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Documentary, BBC - The Birth of Empire: The East India Company Part 1
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00:00Just over 400 years ago, a group of London merchants arrived here on the Indian coast,
00:09hoping to do some peaceful trading.
00:11Those early pioneers dreamt of making huge profits.
00:17From humble beginnings, this ragtag band of adventurers secured land from Indian rulers,
00:23formed alliances with local craftsmen,
00:26and built from scratch a commercial enterprise to export goods to Britain.
00:32The East India Company was part of this tremendous globalisation of the world,
00:36which really started in the 17th century and speeded up in the 18th and 19th centuries.
00:41Over 200 years, the company grew into a commercial titan.
00:45Its wealth rivalled that of the British state.
00:49It had its own army and eventually ruled over 400 million people.
00:57Its trade was vital to Britain's commercial success,
01:00and its shares were the centre point of London's financial markets.
01:05It revolutionised the British lifestyle.
01:08The East India Company changed the way we dress, it changed the way we eat, it changed the way we socialise.
01:14And, by accident, created one of the most powerful empires in history.
01:20They were instrumental in making Britain the maritime superpower.
01:25They helped lay the foundations for our own global trading system today,
01:30and they also helped to make English the world's language.
01:34Every step of the company's rise is recorded in a unique archive.
01:39What a lucky fellow you are, Charlie, going to India.
01:43You lead such a luxurious life.
01:45Why, you dog, when you come home, you'll be a rich man.
01:48But the letters and diaries also chart its fall into profiteering, nepotism and corruption.
01:55Every ancient friend of the family hoped I should live to be a major general.
01:58And, eventually, a chilling story of drug-running and famine.
02:03Numbers of famishing wretches followed our army for the sole purpose of existing on the offal of the camp.
02:09This is the story of the greatest company the world has ever known.
02:14This is where it all started.
02:26On December 31st, 1600, the East India Company was established by Royal Charter in London
02:32and granted a monopoly on trade with the East by Queen Elizabeth I.
02:37It was the beginning of a new age in Britain's history,
02:41an age of speculation and profit, enterprise and competition.
02:47Capitalism would change forever the lives of its people and politics.
02:52Trade would make Britain great and turn London into the richest city in the world.
02:59The company built a series of massive warehouses across the city of London to store its goods.
03:05There was Lime Street, Fenchurch Street, Seething Lane.
03:09Then, when they filled up, they built more warehouses near the Tower of London and here on Cutler Street.
03:14These buildings were filled with muslins, calicoes and silks from India and the Orient.
03:22Thanks to the East India Company, exotic goods like spices from Indonesia, tea and porcelain from China
03:28became part of everyday life.
03:30Every year, huge merchant ships of the East India Company, known as East Indiamen,
03:37would leave from right here, loaded down with silver bullion and British merchandise,
03:42heading up the Thames and out to sea to trade with the East.
03:46On board were young men filled with hope.
03:51Who they were and what happened to them are questions we can now answer.
03:56Thousands of them left behind an extraordinary record of their daily lives,
04:00in documents now held at the British Library.
04:03Snakes have been found in the beds where gentlemen were about to repose.
04:06A lady was called in by her servant to see a snake that lay contentedly between two of her infants
04:12while sleeping in a small cot.
04:14This perilous situation produced the utmost anxiety.
04:17In following their dreams, these young men would inadvertently forge an empire.
04:23Wealth and honour will pour upon me,
04:25and to crown my felicity, some high-born damsel will eventually become my life.
04:30An empire that would create thousands of winners, but millions of losers.
04:35The vulture, rising reluctantly from its bloody banquet,
04:39flapped its broad wings in anger and joined the wild cross with discordant cries.
04:45Wills, diaries, letters, more than 100,000 manuscripts fill nine miles of shelving.
04:52The letters and diaries of the people who lived and died under the company's flag
04:57are the lost voices of the East India Company.
05:01Historian Robert Hutchinson has spent six years studying them.
05:07There are thousands upon thousands and thousands of wills of company employees,
05:12and all of them give insight into life working for the company.
05:19Most of these documents have never been seen before.
05:22They put us in direct contact with the men and women of the company,
05:26a unique glimpse of our social history.
05:29They're very graphic accounts of the attitudes and the beliefs
05:33and the commitment to the lives they've made for themselves in India.
05:41They are extraordinarily graphic.
05:43You've been through all of them?
05:44Not all of them, but it's a lifetime's work.
05:47They're just fragments of personal testimony.
05:52But pieced together, they paint a vivid portrait of daily life
05:55in the service of the Honourable Company.
06:00Armed with these letters and diaries,
06:02I'm going to go on a journey to retrace the footsteps of this band of adventurers,
06:06charting the rise and fall of the world's greatest company.
06:10One country above all would play a pre-eminent role in that story
06:28and become the jewel in the company's crown, India.
06:35Our story began in 1639 at an unlikely spot on the east coast,
06:48a place that became known as Madras Patna.
06:54When the company arrived here,
06:56it wasn't pursuing dreams of conquest or empire,
06:59but looking for a secure base from which to conduct trade.
07:02And one of its employees, Francis Day,
07:05was convinced that this was the right spot.
07:11And with good reason.
07:12This is the Coromandel Coast,
07:15a name synonymous with diamonds, pearls and the finest cotton.
