Diana Hill, Miniaturist

by Lauren Gilbert

Diana was born about 1760, possibly in London, to George Dietz, a jeweller. Her mother’s name is unknown. Very little is known about her youth, except that she learned how to paint miniatures from Jeremiah Meyer, who painted miniatures for King George III and Queen Charlotte, and was a foundation member of the Royal Academy in 1768. In 1775, Diana Dietz exhibited miniatures at the Society of Artists. That year, for “promoting the Polite and Liberal arts”[1], she also won a silver palette and five guineas from the Society of Arts (Society for the Encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce) for her drawings of flowers. During the period 1777-1798, she exhibited miniatures at the Royal Academy, under her own name Diana Dietz from 1777-1780. One such painting was a portrait exhibited in 1778.

Jeremiah Meyer: Her Majesty Queen Charlotte of England,
Wife of King George III (reproduced in Photogravure)

On February 3, 1780, Diana was the victim of a theft at her father’s house. A record of her testimony, which provided her father’s name and occupation, is available on-line at the Old Bailey website.

On February 1st, 1781, at age 21, Diana married Haydock Hill (born around 1746-1750), at St. Mary’s, Marylebone, London. She exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1785 under the name of Mrs. Hill as an “Honorary Exhibitor”; two of her three exhibited works were flower pictures. The couple had a son, Haydock James Hill in 1782, at least one daughter, and possibly more children. Haydock Hill reportedly died in London in 1785 aged in his mid to late 30’s. There is an indication he was buried in May of 1785. (Some sources show a date of death of 1816 for him; there was no conclusive documentation for either year. 1785 seems most likely.)

John Cary: A New Map of Hindoostan
from the latest authorities, 1806.

After Mr. Hill’s death,  Diana obtained permission on September 21, 1785 from the court of directors of the East India Company to work as a portrait painter in India. Elizabeth Hill (her mother-in-law) and a merchant named T. C. Blanchenhagen stood as approved securities for her. Her brother-in-law John Hill worked for the East India Company's civil service in Bengal. The involvement of her in-laws supports the date of death for Haydock Hill in 1785. It also seems possible that, as Mr. Meyer was still living, he or his son (who went to Calcutta, and was employed as a civil servant there) may have provided assistance with this enterprise, providing references or other support. Diana arrived in Calcutta in 1786. According to Janet Todd’s essay “Ivory Miniatures and the Art of Jane Austen” in British Women's Writing in the Long Eighteenth Century, she may have taken such a drastic step because there was so much competition within the market for miniatures in England. Apparently other female artists of the time made similar moves. I found no reference to indicate whether her children by Mr. Hill accompanied her.

The arrival of the widow was noted by artist Ozias Humphrey, in that he identified her as competition, acknowledging that her work was good. One of her subjects was General Lord Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, painted in 1786, now in the Mount Vernon collection. Another miniature painted in 1786 was that of a lady, Mrs. Robert Graham. Diana was successful as an artist due to her undoubted talent, as well as her connections.

On November 15th, 1788, she married Lieutenant Thomas Harriott of the 1st Native Infantry (an officer in the East India Company’s service) who was then acting brigade major for the 3rd brigade. She painted a miniature of Harriott about 1791, currently on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She stopped working professionally after this marriage. However, a miniature of Elizabeth Steuart, which appears to have been painted about 1790, has been attributed to Diana, although it was not signed.

Diana and Thomas had four children, at least one, possibly two of whom were born in India. They took their family back to England in 1806. They lived in West Hall in Kew for an unknown period of time. Thomas died April 19, 1817. He left a will leaving Diana and their children as beneficiaries, which was proved June (day unclear) 1817.

Diana died February 10, 1844 in  Twickenham, Middlesex, and was buried at St. Mary, Mortlake, Surrey February 17, 1844. She also left a will, which was proved February 22, 1844. She outlived all but two (possibly three) of her children. In her day, she was a prize-winning artist, exhibited at the Royal Academy. Sadly, she fell into obscurity, even though her work is known and valued today.

[1] Transactions Of The Society Instituted At London, For The Encouragement Of Arts, Manufactures And Commerce, With The Premiums Offered In The Year 1784, Volume II.  p. 124.

