INDIA-the "corn chest for Scotland"fortunes made by loot
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where dhobie's back home in the poverty of
Scotland became millionaires in India ,by looting INDIANS from 1750 to
1947 7
Lusty Beggars, Dissolute Women, Sorners, Gypsies, and Vagabonds for Virginia : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site
www.history.org
in this eighteenth century print scottish field hands scrabble for firewood and scrape with a hoe in front of a stone cottage-see the poverty before the loot
Indian Rebellion of 1857 - Wikipedia
Wikipedia
British soldiers looting Qaisar Bagh, Lucknow, after its recapture (steel engraving, late 1850s)
British museums shine thanks to all the loot from India | The Indian ...
indianexpress.com › Research › Express Originals
Ruin of India by British Rule by Henry Mayer Hyndman, 1907
https://www.marxists.org/archive/hyndman/1907/ruin-india.htm
Scottish Migration Since 1750: Reasons and Results
https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=0761867953
James C. Docherty - 2016 - Social Science
His original Essay was published anonymously and made few references to Scotland beyond noting the poverty of the Scottish peasants and the .now read their side of the story of India under British (mis)rule
Exclusive Opinion by Aline Dobbie: The Great Scottish India Connection
This year is 250 years after the vision of the New Town of Edinburgh that coincided with the Age of Enlightenment when Scots Philosophers, Writers, Scientists, Engineers, Artists and Architects shone their light and talent and wisdom out over Great Britain and Europe. That time of enlightened thinking that coincided with the activity and success of the East India Company led to young Scots of all walks of life seeking to assuage their aspirations and find serious occupations for themselves. The subcontinent of India proved their great opportunity.
Standing looking out onto lush green lawns and the autumn colours beginning in the trees I reflected on the landscape of a Scottish ancestral home and thought of all the Scots who went to India where the landscape could be very varied but not quite like this. Those of us whose families served in India through the generations still have that sense of India in our heritage and therefore a love and great interest in that huge country …. from a small northern land of valleys, hills, mountains and sparkling rivers we Scots went for over two centuries to a vast sub-continent of wide diversity and the legacy remains with us to this day.
Here at Broomhall, the ancestral seat of the famous Bruce family, descendants of that legend Robert the Bruce I had come to see a new exhibition detailing this family’s great past in India where indeed I was born and grew up, the last of generations of two families who served, worked, lived and died in the sub-continent.
The 9th Earl faced the challenge of two consecutive years of widespread crop failure in 1896 and 1897 by organising the most comprehensive programme of outdoor relief ever seen in India. At its peak the programme provided work for 33 million people – over 30 years before Roosevelt launched the New Deal to combat the effects of the Depression in the US. Underlying the success of Elgin’s programme was the railway building programme, again the most progressive in the history of India, which allowed distribution of food supplies to famine stricken areas. By the time he left office in 1899, India had been provided with over 25,000 miles of track, of which 4000 miles had been planned or built during his term of office.
I have seen just a part of this glorious archive and was entranced and intrigued. Broomhall is going to play host to modern young people who will see a heritage mansion open its doors and welcome folk to dinners and lunches and events, who want to learn about a shared past and enjoy the present, with a glass of fusion whisky to wash it all down. Yes, a fusion of Scotch and Indian malt whiskies is what is going to be launched and it will be intriguing and special I have no doubt. The Water of Life can flow in great rivers in both Scotland and India.
This topical story reflects the history between our two countries. Kolkata was, until 1911 the capital of India. It was the centre of the British East India Company’s vast trade monopoly until the Indian Revolt in 1857 led to British rule under the Raj. In 1800 it was estimated that over two thirds of the Company’s officials were Scots.
The trading links were created back in 1618 when King James VI awarded a patent to Sir James Cunningham of Glengarnock, to found the Scottish East India Company. This led to vigorous objections in the City of London and amongst the Royal Burghs which feared the importation of exotic goods and they forced the patent to be withdrawn. It is worth considering at this point that at that time India had a significant number of empires that flourished and made it a major trading nation in the east.
However, the Act of Union in 1707 allowed Scots equal access to the English East India Company, which subsequently became the British East India Company (hereafter referred to as EIC) and by 1750 it was estimated that around 30% of the posts in Bengal were filled by Scots.
The EIC provided an escape route out of poverty for many young men at this time. John Malcolm was one of seventeen children from Dumfriesshire who got a cadetship in Bengal at the age of 13. He became private secretary to Lord Wellesley and set about a major reorganisation of Central India. His ambition was rewarded when he became Governor General of Bombay in 1827.