07:19In mid-17th century Europe, Indian cotton was the height of fashion.
07:24It was cheap, colourful and hard-wearing.
07:28A fortune could be made exporting it.
07:30Francis Day claimed a section of beach and set up shop,
07:36though he may have had other things on his mind.
07:40This lusty young man had a girlfriend nearby,
07:43and he was keen to see her as often as possible.
07:45He even threatened to resign unless the company accepted his suggestion.
07:50Not for the last time, human history turned on an affair of the heart.
07:53But this was hardly the place to start a trading post.
07:59A dangerous sandbar just off the coast would cause ships to capsize or run aground.
08:05And if you made it ashore, it wasn't much better.
08:08They have no drinkable water within a mile of them.
08:13The sea often threatening destruction on one side,
08:16and the river in the rainy season inundations on the other.
08:20The sun from April to September scorching hot.
08:24Madras, Patnam is one of the most incommodious places I ever saw.
08:27In Commodious or not, the company had established a vital foothold in South India and began to trade.
08:39They brought in what was the chief product of this area, from their point of view,
08:44weavers and dyers to manufacture handloom cloth.
08:48And this was the biggest export from here.
08:49Within a year, 300 Bengali weavers had set up shop,
08:56alongside a motley crew of publicans and prostitutes.
09:00A handful of Englishmen were busy exporting cloth and spices back home for sale in London,
09:05much to the delight of the company's shareholders.
09:09They could send their ships out here, fill the holes with spices,
09:14and hopefully return rich men.
09:16Now, it's a very lucrative trade, and it's one that had been exploited
09:19by other European powers for quite a long time now.
09:21But by making it a monopoly,
09:23they could ensure there'd be no domestic opposition to threaten the shareholders' profits.
09:30Even so, the company's investors were taking a huge gamble.
09:35Each voyage could take two years or more,
09:37a long and tense wait to see a return on investment.
09:41Along the way, there would be potential loss of ships through storms,
09:48there could be piracy, there could be conquest by local rulers, etc., etc.
09:52So this was a very high-risk venture.
09:56But one that paid dividends from the beginning.
09:59When company ships first returned from the East Indies in 1607,
10:03investors had hit the jackpot.
10:05Ah, that single voyage netted an absolutely vast amount of money because of these clothes.
10:14A single cargo of this ensured that the investors made a 230% profit,
10:18bringing them £36,000, that's tens of millions in today's money.
10:23It's hard to comprehend just how much of a revolution this was,
10:27something that we now take for granted.
10:28Used in medicine as a painkiller,
10:32clothes were so highly prized,
10:34they were literally worth their weight in gold.
10:42With the construction of a warehouse and several homes,
10:45the company was turning three miles of beach into commercial real estate.
10:50Trade was valuable,
10:50so they protected their new settlement with a stockade
10:53and called it Fort St. George.
10:58The original Fort St. George was built on this spot.
11:03Now, it's been massively strengthened and enlarged over the years,
11:06but it took 14 years to build,
11:08and the East India Company directors bitterly complained about the cost.
11:12But this was like a big security barrier for their warehouse.
11:17Madras was the springboard for expansion.
11:20Within 50 years,
11:21the company was building two further settlements,
11:24which they called Bombay and Calcutta.
11:26These three urban centres certainly owe their existence to the East India Company.
11:36They didn't exist before.
11:39They grew out of small trading posts,
11:42which were gradually fortified,
11:45became more residential,
11:47Indian communities moved in,
11:49servicing the needs of the company and British trade.
11:53And, yeah, absolutely crucial.
11:56In the early years,
11:57these three forts had very small garrisons.
12:00About 550 men were serving here at Fort George in what was then Madras.
12:06Less than half of them were European troops,
12:08the rest of them were locally recruited Indians.
12:10The merchants were to trade,
12:12not fight.
12:12The trouble was,
12:16this was a dangerous place to do business.
12:18Competition from other European traders was fierce.
12:22Skirmishes were common.
12:24Thick walls were a necessary precaution.
12:27When you come up here to this battlement,
12:29you get such a sense of the defensive power of this fort.
12:32I mean, look at these walls.
12:33They're comfortably 30 metres thick,
12:35sloping here so that any cannonballs incoming
12:38will bounce harmlessly over the heads of the defenders.
12:40And each of these embrasures here,
12:42these V-shaped embrasures,
12:43would have had a big, heavy cannon.
12:45And these cannonballs would have flown out through here,
12:48an interlocking field of fire,
12:50making sure that anyone approaching these fort walls
12:53would have been obliterated.
12:54It's an incredibly tough position to take.
12:58With the consent of the local Indian ruler,
13:01the settlement grew rapidly.
13:03By 1700, Madras Patnam had become a bustling town
13:10with 80,000 inhabitants.
13:12Trade was booming.
13:15Goods were now flooding back from here to Britain
13:18and were having a profound effect on the British lifestyle.
13:24Can I have a single tea, please?
13:26It was the beginning of new kinds of diets,
13:29of choice, of consumerism.
13:31People could now choose to have sugar from the West Indies,
13:35pepper from India.
13:37It was also the start of the Brits' obsession with hot drinks.
13:42Tea and coffee arrived for the first time.
