@genplant29 said:

It's an interesting side detail that apparently Mrs. Beecham is some extent of addicted to cocaine. I thought I simply imagined it the first time cocaine was mentioned, though then her companion, Violet, said the word "cocaine" again, and we then see Mrs. B having to take to her bed, with one of her heads, and it becomes evident that she truly does get herself doped up (apparently to relieve migraines). That was an unexpected revelation.

Didn't Violet say "opium"?

Oh - that may have been what she said.

@genplant29 said:

Oh - that may have been what she said.

Maybe she said laudanum? I haven't watched episode 2 yet, so I can't be sure but it was quite popular with ladies who suffered from 'headaches'. Here is one article (there are plenty more) about its use.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89268/lure-laudanum-victorians-favorite-drug#:~:text=In%20the%2016th%20century%2C%20the,it%20as%20a%20cure%2Dall.

The more I think about it, I do think it was "opium" that Mrs. Beecham's companion Violet said. That would make sense, too, as opium was quite well-known and pretty popular.

I was hoping wonder2wonder would find a transcript and confirm the remark about the father! Thank you for putting my mind at ease about an important factoid! Since this series is set in 1795, the elder Mr. Beecham must've been transported fairly early on, if not in the First Fleet (arrived in NSW in 1788). And since John hadn't seen his mother for 12 years, it seems likely his father was transported some time after he went off to work for the British East India Company. I've looked at a lot of the reasons for conviction of Brits who were transported to Australia (there are fairly good records available online). Most were transported for simple theft, many others for forgery and embezzlement. I've checked since my earlier comment and indeed debtors were transported as well. SO, the father was definitely a dissolute scofflaw (probably financial of some sort, if not worse).

I wonder if Mrs. Beecham has some money of her own or if her sons have had to support her? Her increasingly imperious manner in Ep. 2 makes me suspect the former. Plus Violet, a long-term family friend, seems fairly genteel and well-bred. The governess remarked that Mrs. Beecham didn't hold working women in very high esteem, so she wasn't employed. This all helps to bring into focus the family background. I've always been interested in those who went to India to seek fortune, especially after reading that their tenure there often had a deleterious effect on life expectancy. The long voyages alone were dangerous. That people risked good health in order to prosper in a far off exotic land is just further proof of how difficult it was to rise socioeconomically prior to the Age of Enlightenment. So fascinating!

Btw, @brat, if you're in a cheating mood, here's the link to Episode 2 (available, free, in an array of different playback resolutions). That PBS site posts the link to each episode once it has aired on t.v.

@genplant29 said:

Btw, @brat, if you're in a cheating mood, here's the link to Episode 2 (available, free, in an array of different playback resolutions). That PBS site posts the link to each episode once it has aired on t.v.

Thanks gen, I was watching the first half at the PBS website & she did say opium, but that is what laudanum is made of, that & alcohol.

@merryapril said:

I wonder if Mrs. Beecham has some money of her own or if her sons have had to support her? Her increasingly imperious manner in Ep. 2 makes me suspect the former. Plus Violet, a long-term family friend, seems fairly genteel and well-bred.

Everything you mentioned are very good points, merry. As Mrs.Beecham's husband was sent off to Australia as an inmate, it's a mystery how she was able to maintain a genteel existence even before she reunited with her sons, as it would seem like she should have wound up ruined, if her husband was.

@genplant29 said: As Mrs.Beecham's husband was sent off to Australia as an inmate, it's a mystery how she was able to maintain a genteel existence even before she reunited with her sons, as it would seem like she should have wound up ruined, if her husband was.

It certainly is a mystery genplant. I'm not sure which ones were considered capitol crimes (and thus punishable by death) back then, but I think some sorts of financial crimes were indeed capitol offenses. So transportation was often an act of "mercy" by the courts, in lieu of hanging. In any case being sentenced to Australia would've been a major black mark on the family, so it makes me wonder how Mrs. Beecham was able to maintain the friendship of someone like Violet (she's not THAT old or plain!) whose family would've had to agree to the trip to India, or maintain any kind of respectability for that matter in the wake of her husband's sentence. And if he was as dissolute as her son Daniel, he probably caused even more disgrace to tarnish the family's status. I suppose this could help to explain some of her behavior upon learning John had a mixed-race son -- a Third Strike!!! No wonder she likes opium! And she's certainly in the right place for it -- her habit will probably cost her a lot less now that she's so close to the source of it!

Shahrukh Husain (one of the creators and writers):

"I based John Beecham’s character and personality on an ancestor of my husband called Thomas Metcalfe."