Sources include:

Aronson, Julie and Wiseman, Marjory E. Perfect Likeness: European And American Portrait Miniatures From The Cincinnati Art Museum.  p. 209. 2006: Yale University Press.

Transactions Of The Society Instituted At London, For The Encouragement Of Arts, Manufactures And Commerce, With The Premiums Offered In The Year 1784, Volume II. London.

Library of the Fine Arts, or Repertory of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Engraving, Vol. III. 1832: M. Arnold, London. Catalogue of Pictures Exhibited at the Rooms of the Royal Academy, Tenth Exhibition, 1778, p. 259.

Batchelor, Jennie and Kaplan, Cora, ed. British Women’s Writing In The Long Eighteenth Century: Authorship, Politics and History. 2005: Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke. P. 80.
Globemakers.com. “Past Residents at West Hall.” (no author or post date shown).

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 29 January 2020), April 1780, trial of WILLIAM BAGNALL ELISABETH ROSE otherwise BAGNALL (t17800405-19).

Peach, A. (2008, January 03). Hill [née Dietz; other married name Harriott], Diana (d. 1844), miniature painter. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 29 Jan. 2020, from https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-38354.

“Pencil Sketch Portrait Biography.” Retrieved from http://pencilsketchesofflowers.blogspot.com/ ; posted October 2, 2013.

Meyer, Jeremiah (DNB00). (2013, February 27). In Wikisource. Retrieved 23:21, January 29, 2020, from https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Meyer,_Jeremiah_(DNB00)&oldid=4325744

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An avid reader, Lauren Gilbert was introduced to English authors early in life. Lauren has a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts English with a minor in Art History. A long time member of JASNA, she has presented a number of programs. She lives in Florida with her husband. Her first book, HEYERWOOD A Novel, is available. Just released in December 2019, A RATIONAL ATTACHMENT is her second novel. Her work is included in both volumes of CASTLES, CUSTOMS AND KINGS: True Tales by English Historical Fiction Authors. She is also researching material for a non-fiction work.

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A Rational Attachment
Heyerwood: A Novel

Full Steam Ahead: the Overland Route Home from India

by Caroline Warfield

Before 1830, travelers between England and India and the rest of East Asia had two choices. One way, the overland route known as long ago as ancient Rome, consisted of travel overland across the Ottoman Empire, through Persia and the Kingdom of Kabul (known today as Afghanistan), over mountains or through the Khyber Pass, and across the Punjab. Of limited use for trade in the 19th century, it appealed only to the most adventurous travelers.

But, of course, Britain ruled the sea. The primary route to India involved a four and a half to six month sail around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. That journey usually took closer to six months than four, depending as it did on prevailing winds, weather, ship design, tides, port conditions, time of year, and even skill. There were few, if any, dedicated passenger companies, and travelers booked passage on crowded merchant or East India Company ships. Conditions could be harrowing, and they didn't always make it!

Steam power came into use early in the century. Early efforts were impractical for ocean travel, however. Navies and merchants were reluctant to use steam engines for fear of fire, engine failure, and issues with fuel. In 1819 the Savannah, a hybrid vessel, crossed the Atlantic but only 1/8 of the voyage involved steam. In 1838 a ship of the British and American Navigation Company managed to cross the Atlantic in only eighteen days with forty passengers, but it ran out of coal part way and had to burn furniture. Still, by 1830 sufficient progress made the dream of a faster route between India and England possible.

Thomas Waghorn by Sir George Hayter, 1847. NPG 974,
National Portrait Gallery, London. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)

Thomas Waghorn, a former navy lieutenant employed as a river pilot in Calcutta, failed to persuade the government to support steamer service around the Cape in 1825. The Bengal Steam Fund had sent him to London for that purpose. Two years later, still in London, he obtained an interview with Lord Ellenborough, Chairman of the East India Company, in which Waghorn supposedly told the man he could set up a passenger and mail service that would take just 90 days. He envisioned steamers in the Red Sea and an overland route through Egypt to Alexandria. Ellenborough told him about the planned inaugural run of the steamship Enterprise through the Red Sea from Suez to Bombay and commissioned him to deliver a packet of dispatches to the Governor of Bengal. Ellenborough failed to mention that at least one other competing entity planned to make the run. The race to create overland service was on.

