The Fairest Cape: Lady Anne Lindsay Barnard's Written and Pictoral Representations of the Cape of Good Hope in 18th Century South Africa

Abstract

<p>Lady Anne Lindsay Barnard is a little known travel writer of the late 18th century. She travelled to the Cape of Good Hope with her husband Andrew Barnard in 1797 to become a part of the new British government there. Barnard held a very powerful position i n the Cape, not only due to her positionality as an educated, noble, white woman, but as the official hostess of the British government. During this initial occupation, the future of the Cape as a British colony remained uncertain. Barnard's letters to Lord Dundas and Viscount Melville were essential in providing information on the Cape related to its viability as a colony. It is the aim of this thesis to understand her role as an advocate of colonial practice in the Cape. In particular, this thesis seeks to uncover her complex use of discourses of nature , landscape, gender, race, and class in both her letters and pictorial representations.</p>