Digitechroshni at 10:31, 23 April 2026

2026-04-23T10:31:06Z

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{{Short description|British writer (1790–1853)}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Florentia Sale
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Lady Sale.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Sale by Richard Thomas Bott, 1844
| birth_name = Florentia Wynch
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1790|08|13|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Madras]], Tamil Nadu, [[Company rule in India|India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1853|07|06|1790|08|13|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Cape Town]], South Africa
| body_discovered =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| monuments =
| notable_works = ''A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, 1841–2''
| spouse = [[Robert Sale|Sir Robert Henry Sale]] (1809–1845)
}}

'''Florentia Sale, Lady Sale''' (née '''Wynch'''; 13 August 1790 – 6 July 1853)<ref name=":0">{{Cite DNB|wstitle=Sale, Robert Henry|last=Vetch|first=R. H.}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite ODNB|id=24533|title=Sale, Sir Robert Henry}}</ref> was an Englishwoman who travelled the world while married to her husband, [[Robert Henry Sale|Sir Robert Henry Sale]], a British army officer. She was dubbed "the [[Grenadier]] in [[Petticoat]]s"<ref>{{citation|author=Hugh Williams|title=Fifty Things You Need to Know About British History |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]|year=2008|pages=302–303|isbn=978-0-00-727841-1}}</ref> for her travels with the army, which took her to regions such as [[Mauritius]], [[Burma]], [[Afghanistan]], [[India]], and various other areas under the control of the [[British Empire]].

==Early life==
Florentia Wynch was born on 13 August 1790,<ref name=":0" /> in [[Madras]], during [[Company rule in India]], the daughter of George Wynch, a member of the civil service.<ref name="Wynch early">{{cite web|url=http://www.ampltd.co.uk/digital_guides/india_during_the_raj_parts_1_and_2/biographical-notes-part-1.aspx|title=India during the Raj |publisher=Adam Matthew Publications|access-date= 15 September 2011}}</ref> George's father [[Alexander Wynch]] was the [[Governors of Madras|Governor of Madras]] for a time during the 1770s.<ref name="Wynch early"/> It is possible she is named after her paternal grandmother, Florentia Craddock, wife of Alexander.<ref name="Alexander">{{cite web|url=http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=370|title=Gifford Lodge: Twickenham|publisher=The Twickenham Museum|access-date=15 September 2011|archive-date=24 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324104119/http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=370|url-status=dead}}</ref> She was raised by her uncles and received a good education as a child.<ref name="Jalalabad">{{cite web|author=Omrani|first=Bijan|author-link=Bijan Omrani|date=2006|title=Will we make it to Jalalabad?|url=http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=jalala|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923185139/http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=jalala|archive-date=23 September 2015|access-date=15 September 2011|website=Bijan Omrani}}</ref>

