Diversity in Regency England: Indigenous People From Canada

Hello everyone!

I’m going to start this post a little differently by doing a land acknowledgement. In Canada, and elsewhere, land acknowledgements are used to recognise and honour the Indigenous people who live or have lived on the land we are currently occupying.

As I sit in my home in Toronto, I acknowledge that I am on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and that Toronto is now home to diverse First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples.

This month, Canada celebrates National Indigenous History Month. It is a time to reflect on the rich history, heritage, resilience, and diversity of Indigenous people in Canada. As part of it, today, 21 June, is National Indigenous Peoples Day.  We also commemorate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which honours the children who lost their lives at residential schools, those who survived them, their families and communities. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation coincides with Orange Shirt Day, which is an Indigenous-led commemorative effort to honour the survivors of residential schools and the far-too-many children who did not. The date overlaps with the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting this year, and if you happen to be attending, you will have the opportunity to join in as this important day is recognised. (I will be there, and I am very much looking forward to it!)

I am not an Indigenous person. My understanding of the history and implications of colonisation on Indigenous people continues to evolve. It is an issue I find deeply concerning.

For this post, my particular interest was expanding my appreciation for the diversity of the society in which Jane Austen lived. I have often wondered if many Indigenous people from Canada travelled to Britain during the Regency. ‘Canada’ and ‘the United States’, and the border between them, did not exist in their current form, and, importantly, Indigenous people did not view land separation into jurisdictions and countries in the same way European settlers did. Thus, while my interest is Canada, I do dip into the US a bit.

So, is it possible that Jane Austen or her beloved characters could have seen, even met an Indigenous person from Canada or the US?

A bit of history first. In 1763, the Seven Years’ War ended, and Britain replaced France as the dominant colonial power in Canada. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 meant that large portions of the North American interior (including some of what is now the US) was reserved for Indigenous people. It forbade European settlement in this part of the continent and regulated trade west of the European colonies, amongst other stipulations. This was done to control growing tensions in the interior of the continent.

Of course, we know the British government didn’t live up to these promises and declarations. There is a complex, often contentious, and certainly troubled relationship between Indigenous people and colonial powers which I cannot possibly cover in this post. But, during the nineteenth century, policies aimed at advancing assimilation, subjugation, and even destruction were increasingly employed as European settlers moved westward. One of these related to residential schools, which I mentioned earlier.

We know considerably more about Indigenous-European interactions as they took place in Canada and the US than we do about those that took place in Britain, however, this appears to be changing, which is wonderful. It is an unfortunate part of our history that some Indigenous people travelled to Britain by force, although others went voluntarily for a number of reasons. Some went to assert their bargaining power, recognising that the British wanted their cooperation in their on-going struggles with the French. Indigenous people might return home with valuable trade agreements, military alliances, and gifts. Some would also travel to Britain as visiting dignitaries or, at the other end of the spectrum, slaves. An unknown number of Indigenous people remained in Britain and other parts of Europe, establishing lives and families.

It is estimated that between 1500 and 1776, about 175 Indigenous people made the trip to England. Early Indigenous ‘visitors’ were displayed “quite cynically and mercilessly”, according to David Stirrup (quoted from the article by Hilleary, linked below). Stirrup is a historian and the principal investigator of the Beyond the Spectacle project at the University of Kent, which I’ll come back to. “They were either held up as anthropological specimens for study work, by the 18^th century, they were paraded around London with gawking crowds following them wherever they went.”

Coll Thursh, author of Indigenous London (2016) was asked in a video interview what Indigenous people thought about London. He said they tended to be very critical of the disparities in wealth they saw; this is not something that would happen in their own societies. As well, they had similar thoughts regarding the city’s ecology, wondering things such as how people fed themselves and how they hunted. Of course, Indigenous people who visited other parts of Britain might have different views i.e., if they went to an agricultural area or spent much time in the countryside. Thrush was also asked how London was transformed by these visits. He said that he liked to think of the British seeing themselves reflected in the eyes of Indigenous people, almost like a mirror, and that it encouraged them to think about themselves in new ways, such as regarding issues related to gender and class dynamics. We are unlikely to ever know.