13:48Thanks very much.
13:49Gingham, silk, muslin, calico.
14:03Back in Britain, the company was importing a cavalcade of rich new fabrics.
14:09Bowled over by the exquisite skill of India's craftsmen,
14:11the British public went crazy.
14:1418th century Indian textiles held at London's Victoria and Albert Museum
14:19revealed an impressive range of techniques were used in their manufacture.
14:23All these objects are made of chintz, which is basically cotton,
14:31which has been hand-painted rather than printed.
14:35The Indians managed to find ways of dyeing cotton,
14:40so the colours remained brilliant and were colour-fast.
14:45So that was very exciting for people in the West.
14:49Cheap, washable and hard-wearing, they made a huge impact.
14:54Less formal clothing became acceptable and fashionable,
14:57and it certainly worried the British textile industry,
15:02as they were very fearful that there would be no demand
15:06for their own wool and linen products.
15:10And at one point, it caused such a sensation
15:12and so much fear amongst the silk workers
15:16that they tore the clothes off people's backs.
15:19Really?
15:19Because they thought their livelihoods were threatened,
15:22so it was that dramatic.
15:23Company merchants were quick to respond to the consumer's changing tastes.
15:29The East India Company would report back regularly
15:33after every shipment to Britain from India,
15:36saying, well, we like this, but these didn't sell so well,
15:38and could you do more of the floral sprigs,
15:41or could you do more of this colour?
15:44The long cloth you sent us proves so very coarse,
15:48ill-washed and packed, that it is unfit to be sent home.
15:51Our money is much better than such trash.
15:55The British retail fashion industry was born.
16:00Pyjamas, bandanas, dungarees,
16:03dozens of new words entered the English dictionary.
16:06Demand for Indian textiles was so great,
16:09it threatened to destroy Britain's industry.
16:11Everything that used to be made of wool or silk,
16:16relating to either the dress of women
16:18or the furniture of our houses,
16:21was supplied by the India trade.
16:25The government even passed a law
16:27to ban people from wearing Indian textiles,
16:30but it didn't work.
16:32Testimony to the rising power of the consumer.
16:34Over the next hundred years,
16:40sales of Indian textiles
16:42would generate 60% of the company's income.
16:46By 1700,
16:48it was operating 22 trading posts across India.
16:53Calcutta was one of the biggest.
16:54The company's star was rising fast.
16:57But investors were about to be handed
17:03a commercial opportunity
17:04beyond their wildest expectations.
17:18For 200 years,
17:20India had been part of a vast empire
17:22ruled by a powerful dynasty.
17:23The Mughals had imposed a centralised government,
17:28built imposing monuments,
17:30and unified the country
17:31with a road system and single currency.
17:37The population was huge compared with Britain's.
17:40It was about 140 million.
17:42Britain then had about 4 million.
17:45The economic position was
17:48it was the second largest economy in the world,
17:51reputedly.
17:52with about 25% of the world's GDP.
17:58For the first few decades,
18:00the mighty Mughals barely even noticed
18:02the East India Company.
18:04The British didn't cause trouble.
18:06And besides,
18:07they paid good money.
18:09The Mughal Empire had a tax
18:11on imports of bullion,
18:13so they were doing quite well out of the company,
18:15bringing in all this silver and gold.
18:17They were also selling the company trading concessions,
18:21and wherever they were able to set up factories,
18:25they had to pay for it.
18:26So it was quite a good sort of source of income for the empire.
18:30But in 1707,
18:36the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate.
18:39When the last great Mughal emperor,
18:42Aurangzeb, died,
18:43his successors were unable to hold his empire together,
18:46and power devolved
18:48into a patchwork of competing regional states.
18:52Obsessed with its own problems, therefore,
18:54the empire didn't have time
18:55to worry about the little old East India Company.
18:57Amid the confusion,
19:02a deal was signed.
19:04In exchange for an annual fee,
19:07the East India Company
19:08was granted the right to trade,
19:10duty-free,
19:11across the state of Bengal.
19:13No gift could have been greater.
19:15Company merchants
19:16previously restricted to the coast
19:18could now do business
19:19across an entire province.
19:22And as the Mughal Empire weakened further,
19:25the company expanded.
19:27The East India Company
19:30was sucked into this vacuum.
19:32It would back one local claimant
19:34to a throne against another,
19:36and in return for its support,
19:37it would be given land holdings
19:39or trading concessions.
19:41That meant, within decades,
19:42the East India Company
19:43was becoming a sovereign entity
19:45in its own right.
19:47It had the power to raise revenue,
19:49to make war and peace,
19:50to mint its own coins,
19:51to administer justice.
19:53The East India Company
19:54was becoming a state.
19:56A state that by 1800
20:00would rule 140 million people
20:03across 94,000 square miles
20:06and command an army
20:08a quarter of a million strong,
20:11all controlled by 159 civil servants
20:13in a London office
20:14some 14,000 miles away.
20:18Their headquarters,
20:19East India House,
20:19has long since disappeared
20:20under this towering structure,
20:22the Lloyds Building.
20:24It was from here
20:24that the company was run.
20:26As its ships scoured
20:28the world's oceans,
20:29they were controlled
20:30by directors elected
20:31by shareholders
20:32who were known collectively
20:33as the court of directors.
