Soldiers

Abstract

Trade provided the impetus and played a significant role in the history of the British in the Indian subcontinent. However, the period between 1740 and 1840 saw the East India Company metamorphose from a powerful trading organization into the sovereign of an extensive empire. As trade grew, so did political involvement, bringing increasing numbers of soldiers and administrators to service the needs of both trade and empire/colony. The soldiers came first to protect trade, then to conquer, consolidate and police territory, while the administrators kept the records before going on to ruling and creating their own system of control for the acquired territory. Philip Woodruff sums up the rise of British power in India thus:

The first English in India were petitioners for leave to trade. But they found it necessary to have cities of refuge in which they could be secure from the absolute power of Indian monarchs… This necessity, together with an obstinate determination not to play second fiddle to the French, led to the astonishing twenty years between 1740 and 1760, by which date the English ceased to be petitioners and it was the Mogul who came to call on the English Governor.¹