Before moving on to a vignette, I want to come back to the fascinating Beyond the Spectacle project. It is an attempt to map where and when and for what purpose Indigenous people from Canada and the US were in Britain. This project, and others, demonstrate that you could find a diversity of people throughout the country, not just in London and other large cities. The project has produced some maps (with the goal of expanding them), and I went through them looking for people during roughly Jane Austen’s lifetime and the Regency, meaning between about 1775 to about 1830. There were more visitors in later time periods, such as during the Victorian era — or at least we have better records about these visits — but I didn’t concern myself with them. The following represent all of the visits by Indigenous people from Canada and the US during this period of time, finding it difficult to know if, for example, a person from the Mohawk nation was from today’s Canada or the US. Looking through the list, you can get a sense of the different reasons Indigenous people travelled to Britain. As much as possible, I’ve put them in order of date.

• In 1774, an unnamed man from the Mohawk nation was in Staffordshire and London. Known troublemaker, George Klock Sr., apparently tricked the young man into coming to Britain in order to exhibit him. Klock displayed him for several days before he was stopped.
• Another unnamed man, known only as “Indian Chief” also travelled to Britain in 1774, this time for diplomatic purposes. He attended a party at St James’s where he successfully handed a petition to King George III.
• Thayendanagea (Joseph Brant) and Oteronyente (John Hill), two Mohawk men, were in Britain in 1775. (Thayendanagea also returned to England in 1786). During the 1775 visit, he met with a journalist and biographer named James Boswell. Boswell was fascinated by Thayendanagea’s level of education and cosmopolitanism. Thayendanagea was entertained at the highest echelons of society and conducted important diplomatic work while in Britain, all related to the relationship between the Mohawk and the Crown. Thayendanagea was the first Indigenous person to receive a commission in the British Army as a captain, and Brantford, Ontario (about 90 km from Toronto) was named after him.
• In 1790, a delegation of five Cherokee and Muscogee people visited England, again for diplomatic reasons. The issue of concern appears to have been the resettlement of Britain’s Indigenous allies.
• Coutchee Noyal and Kaiew Neika, who were members of the Catawba nation, visited in 1795 for performance purposes. They performed feats of archery, war songs and dances, and the like. They performed in a variety of other places around the country.
• Hillis Hadjo made a diplomatic visit in 1815. Hadjo was a religious leader from the Muscogee (Creek) nation. He had been involved in the Creek War, which ended in 1814. Andrew Jackson, future-president and architect of the Indian Removal, was involved in the resulting treaty. In it, the Muscogee were forced to give up approximately 21 million acres of land. Hadjo wanted to gain British support against US expansion into Muscogee lands, hoping to prevent another war between them and the US.
• In 1821-1822, Ahyonwaeghs (John Brant), the son of Thayendanagea (Joseph Brant) travelled to England for diplomatic reasons. He hoped to resolve land issues around territory in the Grand River region in what is now Ontario.
• Finally, we have the 1825 visit of Tsaouenhohoui (Nicholas Vincent), Tsohahissen (André Romain), Aharathanha (Stanislas Koska), and Téhatsiendahé (Michel Tsiewei). They were from the Huron-Wendat nation. Their purpose was also diplomacy. In their position as leaders, they wanted to make representations to King George IV regarding the long struggle between their people and the Catholic Church regarding claims to their land. In April 1825, they meet the king, and Tsaouenhohoui gave a speech about land rights.

These eight were all the entries I could find. It does not seem like many to me, considering the fifty-odd year time span I was looking at, but no doubt records of other visits have been lost, particularly if they were for purposes other than diplomacy. Nonetheless, you can see that a number of Indigenous people went to England, often to bring political matters directly to the Crown; in other words, they were exercising their agency. In answer to my original question regarding whether Jane Austen or her characters could have met, or at least seen, an Indigenous person, I think the answer is yes. At the very least, they could have been aware of some of the visitors from news reports.