20:36There would be weekly board meetings
20:38of their directors,
20:39there would be quarterly auctions
20:41of the company's products,
20:42and then annual general meetings,
20:44which would often be ferocious affairs
20:45where shareholders would be fighting
20:47over the size of the dividend.
20:49Share-dealing, corporate governance,
20:57annual accounts,
20:58the company would help develop
20:59all the paraphernalia
21:00of modern business,
21:01turning London
21:02into the world's commercial capital.
21:05In India,
21:13the company's affairs
21:14were generating
21:14a mountain of paperwork.
21:16Every transaction
21:17recorded for scrutiny
21:19back in London.
21:20So it needed a large body
21:22of able young men
21:23to keep everything in order.
21:27This awe-inspiring building
21:29was the nerve centre
21:30of the East India Company's
21:32affairs in Bengal.
21:33In here,
21:34it were based
21:35a group of men
21:35known as the Writers.
21:36They were bean counters
21:37and clerks,
21:38noting down minutes of meetings
21:40and financial transactions,
21:41all the tedious
21:42day-to-day business
21:43of the East India Company.
21:48For the well-connected
21:49young Britain of the 1700s,
21:51a job with the company
21:52was a free ticket
21:53on the gravy train.
21:56To get a job as a writer,
21:57all you had to do
21:57was ingratiate yourself
21:58on one of the company directors.
22:00They were free
22:01to give the jobs
22:01to whoever they chose,
22:03and that meant
22:03that family connection
22:05counted for everything.
22:06They gave them
22:07to their sons,
22:09their cousins,
22:10their nephews,
22:10and their associate sons.
22:13Things like merit
22:14or experience
22:16counted for nothing.
22:17I shall be placed
22:19on the staff,
22:20wear a cocked hat
22:21and laugh at the Governor-General's jokes,
22:24and a capital appointment
22:25will follow in due course.
22:29The pay wasn't great,
22:30but you could do a bit of
22:31wheeler dealing on the side.
22:33Private trading was a good way
22:35for the young men
22:36to supplement their incomes.
22:37The company did allow it,
22:40but there were rules.
22:41A captain was allowed
22:42to have a portion
22:43of his cargo
22:44to be reserved
22:45for his own private business,
22:47and the young writers
22:48out here were allowed
22:49to trade in certain commodities,
22:51spices, diamonds,
22:52and textiles
22:54woven with gold and silver thread.
22:56It was a nice little earner.
22:58They lend money
22:59to Indian nobles
23:00at extortionate interest rates,
23:01they speculate,
23:02they profiteer,
23:03and they engage in trade,
23:05and they use
23:06the East India Company
23:06monopolies
23:07and its political power
23:08to create very favourable
23:11trading conditions
23:12for themselves.
23:21But a career in India
23:22came with considerable risk.
23:25None of the company's men
23:26were prepared
23:27for the dangers
23:28of a tropical climate.
23:31They were greeted on arrival
23:32by a withering barrage
23:35of heat and disease.
23:37It was said that
23:38during the hot season
23:39here in India,
23:39it was as dangerous
23:40a place as anywhere
23:41in the world
23:42for humans to live.
23:47Here I passed the night
23:48in a bed,
23:49which might be called
23:50a chop house for mosquitoes.
23:51The intemperance
23:52of the climate,
23:53together with the excessive
23:55heat of the sun,
23:55are very noxious
23:57to our health.
23:58I had so bad a night of it,
23:59I really expected
24:00it to be my last.
24:02My stomach is so weak,
24:03it refuses everything.
24:06Many who came to Calcutta
24:08ended up here
24:09in South Park Street Cemetery.
24:14There are so many stories
24:15of friendships,
24:17love affairs,
24:18families torn apart
24:19by death and disease.
24:21Just pick one out here.
24:23I called John Blackiston
24:24who was a junior officer
24:25in the company's army.
24:26And he had a friend
24:27who he looked up to
24:28who was a few years his senior
24:29called Lieutenant Rowley
24:30who was an engineer's.
24:32Rowley got dysentery
24:33and slowly wasted away.
24:35Blackiston wrote,
24:36poor fellow,
24:38he expired in my arms.
24:40To one so young as myself
24:42and unaccustomed
24:43to such scenes,
24:45this could not
24:46but be a most painful circumstance.
24:54People grew to accept
24:55that death could be sudden.
24:57We've known instances
24:59of dining with a gentleman
25:00at midday
25:01and being invited
25:02to his burial
25:03before suppertime.
25:06Calcutta historian
25:07Sudip Bhattacharya
25:09is researching mortality
25:11amongst the early settlers.
25:13The cemetery was opened
25:14in 1767
25:16and burials took place
25:18until 1790.
25:20That's quite a short period.
25:22Yes, that's a very short period
25:23which only goes to demonstrate
25:25the mortality,
25:26their high mortality.
25:32There's one here
25:33that you might be interested in.
25:34He was sincerely
25:35and universally regretted
25:37by Europeans and natives.
25:39Superintendent of the police
25:40in Calcutta.
25:41So, I mean,
25:42it affected everybody.
25:43Just because you were high and mighty
25:44didn't mean you weren't
25:45going to get sick?
25:45No, no.
25:46For instance,
25:47here you have a judge.
