have filled in some of the gaps, so I have a better idea of what Tunisia was like when Barbara was there. Next week I will write about my own trip to Tunisia & Algeria.
Do you have an ancestor whose story you would like to know? Can you fill in the gaps of their story?
There is some debate within the family - about whether Barbara went to Tunisia or Algeria. Since I have always been told it was Tunisia, that is what I am sticking with. She definitely met Albert in North Africa.
The Isochronic travel map came from the website Rome2Rio. They also have an updated 2016 map of travel times, showing that most of the world is now accessible within ½ to 1 day!
'Algiers and Tunis' by Frances E. Nesbitt is available to read for free on Project Gutenberg.
It's amazing how many women like your grandmother did not let the conventions of the day stop them. It's a reminder to us to take risks and do the things we want to do, no matter the personal cost.
Beautiful story! Thank you for sharing. And the paintings are wonderful!