Princess Caraboo

by

The Strange Tale of Princess Caraboo of Javescu

Princess Caraboo of Javasu (Mary Baker), 1817 (oil on panel) by Bird, Edward (1722-1819) – Public Domain
This article was first published on #FolkloreThursday.com by zteve t evans on 21/03/2019 under the title The Curious Case of Princess Caraboo. It has since been revised and edited by zteve t evans 19 April 2024.

Princess Caraboo

In the spring of 1817, a young woman appeared in the quaint Gloucestershire village of Almondsbury, claiming to be none other than Princess Caraboo from a far-off land. Her sudden arrival caused quite a commotion in Regency England, with locals and dignitaries eager to learn more about this mysterious and exotic visitor. And so began the captivating tale of Princess Caraboo. This story would soon capture the hearts and imaginations of people nationwide. She had sleek black hair, was about 5ft 2 inches tall, did not have the appearance of someone used to hard physical work and was dressed strangely.

To the bewilderment of all, she spoke an unknown language, apparently not understanding any questions in English and appeared lost and confused. Her only possessions were her clothes, a counterfeit sixpence and a couple of halfpennies. Possessing counterfeit money was a serious crime, and she was not carrying any form of identification, so her identity could not be determined. She was taken to the local Overseer of the Poor, who took her to the county magistrate, Samuel Worrall of Knole Park. Worrall, or his American-born wife, Elizabeth, could not comprehend her either but, using signs, managed to understand that she called herself Princess Caraboo.

The Worralls

Mrs Worrall decided she should be taken to the local inn, where she would be given supper and a private bedroom for the night. In the morning, she would visit and talk to her further to decide what could be done for her. On arriving at the inn, Caraboo saw a painting hung on a wall depicting a pineapple. Excitedly, she recognised it repeatedly, calling it “ananas”, a word in some Indo-European languages for a pineapple.

While waiting for supper, she conveyed she desired a cup of tea. She was given one, but before drinking, she bowed her head, covered her eyes, appeared to murmur a prayer in an unknown language, and then sipped the tea. When it was gone, she was offered a refill but would only accept it once the cup had been thoroughly washed, and she repeated the same ritual. After her supper, she was shown to her bedroom, and with her host’s bemusement, she prepared herself for sleeping on the floor, even though her room had a good bed. After the landlady’s daughter demonstrated how to use it, she knelt in prayer, undressed, and got into bed.

Manuel Eynesso

Worrall sent her to the Mayor of Bristol, John Haythorne. But he could not understand the girl either and sent her to St. Peter’s Hospital, as the law required. At the same time, further investigations were made for a possible trial. While in hospital, a Portuguese sailor named Manuel Eynesso contacted the authorities, claiming he could speak her language. The authorities agreed to let him talk to her, and after doing so, he told them her name was Princess Caraboo, and she was foreign-born. She came to England from an island called Javasu in the Indian Ocean after pirates had abducted her and had sailed to England with her on board. She had managed to escape the ship by jumping overboard in the Bristol Channel and swam ashore.

Kidnapped in Javescu

Samuel Worrall and his wife were convinced by what she had told them. They believed she was a royal princess who had suffered terribly at the hands of pirates and invited her back into their home. While there, a well-to-do gentleman who had travelled extensively to China and the East Indies took an interest in her and attempted to communicate with her using signs and gestures. In this way, she appeared to confirm her name was Caraboo and that her father was a man of high status in her country of birth, China, though she called it Congee. Furthermore, she confirmed she had been kidnapped by pirates in a place called Javasu and worshipped a god called Allah-Tallah. He also apparently learnt that her mother was a Malay woman who had been killed in fighting between cannibals called Boogoos and the Malays.

The day she was kidnapped, she had been in the company of her maidservants walking in the gardens. Pirates led by someone called Chee-min had captured, bound, and gagged her and carried her off to their ship. Furthermore, she asserted when they untied her, she attacked two of the pirates, killing one and wounding the other. After 11 days, she was sold to a ship’s captain named Tappa Boo, who set sail for Europe. On reaching England and sailing up the Bristol Channel, she escaped by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. On reaching shore, she wandered around for six weeks before arriving in Almondsbury.

