Betty von Fürer-Haimendorf (1911 – 11 January 1987), born Elizabeth Barnardo, was a British

ethnologist Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Scien ...

in India and Nepal. She was married to Austrian ethnologist

Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf or Christopher von Fürer-Haimendorf FRAI (22 June 1909 – 11 June 1995) was an Austrian ethnologist and professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London. He spent forty years studying ...

Early life

Elizabeth Barnardo was born in

Darbhanga Darbhanga is the fifth largest city and municipal corporation in the state of Bihar in India, and is considered an important city in North Bihar. It serves as the headquarters of the Darbhanga district and the Darbhanga division. Darbhanga ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, one of the five children of Col. Frederick "Barnie" Barnardo and Violet Barnardo, of Bexhill. Her father, also born in

, was a physician with the Indian Medical Service, nephew of Irish philanthropist

Thomas John Barnardo Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 184519 September 1905) was an Irish, Christian philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's dea ...

, and dean of a medical school in Calcutta before 1921. Her mother died by suicide in 1942. In girlhood, Betty Barnardo was close to Patience Gray, who became a noted food writer. The two young women traveled together in central Europe in 1937.

Career

Barnardo, who had trained as a nurse, worked closely with her husband on documenting the tribal cultures of northern India and Nepal. "No Himalayan pass was too high for her, no field site too remote," recalled a colleague in a 1987 obituary. She compiled the three-volume ''An anthropological bibliography of South Asia'' (1958). With her husband, she co-wrote ''The Reddis of the Bison hills: A study in acculturation'' (1945), ''The Raj Gonds of Adilabad: A peasant culture of the Deccan'' (1948), and ''The Gonds of Andhra Pradesh: Tradition and change in an Indian tribe'' (1979), Her diaries became an important source of her husband's 1990 memoir, ''Life Among Indian Tribes: the Autobiography of an Anthropologist''.

Personal life

In 1938, Elizabeth Barnardo married Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf. They had a son, Nicholas, born in 1946. She died in 1987, in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

. The couple's papers are archived at the

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

at the University of London.

References

External links

"A Tribute to Christoph and Betty von Fürer-Haimendorf"
(1996), a film by British anthropologist

Mark Turin Mark Turin (born 1973) is a British anthropologist, linguist and occasional radio broadcaster who specialises in the Himalayas and the Pacific Northwest. Turin was interim editor of the journal ''Pacific Affairs'' from 2023-2024. He is an asso ...

.
"Betty von Furer-Haimendorf and Apatanis"
(1944), a photograph of von Fürer-Haimendorf by her husband, one of several photos of her, taken 1939 to 1974, in the collection of

SOAS University of London The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Furer-Haimendorf, Betty von 1911 births 1987 deaths People from Darbhanga British ethnologists British women anthropologists British people in colonial India 20th-century British anthropologists 20th-century British women scientists British Indologists Scholars from Hyderabad, India