On to a short vignette. I’m drawing on Darcy and Elizabeth from The Recovery of Fitzwilliam Darcy. At one point in it, Darcy went to an exhibit in town because he knew Elizabeth would be there. Items from various Indigenous people were on display, and he fantasises about the conversations they could have about them. They finally get a chance to while on their honeymoon. They use the word ‘Indian’, because it was common at the time; I would avoid using it otherwise in 2022. I’ve tried to bring in the element of ‘flights of fancy’, since that is the monthly theme.

Darcy looked down at his new wife. Elizabeth’s arms was wrapped around his as they strolled through the grounds of the house where his father had arranged for them to spend their honeymoon. It was a beautiful summer day—the sun was shining, the temperature was just hot enough when accompanied by a breeze that was neither too strong nor too weak. The trees were full, the flowers fragrant and colourful, and he was happier than he had ever imagined possible. He and Elizabeth had been married five days. For so long, he thought learning the truth about himself meant they could not be together, but, fortunately, his father loved him enough to value his happiness above the rank and fortune of his daughter-in-law.

His thoughts drifted to the difficult months of his and Elizabeth’s separation, especially the weeks after they met in London when he felt like he was going mad from wanting her and while trying desperately to find a way to gain George Darcy’s acceptance for the match.

“What has sent you so far away?” Elizabeth’s dulcet voice asked.

Startled from his reverie, Darcy shook his head and gave her a quick kiss before responding. “I was remembering the winter in town.”

Elizabeth feigned a shudder. “I prefer to forget most of it, though I readily admit there were pleasant moments, such as spending time with Rebecca and watching her and Lord Bramwell fall in love.” When she laughed, he added a chuckle.

“Do you remember the exhibit at which I met you, Rebecca, and her father?”

“I do,” she said. “Tell me, was your presence there an coincidence or…?”

His cheeks heated slightly. “I learnt you would attend and wanted to see you. Any excuse I could find to be near you, I grabbed on to like I was a drowning man. I was drowning, in a sense.”

She stopped walking and gave him a long, slow kiss that rather made him wish they were inside and did not need to worry about possibly encountering another person.

Elizabeth said, “That is behind us now, William my love. We are well and truly married, the…difficulties with your family are behind us, and your father and I are determined to love each other, which means the three of us shall be very happy together at Pemberley.”

He nodded, and, a short while later, they resumed their walk. “Do you remember the items on display, the ones from Canada?”

“The Indian ones? I do.”

“I kept imagining the conversations we might have about them, the books and other research we might do to learn more about them and the people who made them.”

She gave a throaty laugh. “I allowed myself a brief interval to wonder what your opinion was of the exhibit and whether you, like me, wished we knew what the people who had made the items thought about them being on display so far away from their homes.”

A burst of laughter escaped him. At her quizzical look, he said, “I thought exactly the same thing!”

“Of course you did, my dear husband. It is yet another sign that I am perfect for you, and you were very wise to marry me!”

He agreed and sought the shelter of a large chestnut tree where kissed her for a good long while. They returned to the subject when they continued their walk, their steps turning towards a pond Elizabeth had taken a liking to, because she often saw frogs and fish in it.

“There was an absolutely exquisite headpiece of some sort,” she said. “It was made of beads and feathers. I believe it is used for ceremonies. How I would love to actually see one! I remember Papa telling me about some men from, oh, I do not recall where exactly, somewhere along the coast. They were performers. Papa watched them when they were in London. He said their dances and singing was fascinating, and you know how little prone he is to exaggeration.”

“I would like to see such a thing too. My father—George Darcy, not Sir William—told me he about meeting an Indian man perhaps twenty years ago at a dinner party.”

“A dinner party?” Her surprise was apparent in her tone.

“Yes. The man was in England about some political issue having to do with land, from what my father recalls. Father did not speak to him much, but he had a very favourable impression of him.”

