Company Bahadur Part 6 Warren Hastings Section II: A Power struggle and An Execution

Manly, NSW, 2095, 1 April 2024 The administrative changes that were envisaged in the Regulating Act of 1773 were well-intentioned and a genuine attempt to establish mechanisms for fair governance in British controlled territories in India. However, the Act suffered from being worded vaguely, with the script lacking clear and precise definitions and directions, leading […]

Continue reading →

Company Bahadur Part 4 Early Company Leadership Section II: … And Some of the Good Ones

Canberra, 04 March 2024 As the Company evolved as a territorial ruling entity, several young Englishmen were either sent by their parents or guardians or volunteered and were selected through the application of influence to become ‘officials’ of the Company in India. Most were from the upper middle-class strata of English society, which subsequently went […]

Continue reading →

Company Bahadur Part 4 Early Company Leadership Section I: Some of the Worst

Canberra, 24 February 2024 Clive’s departure left a void in the Company leadership in Bengal. Despite all his personal faults, however vain and ambitious he may have been, Clive was a realist. Acknowledging the pitfalls of headlong interference with local politico-economic developments he had managed to keep the Company servants within some bounds of decent […]

Continue reading →

Company Bahadur Part 3 Warding Off the Afghan Threat

Canberra, 22 February 2024 The second half of the 18th century was the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the Indian sub-continent. It was marked by a series of events which elevated the English Company as the dominant power in the region. By the 1750s, the sub-continent was parcelled out into several […]

Continue reading →