British Colonial India in the 19th Century
| Key Developments and Dates in the Expansion of British Power in India | |
Maps of India 1798, 1836, 1857 |
Indian Peasants |
| British women ("Memsahibs"), c 1850 | Mount Holyoke Women in India: The Example of Ruth Parker White (class of 1917) |
| Figures on Indian Economic Development 1881-1891 | Figures and Report on Education in India, 1892-1897 |
| Documents on British India on Ella | Digital Colonial Documents for India |
| Architecture of Empire | On line British Parliamentary Papers [find India in the subject catelog] |
Cultural Exchange: Incorporating the colonial in British upper-class life. The example of an Indian servant girl in the household of Robert Clive, director of the English East India Company and the victor over the Mughal army in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. This portrait is by the famous English portraitist, Joshua Reynolds, and was created around 1765, after Clive's victory in India.
Architecture of Empire
Headquarters of the Calcutta Presidency of the East India Company
c.1820 [Compare the Taj Majhal built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan 1632-53 ]
The neo-classical architecture, elaborate gate, and dramtic gardens and
avenues invoked the imperial connection with Rome. There were two other
Presidencies, one at Madras and the other at Bombay. Saguna takes
place near Bombay.
Architecture and Infrastructure: Building railways in British Indian, ca. 1860s.
British Plan for New Delhi, built after the 1857 Mutiny. It was in "Old Delhi" that the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857.
Under the East India Company, the peasants, who made up the bulk of the Indian population, paid very high taxes that were collected by the company and formed around 80 to 90 percent of all taxes collected. (Compare French peasants of the same period.)
From the 1820s, more and more British women came to India to accompany
their husbands, while every year numerous single British women arrived to
make matches with colonial officers and administrators. The married women
often participated in missionary work, along the lines described in Saguna.
Their growing presence in India altered British social life and
introduced a minor moral revolution. Before their arrival, British men
dined together and enjoyed local entertainments, many keeping Indian
women as mistresses. These practices diminished greatly with the arrival
and growing presence of British women, who brought with them the "Victorian morality"
of their day.
Mount Holyoke Women in India: The Example of Ruth Parker White (class of 1917)
Online primary sources for the British in India:
- Digital Colonial Documents for India
- On line British Parliamentary Papers [find India in the subject catelog]