Organization
East India Company
London trading company chartered in 1600; it collected the revenue of Bengal from 1765, lost its governing powers in 1858 and was dissolved under an Act of 1873.
- Dates
- 31 Dec 1600 – 1874
- Also known as
- English East India Company, British East India Company
- Wikidata
- Q83164
Connections 12
people who worked here
- Robert Clive 1756 led the troops sent from Madras to Bengal Scholarship & press 1
- Warren Hastings 1772 Scholarship & press 2
intervened in
- Battle of Plassey 1757 its troops fought as principals, according to A. C. Lyall Scholarship & press 1
involved in
- Bengal famine of 1770 its Bengal government went on collecting the land revenue; its letter of 1772 reports the figures Scholarship & press 2
- Boston Tea Party the Tea Act of 1773 let it export its surplus tea to Boston, among other ports Scholarship & press 3
- British embassy to the Qianlong court, 1793 its gifts were a speculation on trade profits; the cannon came from the government Scholarship & press 4
- Dissolution of the East India Company dissolved under the Act of 1873 Primary record 5
- Grant of the Diwani of Bengal, 1765 took over the revenue administration of the three provinces Scholarship & press 6
- Indian Rebellion of 1857 the army that rose was its army; Sayyid Ahmad Khan says men thought it had broken its treaties Primary record 78
- Transfer of the government of India to the Crown, 1858 its powers of government ceased Primary record 9
followed from
- Charter granted to the East India Company, 1600 Scholarship & press 10
adopted
-
Opium monopoly in Bengal
Primary record
11
A member names the monopoly in the Commons in 1840; the Company's despatch of 1831 is read there by another member.
Timeline 4 dates
- 31 Dec 1600 – 1874 East India Company
- 1756 Robert Clive worked at East India Company
- 1757 East India Company intervened in Battle of Plassey
- 1772 Warren Hastings worked at East India Company
Proof 11 sources
-
History of India, vol. 8, ch. 7: The Conquest of Bengal (A. C. Lyall), History of India, ed. A. V. W. Jackson (text via ibiblio), 1907.
Scholarship & press
the president lost no time in despatching the fleet, commanded by Admiral Watson, to Bengal, with troops under Colonel Clive
the first important occasion upon which the East India Company’s troops were openly arrayed, not as auxiliaries, but as principals, against a considerable native army commanded in person by the ruler of a great province.
-
The Annals of Rural Bengal, vol. 1 (W. W. Hunter), with the Bengal government's letter of 3 November 1772 in Appendix A, Smith, Elder & Co. (scan on the Internet Archive), 1868.
Scholarship & press
BENGAL IN 1772, PORTRAYED BY WARREN HASTINGS. To the Hon’ble the Court of Directors for Affairs of the Hon’ble the United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies. Dated Fort- William, the 3d November 1772.
the loss of at least one-third of the Inhabitants of the Province, and the consequent decrease of the Cultivation, the nett collections of the year 1771 exceeded even those of 1768
That it did not, was owing to its being violently kept up to its former Standard.
not five per cent, of the land-tax was remitted, and ten per cent, was added to it for the ensuing year
In a year when thirty-five per cent, of the whole population and fifty per cent, of the cultivators perished
1,52,54,856:9:4:3
amounted for last year to sicca rupees 1,57,26,576
1,53,33,660:14:9:2
1,31,49,148 : 6 : 3 : 2
-
The Coming of the American Revolution: the Tea Act and the tea crisis (editorial note), Massachusetts Historical Society.
Scholarship & press
The company, freed of its obligations to pay customs duties, will export a portion of its surplus commodity to New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston
-
Chinese and British Diplomatic Gifts in the Macartney Embassy of 1793 (Henrietta Harrison), University of Oxford (Oxford University Research Archive).
Scholarship & press
For the Company the gifts could be seen as a speculation on the potential profits of the embassy if the negotiations succeeded.
The embassy also presented six brass cannon and two mortars which were provided by the government rather than paid for by the East India Company.
-
The East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 17), Parliament of the United Kingdom (legislation.gov.uk), 15 May 1873.
Primary record
An Act to provide for the Redemption or Commutation of the Dividend on the Capital Stock of the East India Company, and for the transfer of the Security Fund of the India Company to the Secretary of State in Council of India, and for the Dissolution of the East India Company.
-
History of India, vol. 8, ch. 8: The Situation in Bengal (A. C. Lyall), History of India, ed. A. V. W. Jackson (text via ibiblio), 1907.
Scholarship & press
so that the investiture of the Company with this office added the power of the purse to the power of the sword
-
History of India, vol. 8, ch. 18: India under the Crown, 1858-1907 (A. C. Lyall), History of India, ed. A. V. W. Jackson (text via ibiblio), 1907.
Scholarship & press
the native army, which for a hundred years had shared all our triumphs and reverses in war, rose against us, and was overpowered after a desperate struggle
-
The Causes of the Indian Revolt (Sayyid Ahmad Khan; written in Urdu in 1858, English translation of 1873), Sayyid Ahmad Khan (text via Frances Pritchett, Columbia University), 1873.
Primary record
all agreed in thinking that the Honourable East India Company had acted in defiance of its treaties, and in contempt of the word which it had pledged
-
Government of India Act, 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. 106, 2 August 1858), Parliament of the United Kingdom (text via Lawsisto), 2 Aug 1858.
Primary record
were continued under such Government, in trust for Her Majesty
shall cease to be vested in or exercised by the said Company
-
History of India, vol. 6, ch. 6: The Constitution of the First English East India Company (W. W. Hunter), History of India, ed. A. V. W. Jackson (text via ibiblio), 1906.
Scholarship & press
It constituted the petitioners into “one body corporate and politick, in deed and in name, by the name of the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies,”
It vested the management of the company in a governor and twenty-four committeemen, who were to be annually appointed in July
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War with China, adjourned debate (Hansard, House of Commons, 8 April 1840), UK Parliament (Historic Hansard), 8 Apr 1840.
Primary record
the opium monopoly enjoyed by the East-India Company
They do not wish to increase but to lessen the use, or rather the abuse, of opium, by making the price, both at home and abroad, as high as possible, consistently with a regard to the state of the markets, so as not to be undersold by foreign powers
it was directly encouraged first by the East India Company, and then in Canton by the supercargoes
Page history 1 change
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