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This book is a history of British India from 1599 to 1947. It is
divided into three parts addressing political history, topical
studies, and a collection of four hundred biographies of noteworthy
English men and women who played a role in the creation of British
India. As the Elizabethan era approached its end, English life
exuded a high sense of energy and optimism that drove men to the
ends of the earth. The lure of wealth in the spices of the East
Indies correlated well with English naval strengths. In London, the
East India Company set the national vision of competition with the
Portuguese, Dutch and French while in India it developed the ports
of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. Britain dominated India's
political landscape for over 300 years, yet in the twentieth
century, the emergence of Gandhi and his use of civil disobedience
shook the British government to its foundations. By March 1947,
Lord Mountbatten had little more choice than to grant Indian
independence or see it taken by Indians themselves.
This selected annotated listing of 580 published personal writings
of Englishmen involved in India from 1583 is intended to round out
the scattered bibliographical compilations on the history of
British India. Included are memoirs and autobiographies,
collections of personal letters, diaries and journals, and travel
narratives. The term British India is used in a broad historical
sense to include Afghanistan, Nepal, Tibet, and Burma during the
relevant periods of British influence. With a few exceptions, the
volume excludes official minutes, reports, and correspondence.
Although each work provides a unique account of the British
experience, a number of broad trends emerge. One of the most
striking is the initial experience of parting from family and
homeland and embarking on what was, before 1830, a five to
seven-month sail around the Cape of Good Hope. Travel within India,
on the other hand, was a high point of the British experience and
thus provides the subject for much of the writings. Other topics
include the violence of the British-Indian conflict, and the
constant danger of death from disease, accidents, or other mishaps.
Light is also cast on the role of the Western missionaries, who
were active in education, translating Indian languages, and writing
dictionaries. Although they effected little change in such
practices as infanticide, the missionaries did reinforce the
prevalent British view of the Indians as savages. The bibliography
is divided by time period, beginning with the British entry into
India in 1583, the rise and consolidation of British India, and the
Indian mutiny (1857-1858). The subsequent sections list and
annotate writings of Imperial India, the period of reform and
reaction that followed (1905-1920), and India's move toward
independence. It will serve as an important reference for
historians of the period, and will be a useful addition to college
and university libraries.
With over 5,000 entries, this book provides information on the men
and women who played a significant role in British India from 1583
to 1947. In addition to military and governmental leaders, the book
includes entries on leaders in business, the church and missions,
art and literature, and science and medicine. An effort has also
been made to include the women who played an important role in
India. The only other reference work on the subject, Buckland's
Dictionary of Indian Biography, was published in 1906. This book
updates that work, covering the last 40 years of the British Raj,
and provides more balanced coverage of types of leaders.
This guide provides a selection of the key collections of
correspondence, documents, and papers written in English located in
libraries outside India and Pakistan. Organized on a geographic
basis, entries range in date from the 18th through the 20th
centuries. Each entry includes the individual's or institution's
name (for the former, birth and death dates are provided when
available). Descriptive elements include the type and size of the
collection's manuscript material, its period of coverage, and its
shelf mark or classification number where possible. The volume
concludes with a proper name index. In addition to British India's
famous administrators and military leaders, ranging from Lord Clive
and Mountbatten to General Coote and Field Marshal Slim, materials
representing the various missionary groups, business and industry,
the medical profession, and literary figures are included. An
indispensible source for researchers of India as well as
Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, Tibet, and Burma.
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