25:48He was one of the first judges
25:50of the Supreme Court
25:51of Judication in Bengal.
25:53They lacked the science,
25:54they lacked the meaning,
25:56knowledge about how to combat
25:58these microbes.
25:59So, everyone was in the same boat.
26:01Yes.
26:01The worst period for sickness
26:12was, of course,
26:13the monsoon
26:13between June and September.
26:16If you managed to survive September,
26:18around the 15th of October,
26:19they would celebrate
26:20the fact that they had survived.
26:23And a number of deaths
26:24took place in September.
26:26Many people died.
26:26In one year alone,
26:30more than a third
26:31of Calcutta's European population
26:33died during the rainy season.
26:35The average lifespan
26:37of a Briton and Bengal
26:38was said to be two monsoons.
26:41The company regularly shipped
26:42blank tombstones from England
26:44to meet demand.
26:45This is the dark twin
26:51of the East India Company's success.
26:53This is the one
26:54they probably wouldn't have
26:55wanted to talk about
26:56when they were recruiting
26:57those young men full of hope
26:59to come out here
26:59and grow rich and powerful.
27:06The company tried to help.
27:08It supplied ships and factories
27:09with vast quantities of wine
27:11in the mistaken belief
27:13that alcohol would promote health.
27:16It didn't help much,
27:18but the men couldn't
27:19have been more pleased.
27:20And when the cellars ran dry,
27:22there was always the local brew.
27:24Toddy, made from the sap
27:26of palm trees,
27:28was meant to cure griping
27:29of the stomach.
27:30Then there was arrak,
27:30the locally brewed firewater
27:32that was supposed to promote
27:33health in young men.
27:34And when it became clear
27:39that Peruvian bark,
27:41or quinine,
27:42cured fevers,
27:43people started taking that.
27:44The trouble is,
27:45it was so bitter,
27:46they found they had to mix it
27:47with sugar,
27:48soda water,
27:49gin,
27:50and lemons.
27:51The quintessentially British
27:52gin and tonic
27:53had been produced.
27:56When men weren't busy dying,
27:58shuffling paperwork,
27:59or raking in the cash,
28:00they were getting smashed.
28:02Hard drinking was a central part
28:05of their louche lifestyle.
28:10Spent a severe night of punch,
28:12and having sung ourselves
28:13to sleep in our chairs,
28:14we're awoke next morning
28:15at five by the gun,
28:17when we turned into
28:18our several nests to growl,
28:19and keep our burning heads
28:20as cool as the weather
28:21would permit.
28:23Rampant alcoholism,
28:24but paid to many
28:25a promising career.
28:27More English fell in Hindustan
28:30by the intemperate
28:31and injudicious use
28:32of ardent spirits
28:33than by the sword.
28:37Drinking,
28:38gambling,
28:39and brawling,
28:40they were the quintessential
28:41Englishmen abroad.
28:43The staunchly
28:44Protestant company directors
28:46soon realised
28:47they had a problem.
28:49While they cared little
28:50about their employees' alcoholism,
28:52they did care
28:53about their choice of women.
28:55Some of them
28:56were apparently
28:57taking up with the locals,
28:58or possibly even worse,
28:59the Catholic daughters
29:01of Portuguese traders.
29:03This had to be dealt with,
29:04and the company came up
29:05with a brilliant suggestion,
29:06which was,
29:07pack a ship full of British women
29:08and send them out here.
29:10What could possibly go wrong?
29:13The answer was,
29:15just about everything.
29:16One lady traveller
29:17divided these women
29:18into two groups.
29:19Old maids
29:22of the shriveled
29:22and dry description,
29:24and girls educated
29:25merely to cover
29:26the surface
29:27of their mental deformity.
29:29When the women arrived,
29:31they behaved
29:31just as wildly
29:32as the men,
29:33forming relationships
29:34with locals
29:35and having a great time.
29:36The plan
29:37was abandoned immediately.
29:38The East India Company
29:39realised
29:39they should stick
29:40to shipping out tweed.
29:41Company servants
30:07had no need
30:08of a matchmaker
30:08in any case.
30:09they were busy
30:11forming attachments
30:12of their own.
30:14The allure of Bengali women
30:15was proving as potent
30:17as the local firewater.
30:22The attachment
30:23of many European gentlemen
30:24to their native mistresses
30:25is not to be described.
30:27An infatuation
30:28beyond all comparison
30:29often prevails.
30:36Many company men
30:37adopted the local tradition
30:39of polygamy.
30:41I have known
30:42various instances
30:43of two ladies
30:44being conjointly domesticated
30:45and one of an elderly
30:47military character
30:48who solaced himself
30:49with no less than 16
30:50of all sorts and sizes.
30:58Many of these relationships
31:00lasted a lifetime.
31:01thousands of company servants
31:07provided generously
31:08for the future
31:09of their Indian mistresses
31:10and offspring
31:10in wills held
31:12at the British Library.
31:14So here we have
31:16Matthew Leslie
31:16who calls himself
31:18by his Muslim name
31:19Mir Mohammed Hussein Khan
31:22and he talks about his wife
31:24and he talks about
31:25his three mistresses
31:27all of whom receive
31:29quite large sums of money.
