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Other names
William Munnoo
William Munnew
Place of birth
Date of arrival to Britain
Location(s)
Buckinghamshire
United Kingdom
Place of death
England
Date of time spent in Britain
1808–1830s
About
William Hickey was a lawyer who worked in Calcutta, India. After his retirement, in 1808, he brought 13-year-old Munnoo to England. It is likely that Hickey paid Munnoo’s family for his service and regarded him as a servant. It is also likely that he smuggled him to England as he was not recorded on any shipping logs. Hickey retired to Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, where Munnoo also lived. Munnoo converted to Christianity in 1809 and took on the name William Munnew. He married Anne in around 1813 and in around 1820 they moved to Richmond, Surrey. They had two children, who were called Anne and William.
Hickey’s Memoirs, written between 1808 and 1810 and published between 1913 and 1925, which, in their manuscript form, cover 740 closely written pages, include details of Munnoo’s time working for Hickey.
Hickey and Munnoo were painted by William Thomas in 1819, and their portrait is held by the National Portrait Gallery in London. Munnoo died in the 1830s.
Fisher, Michael H., Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settlers in Britain 1600–1857 (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004)
Mss Eur G118, William Hickey’s Memoirs, Asian and African Studies Reading Room, British Library, St Pancras
For image and copyright details, please click "More Information" in the Viewer.
Banner image credit
Thurston Hopkins/Picture Post/Hulton Archives via Getty Images
Image credit
Munnoo (William Munnoo or Munnew); William Hickey, by William Thomas, oil on canvas, 1819, NPG 3249
© National Portrait Gallery, London, Creative Commons, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/
