Trade, Governance and Empire 1600-1947: From the East India Company to the Indian Independence Act.

Just 3 months into 2017 Adam Matthew have already published a wealth of exciting new collections, one of which I particularly had my eye on: East India Company Module 1: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947. Unavoidably heightened by the hype surrounding the BBC’s recent drama Taboo, my interest in India’s colonial history and the events leading up to Indian independence meant I was avidly awaiting the grand unveil of East India Company.

The BBC have been particularly hot on the topic recently, having featured their episode of Who Do You Think You Are: Sunetra Sarker (documenting Sarker’s discovery of her ancestor’s involvement in the rise against colonial India) in the same week as the Taboo finale. As you may have guessed, the Who Do You Think You Are episode was just my cup of tea (excuse the tacky colonial trade pun). 

Of particular interest was Sarker’s great-grandfather’s story. Dr Naresh Chandra Sen-Gupta was a lawyer and writer who produced the first English translation of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s 1881 novel Anandamath (The Abbey of Bliss) which was banned by the British for its allusions to the revolt against the British Empire. Sen-Gupta’s 1906 translation of the novel was a response to the 1905 partition of West and East Bengal by the British. 

The 1905 partition was largely an attempt by the British to defuse the increasing anti-imperialist movement by provoking conflict between the majority Hindu Bengali population in the west and the majority Muslim population in the east. Their plan, however, backfired. The partition swayed Bengali Hindus and Muslims to join forces in what became a communal nationalism which advanced anti-imperialist strategies such as the Swadeshi movement. 

The British ultimately conceded and in December 1911 King George V announced the reunification of Bengal during his Coronation Durbar in Delhi. This, as ever, had an ulterior motive. The reunification enabled the British Raj to ease administration by creating separate administrative provinces in Bengal and moving the administrative capital from Calcutta (previously the East India Company’s stomping ground) to Delhi.

A little digging amongst East India Company’s shelves revealed a volume containing a dissent submitted by H.S. Barnes, a member of the Council of India, which records his opposition to the proposed administration changes.