31:31His late wife
31:32Zerum
31:33for her sole
31:34and separate use
31:35of benefit
31:3620,000 sika rubies
31:38to be paid
31:39straight after his death.
31:40The same sum of money
31:41is invested
31:42in company bonds
31:43and quarterly payments
31:45made in every year.
31:47The same kind of thing
31:48goes on for his other girls.
31:50And the amount
31:50seems to be going down here
31:51so there's a sense
31:53of favouritism.
31:53There's a league table
31:55of favouritism here.
31:56So here is Hira Beely
31:58she gets 12,000
32:00rather than 20,000
32:01at quarterly payments.
32:03So you can see
32:04his favouritism decreases
32:06but not only has he got
32:08four mistresses
32:08but he's also
32:10in his world mentions
32:12if there's any of the young girls
32:13living in my family
32:14living in his house
32:15and maybe with child
32:17at the time of my decease
32:19if they give birth
32:21within the requisite time
32:22after he died
32:23he's going to acknowledge
32:24that they're his children
32:26and he leaves money to them.
32:28And his executors
32:29will have discretion
32:30to determine
32:31whether or not
32:32such child or children
32:33were or were not
32:35begotten by me.
32:36So that's pretty brutal.
32:37If they look like him
32:38they get the cash.
32:39Absolutely
32:39and he leaves
32:4053,000 in ready cash
32:42in his will
32:4453,000 pounds
32:46sterling that is
32:47not rupees
32:47and today
32:49in economic power
32:51that's worth
32:52about 62 million pounds.
32:55The East India Company
32:56had serious misgivings
32:58about its employees
32:58cohabiting with local women
33:00but then again
33:02knowledge of local markets
33:04was good for business.
33:06Liaison with indigenous women
33:09teach men languages
33:10so the company
33:11really has a vested interest
33:12in these relationships
33:13being close and tight-knit.
33:18By the middle
33:19of the 18th century
33:2090% of company employees
33:22in India
33:23had local partners.
33:26Many could now afford
33:27several mistresses
33:28and a house full
33:29of servants.
33:31Right, let's go.
33:36But something odd
33:37was going on.
33:38They'd arrived here
33:39as humble merchants
33:40but their newfound wealth
33:42was having a bizarre effect.
33:45They adopted the ostentatious
33:47flamboyant lifestyles
33:48of an Eastern prince
33:49surrounding themselves
33:50with armies of servants
33:51being carried from place
33:52to place
33:53in a palaquin.
33:54The pomposity
33:55and extravagance
33:56of these white Mughals
33:57knew no bounds.
33:59Much to the annoyance
34:01of their fellow countrymen.
34:03Many of the British inhabitants
34:05affect great splendor
34:07in their mode of living.
34:08They assume an air
34:09of much consequence
34:10and often treat
34:12the rest of their countrymen
34:13with supercilious arrogance.
34:15I think this is my favorite picture
34:17from the period.
34:18It shows a man
34:18who looks like
34:19a Mughal emperie
34:20sitting on a cushion
34:21smoking a hookah
34:22tended by servants
34:23master of all he surveys
34:24in his luscious robes
34:26and turban.
34:27But that is no Mughal emperor.
34:28In fact,
34:29it's an accountant
34:30from Yorkshire.
34:31His name's John Wombwell.
34:33He's living the dream.
34:38While some lived
34:39like overblown Maharajas,
34:41others,
34:41like Major General
34:42Charles Stewart,
34:43engaged with India
34:44on a more profound level.
34:47Charles Stewart
34:48came out here
34:49from his native island
34:50at age 19
34:51and immediately
34:52fell in love
34:53with the place.
34:54He had a house
34:54here on Wood Street
34:56which he turned into a museum
34:57filling it up
34:58with Indian artifacts
34:59and carvings.
35:01He was happy
35:01to show anybody around
35:02and share his passion
35:04for all things Indian.
35:08Stewart found
35:09the exoticism
35:10of Hindu myths
35:11irresistible.
35:12Whenever I look
35:13around me
35:14in the vast region
35:15of Hindu mythology
35:16it appears
35:17the most complete
35:18and ample system
35:19of moral allegory
35:20that the world
35:20has ever produced.
35:24Stewart's encounter
35:25with India
35:26changed his life.
35:28Within a year
35:28of his arrival
35:29he had discarded
35:30Christianity
35:31and become a Hindu.
35:32Hindu Stewart
35:33as he became known
35:38learned the local languages
35:40dressed like a local
35:41would have been
35:41very comfortable
35:42in places like this.
35:43He took a local woman
35:44as a wife
35:45and had a brood
35:45of mixed race children.
35:47He even hired
35:48a group of Brahmins
35:49Hindu scholars
35:50to prepare
35:50the family's food
35:51in a traditional
35:52Hindu manner.
35:58Stewart wasn't unusual
35:59in embracing
36:00his new home.
36:01Many Britons
36:02and Indians
36:03accepted each other
36:04in an atmosphere
36:05of mutual understanding.
36:09The British
36:10came to India
36:11before the 19th century
36:12very much as
36:13explorers, adventurers
36:15and people out
36:16to make their money
36:16and they encountered
36:17a very old
36:18and very complex
36:19civilisation
36:19and they were
36:21often impressed by it
36:22and so they didn't feel
36:23that they were
36:23in any way superior
36:24to Indians.
