Native Woman

When a child was baptised, sometimes the mother was described as ‘a native woman’.

The following information is taken mainly from the India List:

• The term 'native woman’ applied to Hindu or tribal women. More details in this thread.
• There was also a term ‘Bunnoo native woman’. Bunnoo or Banoo or Bunnoa was an area in Eastern Afghanistan, according to Thornton's 1844 Gazetteer, but a researcher advised more often the term implied a Muslim (of any northern origin). (Bannu District is now in Pakistan.)
• This thread discussed a possible Persian/Parsee connection
• If there was a marriage in a church, the wife had become a Christian. More details in this thread.
• This thread showed how one researcher found details of an Indian mother from her son's school record.