Early Life in India
Kitty Kirkpatrick was born Noor un-Nissa, Sahib Begum, at Hyderabad. In 1805, the year of her father's death, she and her elder brother Mir Ghulam Ali, Sahib Allum, were sent to live with their grandfather Colonel James Kirkpatrick, in London and Keston, Kent, leaving their mother in India.
Although brought up as Muslims, the two children were baptised on 25 March 1805 at St. Mary’s Church, Marylebone Road, and were thereafter known by their new Christian names, William George Kirkpatrick and Katherine Aurora "Kitty" Kirkpatrick. William was disabled in 1812 after falling into boiling water and had to have an arm amputated; he married and had three children but died in 1828 aged 27.
Kitty was "... brought up as a Victorian lady – grew into a famous beauty, immortalised by Thomas Carlyle in his novel Sartor Resartus". It is believed that she was the inspiration for (the Calypso-like) Blumine, one of the characters of Carlyle's book.
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