The EIC was also seen as a suitable career path for the educated classes within Scotland. Many graduates from Edinburgh University, particularly in medicine and botany, found success in India. One such was William Roxburgh from Ayrshire who became the Superintendent of the famous Calcutta Botanical Garden in 1793. He introduced new plants from all over India and became known as the father of Indian botany. The Calcutta Botanical Gardens had a great deal to do with Kew and in 2009 Kew’s significant year it celebrated in many ways that connection – how lovely it would be for the Calcutta Botanical Garden to be renovated and given sensitive restoration.
Tipu Sultan
The EIC offered young men the opportunity to prove themselves in the
military. After the failure of the 1745 uprising at home many men
enlisted and some battalions were formed specifically for duty in India,
like the 75th Highland Regiment raised in 1787. Four years later it merged with the 92nd to become the 1st
Battalion The Gordon Highlanders whose first two battle honours are
“Mysore” and “Seringapatam.” The Regiments spent twenty years fighting
in south India to protect British interests around Madras where the EIC
had first settled back in 1640. The famous ‘Patriot before his time’
Tipu Sahib, known as the Sultan of Mysore, was a dangerous enemy who had
sided with the French. The Mysore Wars culminated in an important
victory for the British at the Battle of Seringapatam which resulted in
the death of Tipu Sultan. In the National Gallery of Scotland there is a
portrait of General David Baird standing triumphant over the body of
Tipu. However, now in this 21st century The Burrell
Collection, one of Glasgow’s publicly owned museums, would like to
acquire a gold and gem-encrusted tiger’s head finial from the throne of
Tipu Sultan as a fitting addition to its collection of Muslim and Indian
art. Interestingly the Burrell Collection feels that acquiring the
finial would not only fit into the Collection because of its artistic
quality and cultural significance but would also help explore deeply
resonant contemporary issues such as achieving mutual understanding,
prosperity and stability via intercultural dialogue in a complex
culturally diverse society. Yes, indeed, Tipu Sultan died just over two
centuries ago and the evolving world order has shown all of us that we
have to respect each other not dominate or subsume peoples (which is
still sadly happening in other parts of the world).That military campaign however was the start of the path of success for Arthur Wellesley subsequently Duke of Wellington. For some, the military taught them skills which they could later apply outside the army. In 1783 a young man from Stornoway called Colin Mackenzie joined the EIC as an officer in the engineers. After the Battle of Seringapatam his survey team made detailed drawings of Mysore and the surrounding captured territory. He went on to survey throughout south India and garner extensive information on all aspects of Indian life and culture. He was later appointed Surveyor General of India and produced some of the first accurate maps of India.
Scots had proved themselves to be good administrators and many had held the post of Governor General. One prominent figure was James Ramsay, later to become Lord Dalhousie. In 1847 he became the youngest ever governor. He had introduced railways to India and expanded the telegraph to improve communications. He reformed the postal service, introduced a public works department and instigated plans for a nationwide irrigation system. Soldiers, sailors, engineers, marine engineers, harbour masters, doctors, teachers, missionaries, tea planters, coffee planters, jute ‘wallahs’, policemen, civil service administrators and all their wives made up the Scottish Diaspora in India and Ceylon. To this day the Scots are widely held in respect particularly by the older generation. It was Sir Walter Scott who allegedly remarked ‘India has become the corn chest for us Scots….’.
The power of the EIC increased over the years but with it grew internal corruption and inefficiencies. One man charged with presiding over the administration of it was Henry Dundas, Solicitor General for Scotland in 1766. He determined to curb the monopolistic powers of the EIC in favour of free trade. Slowly he dismantled some of the privileges but it was his son Robert who finally abolished the EIC monopoly in 1813. This opened new opportunities for commerce and Scottish companies were quick to take advantage.
One such company was James Finlay and Company, a Glasgow based company established in 1745 whose roots were in cotton. With the advent of free trade, the founder’s son Kirkman, later described as “the leading capitalist in Scotland,” sent his ship the “Earl of Buckinghamshire” to India in 1816. She was the first ship to sail from the Clyde to Bombay. This new market for cheap cotton goods boomed and soon India became the company’s most profitable region.