==Marriage and adult life==
[[File:Prison Sketches. Comprising portraits of the Cabul prisoners, and other subjects (BM 1970,0527.2.7).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Lady Sale from ''Prison Sketches. Comprising portraits of the Cabul prisoners, and other subjects'' by [[Vincent Eyre]]|alt=]]
In 1809, Wynch married Sir [[Robert Henry Sale]] of the [[British Army]]. She accompanied him on his numerous postings, raising their children while he fought. The Sales had three sons and seven daughters. During the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]], Lady Sale, along with other women and children, as well as soldiers, were taken prisoner in 1842 during the British Army's retreat from Kabul and detained for nine months.<ref name="WiWH">{{cite web|url=http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson8/lesson8.php?s=5 |title=British Empire primary sources: Diary, Lady Florentia Sale |publisher=Women in World History|access-date= 16 July 2010}}</ref> The group were taken hostage by [[Wazir Akbar Khan|Akbar Khan]] following the massacre in the Khurd Karbul Pass. Amongst the hostages with Lady Sale was her youngest daughter Alexandrina, along with her husband Lieutenant John Sturt.<ref name="Sale pdf">{{Cite book|last=Parker|first=Sarah E.|url=http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Grace%20and%20Favour%20%20-%20A%20handbook%20of%20who%20lived%20where%20in%20Hampton%20Court%20Palace%201750%20to%201950.pdf|title=Grace & Favour: A handbook of who lived where in Hampton Court Palace 1750 to 1950|publisher=Historic Royal Palaces|year=2005|isbn=1-873993-50-1|location=Surrey|pages=18|access-date=15 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320030631/http://www.hrp.org.uk/Resources/Grace%20and%20Favour%20%20-%20A%20handbook%20of%20who%20lived%20where%20in%20Hampton%20Court%20Palace%201750%20to%201950.pdf|archive-date=20 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> Sturt was fatally injured by a severe wound to his abdomen, in an attack in which Lady Sale was shot in the wrist and Mrs Sturt's pony was shot in the neck and ear. The two women nursed him during his final hours.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lady Sale's Afghanistan : an indomitable Victorian lady's account of the retreat from Kabul during the First Afghan War|author=Sale, Florentia Wynch|date=2009|publisher=Leonaur/Oakpast Ltd|isbn=9781846777325|oclc=547500668}}</ref> Upon his death, she secured him a Christian burial. After nine months, the party managed to negotiate the Afghan captors into releasing them; they were then rescued by Sir [[Richmond Shakespear]] on 17 September 1842.<ref name="India">{{cite web |author=Adam Matthew |url=http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/india_during_the_raj_parts_1_and_2/Biographical-Notes-Part-1.aspx |title=India during the Raj |publisher=Adam Matthew Publications |access-date=16 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006064447/http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/india_during_the_raj_parts_1_and_2/Biographical-Notes-Part-1.aspx |archive-date=6 October 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Throughout her time as a captive, Lady Sale kept a diary, detailing the events of the ordeal in a very straight forward and thoughtful manner. She sent parts of her diary through her captivity to her husband and he sent it on to the authorities in England and it was quoted by the papers at the time. She was unimpressed by how the newspapers had reported her actions. A year later, she published this as ''A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, 1841–42'', which documented her experiences throughout the Afghan War,<ref>Sale, Florentia (1843) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=0fZAAAAAcAAJ A Journal of the Disasters in Affghanistan, 1841–42]''. Baudry's European Library, Paris.</ref> and the book received critical acclaim. During her time in Afghanistan, Lady Sale collected some ancient coins and donated 20 of them to the [[British Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lady Florentia Sale - 21 related objects|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG141936|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716022627/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG141936|archive-date=16 July 2020|access-date=15 July 2020|website=British Museum}}</ref> One of the coins is on display today.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Jansari|first=Jansari|date=16 March 2018|title=International women collectors|url=https://blog.britishmuseum.org/international-women-collectors/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212445/https://blog.britishmuseum.org/international-women-collectors/|archive-date=17 November 2020|access-date=15 July 2020|website=British Museum}}</ref>

Lady Sale's husband was [[killed in action]] in 1845 during the [[First Anglo-Sikh War]], leaving her widowed. From 1846-1848 she had a [[grace and favour]] apartment at [[Hampton Court Palace]], just outside London.<ref name="Sale pdf"/> She remained in [[Company rule in India|India]] for most of the rest of her life.<ref name="Kabul">{{cite web|author= Adam Matthew |url=http://www.onlinegalleries.com/antiques/d/lady-florentia-sale-on-retreat-from-kabul-the-kabul-disaster-january-1842/10483 |title=Lady Florentia Sale on retreat from Kabul |publisher=Online Galleries|access-date= 16 July 2010}}</ref> After her husband's death she received a pension of £500 per annum in light of her conduct as a prisoner and her husband's military services.<ref name="Sale pdf"/> Sale took a trip to the [[Cape of Good Hope]] in 1853 for her health,<ref name="Sale pdf"/> though she died not long after her arrival, on 6 July 1853, in [[Cape Town]], South Africa.<ref name=":1" /> Lady Sale was originally buried in the Somerset Road Cemetery. After the leveling of this cemetery, the monument for Lady Sale and her remains were re-erected in the Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1986|title=BACSA Photographs|url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/chowkidar/pdf/chowkidar_04_04.pdf|journal=Chowkidar Journal|volume=4|pages=63–65|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804083032/http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/chowkidar/pdf/chowkidar_04_04.pdf|archive-date=2019-08-04}}</ref> where her grave exists to this day. Her tombstone reads "underneath this stone reposes all that could die of Lady Sale".<ref>{{cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William |author-link=William Dalrymple (historian) |title=Return of a King; the Battle for Afghanistan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ud4_AQAAQBAJ |year=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5 |oclc=955470310}}</ref>

== Works ==
* {{Cite book|last=Sale|first=Florentia|url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/17719/view/1/7/|title=A Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan, 1841–42|publisher=John Murray|year=1843|location=London}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160304195438/http://www.bijanomrani.com/?p=jalala Will we make it to Jalalabad?] Biographical article on Lady Sale by [[Bijan Omrani]].

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sale, Florentia}}
[[Category:1790 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the First Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:British people of the First Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:Kidnapped British people]]
[[Category:British autobiographers]]
[[Category:British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:British women writers]]
[[Category:British women autobiographers]]
[[Category:19th-century British women writers]]
[[Category:Wives of knights]]

Florentia Sale - Revision history

Digitechroshni at 10:31, 23 April 2026