Waghorn left London in October 1829 determined to prove his point. He actually went by coach to Trieste, setting a record when he arrived in nine days. He delivered the London Times to the British Counsel, who soon was demanding to know why the mail typically took fourteen days. Speed had become a central issue. He then begged, borrowed, and patched together transport to Suez via Alexandria, the Nile, and Cairo, but arrived in Suez to find that the Enterprise had not arrived. It had broken down. He persisted, embarking down the Red Sea in an open boat. He arrived in Bombay four months and twenty-one days after he left London. It was a record, but not 90 days. He would not give up.

Waghorn lobbied for steam service in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, but both the government and the EIC were content to sit on the sidelines and watch private enterprise put together such a service. Neither wanted to deal with the political complications involving the Ottoman Emperor and Muhammad Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt. There was concern about Ali, an ambitious Ottoman official originally from Albania, and fear that he could destabilize the Ottoman Empire, something the government very much wanted to avoid. The Eastern Question, concern about Russia's ambitions in the Middle East and India, dominated foreign affairs. The collapse of the Ottomans would cause a vacuum and chaos. When the chairman of the East India Company sent Waghorn a formal letter telling him to return to his position with the Pilot Service in Calcutta, he sent his resignation in reply.

 Mohammud Ali Pasha, 1805 artist unknown

Waghorn proceeded to form a partnership with the Pasha and lived with Arabs for three years, convincing all and sundry of the benefits of his scheme. Waghorn shipped coal for steamships from England to Alexandria, down the Mahmudieh canal to the Nile on native vessels and from there to Cairo where it went by caravan to Suez. It drove the cost of coal at Suez down from £20 to just over £4 per ton. He sent the mail—and eventually passengers—back the same way. His friendship with the Pasha benefited the local economy and enabled him to resolve myriad issues, from how to store and ship mail in that environment to how to feed and house passengers in the 84-mile journey from Suez to Cairo.

By 1835 the Company sent its mail via the overland route through Egypt. Waghorn's 90 days was a reality. The overland portion, involving as it did an 84-mile journey across the desert and tiny paddle steamers and barges from Cairo to Alexandria, wasn't particularly comfortable at first. Passengers needed rest stops. The mail didn't.

Care of Mr. Waghorn, May 2, 1839. via Wiki commons

In 1837 the company initiated steam packet service from Bombay to Suez and passenger travel became more of a reality. In 1840 the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company won the Bombay contract and three years later began service from Calcutta as well. Passenger amenities improved. The storied Hotel des Anglais, later called Shepheard's Hotel opened in 1841, providing an oasis of England in the midst of Cairo.

Bivouac in the Desert, from Mrs. G.L. Dawson Damer. "Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land, Volume 2." (Henry Colburn, London: 1841). p f05

In the 1840s ads for passenger travel, parcel delivery, agents, and services "with regularity," via "The Overland Route" filled the journal Allen's India Mail. By the 1850s the P&O had 170 coal ships servicing the route and a herd of 3500 camels carried coal across the desert. In 1858 rail service from Alexandria to Suez superseded the beasts.

Other schemes abounded; one dominated. The Company tried service along the Euphrates. It failed. While Waghorn was working out details of his overland route, Muhammad Ali Pasha hired the Frenchman Linant de Bellefonds as chief engineer of public works. He almost immediately began a survey to create a canal at Suez. Concession to build such a canal took until 1854, but in 1869 the Suez Canal opened, effectively eliminating the overland route, and driving the Age of Steam forward. Speed indeed.

SS Farforshire, 1835

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Caroline Warfield writes historical romance and contributes regularly to History Imagined, a blog at the intersection of history and fiction, and to The Teatime Tattler, a fictional Regency gossip news sheet.

The characters in her latest novel, The Reluctant Wife take The Overland Route, or as Meghal Wheatly age six called it "the way with camels" for their return to England. Sometimes doing the right thing results in failure in the eyes of others. Forced to take two daughters home and start over, Fred Wheatly, the hero of the book, knows failure is not an option this time. The book is part of Caroline's series, Children of Empire, stories of two brothers and their cousin torn apart by lies and deception, who struggle to find their way home from the far reaches of the Empire.

Caroline's Website