Celebrity Status

For the press and media, the incredible adventures of a brave foreign princess, kidnapped by pirates and transported half around the world, was an opportunity not to be missed, and she became a celebrity. Lords, ladies, and other dignitaries flocked to meet the brave and exotic princess. She did not disappoint them, showing off her skills with a bow and arrow, giving fencing demonstrations and swimming naked in the estate lake. Before going to bed at night, she would pray to her god and sometimes climb to the top of a tree to commune with her god. All her high-ranking visitors were wildly enthralled by this strange, exotic princess and her bizarre behaviour and language.

As her fame spread, she dressed in exotic clothes and had her portrait painted, which was printed in local newspapers. However, while looking through a copy of the Bristol Journal, a boarding housekeeper named Mrs Neale instantly recognised her as Mary Baker (born Willcocks), a cobbler’s daughter from Witheridge, Devon, who had lodged with her.

Folk Heroine

Caraboo – Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

When the truth became known, the press may have been expected to vilify and condemn Mary Baker, but conversely, the opposite happened. They lampooned and lambasted the Worralls and all their learned rural gentry who had let a simple, uneducated girl make fools of themselves. She had successfully pulled the wool over their eyes, becoming a celebrity twice over and, in two months, something of a folk heroine.

The press, ignoring their own part in creating the sensation, ridiculed and satirised the individuals, gentry, and intellectuals involved. The fact that a poor, uneducated, working-class girl had managed to fool so many upstanding and well-to-do individuals was a great source of mirth for many people up and down the country, and the public lapped it up.

The Crucial Factor

So, how did a relatively uneducated, poor, homeless girl manage to fool such eminent people? For a start, despite her lack of education, she was intelligent and quick-witted. She quickly realised they believed she could not speak or comprehend English because they talked about her in her presence, thinking she did not understand. It was this behaviour that had helped her to lead them on and manipulate them, which is why she always seemed so credible. They also showed her books and pictures of foreign places and languages, which further helped her. The Worralls gave her food and shelter, which was possibly enough motivation for a poor homeless girl. Moreover, and perhaps above all, she was getting attention as someone of significance and interest to many important people.

Did Mary deliberately mislead them, or was there something else? According to Mrs Neale, Mary was a strange girl who made up languages from gipsy words she had picked up on her travels. Could she have been suffering from some personality or psychiatric disorder, perhaps something in the Autistic Spectrum or Asperger’s Syndrome?

Mary in America

Mary was given a boat fare for Philadelphia and left on June 28th, 1817. Mary’s story was known in America, and she was greeted enthusiastically as Princess Caraboo and gave performances of the princess in theatres. In 1824, she returned to England, giving performances of Princess Caraboo in London’s New Bond Street and Bath and Bristol, where she married, became pregnant, and gave birth to a daughter in 1829.

In 1839, she was known to be selling leeches to the Bristol Infirmary Hospital, which may have involved the unpleasant task of collecting them. Although animals were sometimes used to attract them, collectors often used their legs, and problems caused by infections and blood loss were a high risk for collectors. Mary died on Christmas Eve, 1864, and was buried in an unmarked grave in Hebron Road Burial Ground, Bedminster, and Bristol.

Whatever Mary’s real motives were in creating Princess Caraboo are hard to decide. Nevertheless, whether it was an intentional hoax, a personality disorder or something that just spiralled out of control, the flamboyant and mysterious persona she created was not forgotten after her demise. Her story is told in the 1994 film, “Princess Caraboo,” directed by Michael Austen; a novel “The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo,” in 2015, by Catherine Johnson; several stage musical adaptations and a stage musical, Princess Caraboo, with a book, with lyrics by Phil Willmott and composed by Mark Collins.

© zteve t evans

Reference Attributions and Further Reading

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