Mrs Marianne Coffin, 1848 (c)

Photograph by Surgeon John McCosh (1805-1885), 1848 (c).

Dressed as an archetypal Victorian matriarch and seemingly deep in thought, Marianne Coffin (d. 1864) was the first wife of Lieutenant-General Sir Isaac Campbell Coffin. General Coffin joined the Madras Army (one of the three presidency armies run by the British East India Company) in 1818. He saw service in the 1st Burma War (1823-1826) and was commander of the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). Coffin commanded the Southern Division of the Madras Army between 1859 and 1861 and was made KCSI (Knight Commander of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India) in 1866.

From an album of 310 photographs, 1848-1853.