A Middle-Class Method: Building the Steel Frame of the Raj

  • Steven Patterson
Chapter

Abstract

After the Indian Mutiny of 1857, visions of a transformed India run on European lines increasingly gave way to the more authoritarian rule of the Raj. Although Queen Victoria never traveled to India, she articulated the new relationship by proclaiming that “India should belong to me.”3 The Queen (and later Empress) also issued a royal proclamation after the Mutiny stating that “her strength would be in the prosperity of her Indian subjects, her security in their contentment, and that their gratitude would be regarded by her Majesty as her best reward.”4 Generations of Britons during the Victorian era (and well into the twentieth century) grew up with similar beliefs concerning their right to rule India, making this sentiment almost universal in British society. Few questioned the right of the British to rule India, and instead the emphasis lay in justifying this rule, for if India now belonged to the empire, the subcontinent could at least fulfill its higher purpose to be ruled justly, if not democratically.

Keywords

Middle Class Indian Society East India Company Imperial Life Imperial Government 
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Notes

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© Steven Patterson 2009

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  • Steven Patterson

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