Elizabeth again stopped walking. Her brow was furrowed and she tilted her head to the side as she regarded him. “Most of what one reads about the people explorers met in the Americas is so…dismal. It makes them sound like savages—which is what I have heard them called. How can they be so stupid and-and lesser than us when they can produce such exquisite pieces as we saw at the exhibit or perform in such a manner that has my father, of all people, short on words to describe it?”

“Or travel across the ocean to undertake political negotiations with the king and others, and also attend a dinner and not have people talking about their improper behaviour.”

“Exactly! People say horrible things about Africans—which is a name I find a little odd, since some Black people, such as Uncle Gardiner’s clerk, have never been to Africa—and we know it is not true. To my way of thinking, Indians may be different from us, but that does not necessarily mean they are not as good as we are, does it?”

“You are right, my love. Remember when we dreamt of travelling the world to see all of its wonders? Would you not like to go to the Americas and explore it and meet the people who have lived there for God knows how long?”

“I certainly, certainly would! I do not suppose I ever shall, but I hope we can learn more about them. There must be a way.”

“We will find one, or more than one. Whatever it takes to satisfy your curiosity.” He would do anything for her, and the place they would start was the library at Pemberley. He had told her a little about it, but he was anticipating seeing her astonishment and delight when he showed it to her. “For now, from what you have already learnt, what do you think their families and communities are like?”

Darcy listened as Elizabeth wove her flight of fancy, letting it take both of them far away. She spoke of “happy people, colourfully attired, mothers and fathers teaching their children about the world around them, explaining how they understand it—how it was made, why we are here, how they must treat others to be good people. It might be different from what we were told, and, oh, how I should like to know their beliefs. They must be so interesting and exotic. We are told the land is a vast wilderness, except where the French and English built cities, but parts of it must be like our countryside, with areas set aside for growing food and raising animals. People would work hard at it and at crafts. Can you imagine how long it takes to make the cloaks and necklaces we saw, let alone the sculptures and so on? They must have people who act as apothecaries and smiths too, and we know there are chiefs, which would like our nobility or politicians. I believe they are very much like us, just…different, which is an oxymoron, I know.”

“I understand,” he said. “To those who do not observe closely, they may seem very different from us—their appearance, clothes, how they live—but, fundamentally, I do not doubt we are more similar than we are dissimilar.”

“Exactly! And they are as capable of learning and changing as we are. Our society is not the same as it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and the same is likely true of them.”

“They will learn from us, and we will learn from them. I pray to God it is to the benefit of us all before much longer.”

Knowing what they did of historical and current events, his final remark dampened their spirits, and he was sorry he made it; after all, they were on their honeymoon. Accordingly, he said, “Let us turn our imaginations to other, lighter subjects. What would you like to do with the rest of our afternoon? We have a few hours before dinner still.”

She met his gaze, and a mischievous, saucy grin spread across her lovely visage. “Hmm…I cannot possibly imagine how we will occupy ourselves for such a long, long time with only each other for company.”

The back of his neck was aflame, and it had nothing to do with the sun. He cleared his throat. “I believe it is becoming quick hot. Let us return to the coolness of the house.”

“By all means. I am sure you would feel much, much better if you were not wearing quite so many layers of cloth—”

Before she could finish her sentence, he kissed her soundly.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Lucy

Sources

• Beyond the Spectacle. Native North American Presence in Britain. (Maps) https://research.kent.ac.uk/beyondthespectacle/map/
• The Canadian Encyclopedia (2022). Indigenous-British Relations Pre-Confederation. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-european-relations
• Hilleary, C. (2021). Abductees, Emissaries and Showmen: Native Americans in England. Voice of American (VOA) https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_abductees-emissaries-and-showmen-native-americans-england/6202278.html
• Johnson, C. (2017). Native Americans in Europe. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199730414/obo-9780199730414-0203.xml
• UBC History. Coll Thrush: Indigenous London https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bBPc573DWs [Video]