36:25They were just
36:25simply one of a number
36:26of groups jostling
36:27in India
36:28to try and earn a living
36:29and to try and make
36:30their way.
36:31And in the final analysis
36:33integration
36:34was good for business.
36:38In any case
36:39the company's attention
36:40was focused
36:41on a far bigger problem
36:42an escalating
36:43military confrontation
36:44with the French.
36:47The British and French
36:48had set up trading posts
36:49within a few miles
36:50of each other.
36:51The French at Pondicherry
36:52and Chandanagor
36:54the British at Madras
36:56and Calcutta.
36:58In 1756
36:59rivalry exploded
37:01into open warfare.
37:04Driven by antagonism
37:05over colonial interests
37:06the Seven Years' War
37:08raged from Europe
37:09to North America
37:10and across the world's oceans.
37:12But in India
37:17the ultimate prize
37:19was control
37:19over trade.
37:28The merchants
37:29of the East India Company
37:30had traditionally tried
37:31to avoid war.
37:32Its costs were certain
37:33but its outcomes
37:34far less so.
37:35It's bad for business.
37:36But as the French
37:38grew more threatening
37:39in the subcontinent
37:40the company realised
37:41it needed to get
37:41more serious
37:42about the military
37:43side of things.
37:44And the motley crews
37:45guarding its forks
37:46in India
37:47weren't up to scratch.
37:48What it needed
37:49was a serious
37:50standing army.
37:53The company decided
37:54to strengthen
37:55its garrison
37:56at Fort St George.
37:57In January 1748
37:59150 British troops
38:01arrived in Madras
38:02led by Major Stringer
38:04Lawrence
38:04an irascible
38:05old soldier
38:06known affectionately
38:08as Old Cock.
38:10He's 50 years old
38:12he's fought
38:12in the lowlands
38:13in Spain
38:14and also
38:14in the Jacobite Rebellion
38:16and he is a man
38:17with great knowledge
38:18of military affairs
38:19and his job
38:20is really to reform
38:21the company troops
38:23out in India.
38:28He begins by
38:29forming them
38:29into companies
38:30each commanded
38:30by an officer
38:31and those companies
38:32are equipped
38:33trained
38:34and disciplined
38:34exactly like
38:35British troops
38:36would be
38:36and of course
38:37the end result
38:37of all of this
38:38is it becomes
38:38a much more
38:39effective fighting
38:40force.
38:44His new army
38:45was led by
38:46European officers
38:47but most of the
38:48troops were Indians
38:49known as sepoys
38:51from the Persian word
38:52for soldier.
38:54Stringer Lawrence
38:55is seen as the
38:55grandfather
38:56of the modern
38:56Indian army.
38:58Many units
38:59are the direct
39:00descendants of those
39:01he founded
39:01250 years ago.
39:06One young soldier
39:08in Lawrence's
39:08new army
39:09was the future
39:10national hero
39:11Clive of India.
39:14Robert Clive
39:15was from a family
39:16of provincial
39:17gentry.
39:18As a young boy
39:19he was a bit of a
39:19terror away
39:20and loved getting
39:20into fights.
39:21He was expelled
39:21three times
39:22from school
39:23so his father
39:24thought nothing
39:25much would come
39:25of him
39:26and they might
39:26as well gamble
39:27and send him
39:27out here to India
39:28join the East
39:29India Company
39:30which made men
39:31or broke them.
39:33At first
39:34Clive had been
39:34desperately homesick
39:36and hated
39:37the searing heat.
39:39If I should be
39:40so blessed
39:41as to revisit
39:42again my own
39:42country
39:43but more
39:43especially
39:44Manchester
39:44the centre
39:45of all my
39:46wishes
39:46all that I
39:47could hope
39:48or desire
39:48for
39:49would be
39:49presented
39:50before me
39:50in one view.
39:52He was known
39:53as a man
39:53who had a
39:54relatively short
39:54temper
39:55he was
39:56as we discover
39:57in his later
39:58career
39:58a man
39:59with tremendous
39:59energy
40:00vigour
40:01and resolution
40:01and this
40:02must have
40:02seemed
40:03a pretty
40:03crushing
40:04way
40:04to begin
40:05his career.
40:07Clive would
40:08be the driving
40:09force
40:09in transforming
40:10the company
40:11from commercial
40:12giant
40:12to the
40:13dominant
40:13political
40:14power
40:15in India.
40:17In 1756
40:19his great
40:20adversary
40:20was the
40:21Mughal
40:21ruler
40:22of Bengal.
40:25Sirajudawla
40:26loathed the
40:27British
40:27and bitterly
40:28resented
40:28the company's
40:29hold on
40:29Calcutta.
40:32In June
40:32he attacked
40:33the city.
40:35Calcutta fell
40:36within hours
40:37and on the
40:39evening of
40:39June 20th
40:40146 British
40:42prisoners
40:42were taken
40:43to Fort
40:43William
40:43now the
40:46site of
40:46the government
40:47post office.
40:50100 yards
40:50from this
40:51spot
40:51stands a
40:52grim reminder
40:53of what
40:54happened
40:54next.