In 1931 the majority of top 20 companies in India had Scottish connections. The five largest in order of size were Tata, Andrew Yule, Inchcape, James Finlay, Williamson Magor and Burn and Co. with Tata Group the only Indian company. Companies with Scots roots owned 400 subsidiaries dominating tea, sugar, jute, coal, electricity, transport, metals and general investments. Sadly, now they have all but disappeared, with only James Finlay surviving today in a recognisable form.
Andrew Yule came from Stonehaven in 1863 and set up a conglomerate in tea, coal, jute and cotton. His brother George was involved in politics and along with Sir William Wedderburn from Edinburgh they helped found the current political ruling party, the Indian National Congress. George became the first non-Indian president of the Party.
The development of Inchcape Group is a classic example of Scots working together for mutual profit. In the early 1800s there were 2 major shipping lines (the third Cunard, although bearing the name of a man from Nova Scotia had Glaswegian managing partners).
The history of BI is interesting. Sir William MacKinnon was born in Campbeltown in 1823 and joined his friend Robert Mackenzie who was already established in trading in Calcutta in 1847. They formed a partnership called MacKinnon, Mackenzie and Co. later the same year chartering sailing vessels between India and Australia. Sadly, Robert was drowned in a shipwreck in 1853 but William continued to prosper from the boom in Indian cotton after the American Civil War in 1861 after which the American supplies dried up.
MacKinnon has been hailed by some as the “greatest Scottish industrialist of all time.” He favoured the Clyde side shipbuilders, notably William Denny and Bros. of Dumbarton, placing orders himself and negotiating on their behalf at home and abroad on new contracts. It is also said he only served finest malt whisky from Campbeltown on his ships. It is worth noting at this point that one can go around India to this day and discover iron works and architectural works manufactured in Scotland, such as the pillars of part of the fabulous palace at Mysore. Assam, where I have been recently for the first time is full of Scottish plant and engineering for the tea industry and that north east area of India is trying very hard to encourage a tourism industry based on the heritage of the tea industry.
When MacKinnon won the right to run the prestigious mail route between Calcutta and Rangoon he immediately set up a new company, the Calcutta & Burmah Steam Navigation Co Ltd and this ultimately led to the formation of his company British India Steam Navigation Co., (B I) registered in Scotland in 1862. The BI fleet went on to become the largest single merchant fleet in the world in 1922 with 158 vessels.
James MacKay from Arbroath joined MacKinnon, Mackenzie and Co. in 1874 and when MacKinnon died in 1893 MacKay, later Lord Inchcape, was ready to take on the mantle and take BI to even greater things.
I have a collection of prints framed of beautiful Indian plants and the man who made the enormous collection is called Hugh Francis Clarke Cleghorn 1820-1895. This year the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh had a small exhibition of his precious drawing and paintings. After studying botany at the RBGE in 1838 and 1839, graduating MD in 1841 Hugh Cleghorn went to Madras as an East India Company surgeon. Between 1843 and 1847 he worked in the Kingdom of Mysore. He commissioned a ‘Marathi’ artist to paint a different plant for him every day. Following a sick leave in Britain Cleghorn returned to Madras in 1851, where he was appointed Professor of Botany at the Medical College, Secretary of the Agri-Horticultural Society and Conservator of Forests. In all these roles he continued to commission Indian artists who made illustrations of native and cultivated plants, and copied book illustrations. There are about 3,000 items and following his death in 1895 Cleghorn’s botanical books and drawings were split between the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art and Edinburgh University, and his herbarium was given to RBGE. In 1940 the books and the drawings were transferred to RBGE whereupon Cleghorn became, if posthumously, one of the Garden’s most significant patrons.
John Begg a Scot born in 1866 became very successful designing public buildings in South Africa, India and Burma. His public buildings adorn Johannesburg, Mumbai, Kolkata, Rangoon, Agra, Delhi, Pune and Nagpur among other places. He never reached the same level of recognition in his homeland probably because he did not receive a commission for a large public building here in Scotland. Scots literally shone when they went to far off places and their legacies remain even now.
All four of Aline Dobbie’s books are now in hard cover and e-book form www.quicklookbooks.com
Poverty and Un-British Rule in India - Dadabhai Naoroji - Google Books
https://books.google.com/books?id=oqwCAAAAMAAJ&printsec...
AbeBooks · On Demand Books · Amazon · Find in a library · All sellers » ... Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. By Dadabhai Naoroji. About this book · Terms of ...Dadabhai Naoroji - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dadabhai_Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917), known as the Grand Old Man of India, ... His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was ..... Google Book Search. Web.
Dadabhai Naoroji, known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader. Wikipedia
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