Metcalfe was born in 1795 and went to India in 1813 – but Beecham House is set earlier than this, when there were very few Brits in Delhi.

"I wanted an Englishman who didn’t want a part in the profiteering and banditry that went on in the East India Company, but did it fairly."

"Thomas started off in the East India Company, as did his father, but he did leave – he was still part of the establishment but not part of the company."

"He was honest. The fact he was there all those years and had his children there shows his love of India."

"He was the kind of man I wanted to write about, someone who was different and stood out."

"I discovered he’d lived in India for 40 years and he was really dedicated to the country. He built a beautiful house in Delhi which is still there today and used as a government building."

"John wants to reinvent himself away from anyone who knew him, so he comes to Delhi. He builds Beecham House. A lot of people were leaving Delhi, it was a bit like the Wild West – but it was still a centre of trade."

Just for fun, and not that this is necessarily the writer's husband's ancestor but: a convict named Thomas Metcalfe was transported to Australia in 1828:

THOMAS METCALFE, Theft > simple larceny, 13th September 1827. THOMAS METCALFE was indicted for stealing, on the 7th of August , 1 pewter pot, value 1s. 8d. , the goods of Walter Morrison . JAMES MATTHEWS . I am a builder. On the 7th of August my son came and told me that a man had taken a pot, and put it under ...

His sentence was 7 years. They didn't mess around in those days!

Another possibility regarding the sentenced and convicted elder Mr. Beecham might have been embezzlement. As John says his father was dissolute, I could imagine him needing funds so he'd be able to afford maintaining a mistress (perhaps more than one), or maybe needing money so he could shut someone up who was blackmailing him.

I've speculated something similar about the elder Beecham. Considering there seems to be some degree of gentility in the family's social status, a conviction due to petty theft would be less likely. And I've also wondered if the father preceded his 2 sons in serving the the EIC (IMO unlikely, in light of the mother's attitudes and behavior), just like the person who wonder2wonder informed us as having inspired the writer. We can only guess at this point, and while it's possible we may learn more about the family background, on the other hand time's running out and there's more than enough going on in John Beecham's personal and business life to fill the next 4 episodes. Unless wonder2wonder knows differently, I don't recall Mrs. Beecham saying anything so far that gives us any other clues about her husband. I'm not into "fan fiction" but if there were subsequent seasons I suspect the father could be part of the cast (Jim Carter/Carson from Downton Abbey?!?!), but...

Mrs. B was tripping near the end of E3 (last night's new [to the US] episode)!

When Violet went to the bazaar, she gave the dealer a vial, which he filled. I got the impression - however am not sure - that he added/mixed new content to existing contents of the vial. Did the dealer simply refill a totally empty vial, or did he lace existing opium that was in the vial with something else? If so, that might explain why Mrs. Beecham wound up doing her dazed sleepwalking.

Incidentally, that episode also makes evident that Violet seems to be of a more moneyed and socially higher position family than are (or at least in England were) the Beechams. So why did she go off to India with Mrs. B? Solely in hopes of snaring John as her husband?

I wasn't clear on who the dead guy fished out of the water was. I realize he was obviously one of John's trusted household staff members, and later saw he was the husband of one particular familiar Indian household staff woman who was crying and mourning over his death, though honestly don't remember ever seeing him before, or what his role in the household was. Was he a character we had seen many times previously? When I saw him lying by the water, I didn't at all recognize him.

The actor who portrayed Gopal, the murdered servant, is listed as only appearing in one episode. So it's no wonder we're unfamiliar with him! I thought John referred to him as Maya's brother, when he informed her of his death, but I could be mistaken.

Maybe opium that Mrs. Beecham's accustomed to is cut with some sort of filler in order to maximize the seller's profit, while the stuff from the Indian bazaar is simply more potent. I wouldn't be surprised though genplant if your theory that the opium was spiked could also be true -- maybe just to spite an English purchaser. Whatever the case, she was definitely hallucinating at the end of the episode. Blimey!

I was surprised to learn Violet's father owned a shipping company. I'd think that would indicate her family's quite affluent. And while it seems like a futile exercise to speculate further about the Beecham family background, I can't help myself: although Henrietta Beecham's seemed unpolished to me, I can't imagine Violet's parents would allow their daughter to travel with someone of a lesser rank, much less aspire to marry one of her sons. I guess Lesley Nicol's role as Mrs. Patmore has had too much of a subliminal effect on my regard of Mrs. B. OR, maybe she's just a wife and mother in the same mold as Mrs. Bennett of Pride and Prejudice -- nervous, silly and ill-mannered.