40:56The most
40:57vivid account
40:57we have
40:58was left
40:58by a man
40:58called
40:59John
40:59Zephaniah
40:59Holwell
41:00who had
41:00been the
41:00chief
41:01magistrate
41:01of Calcutta
41:02who had
41:02been left
41:02in charge
41:03and he
41:04and his
41:04men
41:04were
41:05marched
41:05into a
41:06cell
41:06just 18
41:07foot wide
41:08at gunpoint.
41:09It became
41:10known simply
41:10as the
41:11Black Hole
41:12and what
41:12happened
41:13in there
41:13became one
41:14of the
41:14most infamous
41:15stories
41:15in the
41:16whole
41:16of British
41:17imperial
41:17history.
41:20It's said
41:25the prisoners
41:26crushed
41:26together
41:27suffocating
41:28and fighting
41:28to stay
41:29upright
41:29were gripped
41:30by claustrophobic
41:31terror.
41:34The heat
41:35was almost
41:36unbearable.
41:38Try and
41:39slake his
41:40thirst.
41:41Holwell
41:41took off
41:42his sweat-soaked
41:43shirt and
41:44rang it out
41:44into his
41:45mouth.
41:46Other people
41:46trampled
41:47on the weakened
41:48bodies of their
41:49comrades
41:50desperately
41:50trying to
41:51reach the
41:51two small
41:52windows at
41:52the top
41:53of the
41:53wall
41:53and gulp
41:54down some
41:55fresh air.
41:56It was a
41:56night of
41:57unspeakable
41:58suffering and
41:59cruelty.
42:03When the
42:04doors were
42:04flung open
42:05at dawn the
42:05next day,
42:06the cell was
42:07filled with
42:08corpses.
42:09To Holwell's
42:10horror,
42:11just 23 had
42:12survived.
42:14Towards the
42:15end of the
42:15account,
42:16this particularly
42:16memorable line,
42:17he writes,
42:18But,
42:18O sir,
42:20what word
42:20shall I
42:21adopt to
42:21tell you
42:21the hole
42:22that my
42:22soul suffered
42:23at reviewing
42:24the dreadful
42:25destruction
42:26round me?
42:27I will not
42:27attempt it,
42:29and indeed,
42:29tears stop
42:30my pen.
42:33The news
42:34of what had
42:35happened to
42:35their fellow
42:36countrymen at
42:36the hands of
42:37a barbarous
42:38Indian
42:38despot
42:39electrified
42:40congregations
42:41right across
42:42Britain.
42:42This,
42:43after all,
42:44was a
42:44generation
42:44that were
42:45starting to
42:45believe that
42:46Britons never,
42:47never,
42:47never shall
42:48be slaves.
42:51The story
42:52of the
42:52black hole
42:52left a deep
42:53scar in the
42:54British psyche
42:54for generations.
42:56To Victorian
42:58schoolchildren,
42:58the events of
42:591756 were as
43:01familiar as
43:02the Battle of
43:02Hastings.
43:03But historians
43:04like Sushil
43:05Chowdhury believe
43:07Holwell's account
43:07can't be trusted.
43:09Holwell first
43:10mentioned that
43:11in the black
43:12hole,
43:12165 or
43:14175 people
43:16were confirmed.
43:17Later,
43:18when he revised
43:19the number,
43:20he said it's
43:20146,
43:22and out of
43:23146,
43:2423 were
43:25alive,
43:26but 123
43:27died.
43:28So you
43:29don't think
43:29there could
43:29have been
43:29that many
43:30people packed
43:30into that
43:31smaller space?
43:31Sure not.
43:32It was
43:32impossible to
43:33put in
43:34146 people
43:36in that
43:36small room,
43:38which is
43:3818 feet
43:39by 14 feet.
43:40and then
43:41he said
43:42he knew
43:42most of
43:43the people,
43:44but it was
43:44pitch dark.
43:45It was
43:45impossible for
43:46anyone to
43:46recognise people
43:48there.
43:48And then he
43:49said he
43:49looked at
43:50his watch.
43:51How could
43:51he look at
43:51his watch?
43:52It's
43:53fabrication,
43:54no doubt.
43:54what we
44:04don't know
44:05for sure
44:05is how
44:05many
44:06actually
44:06perished
44:06that night.
44:07The numbers
44:08range from
44:09three to
44:10over 100.
44:11I suspect
44:11it's somewhere
44:12in between.
44:13What is not
44:13in question
44:14is that this
44:14was an
44:15atrocity.
44:15Was it
44:16deliberate?
44:16Almost
44:16certainly
44:17not.
44:17It was
44:17unfortunate
44:18that this
44:19small
44:19airless
44:20room.
44:21It happened
44:22on an
44:22incredibly
44:23hot
44:24and humid
44:24night.
44:25Some of
44:25the people
44:25inside were
44:25already
44:26wounded from
44:26the battle
44:27that had
44:27taken place
44:28and there
44:28were bound
44:29to be
44:29some
44:29fatalities.
44:31But that
44:31there were
44:32so many
44:33was a
44:34point taken
44:35very seriously
44:35by the
44:36remaining
44:37British in
44:38India and
44:38also the
44:38British back
44:39home.
44:39And there
44:39was very
44:40much a
44:40sense that
44:40they wanted
44:41revenge.
44:50Determined
44:52to reassert
44:52supremacy,
44:54Clive recaptured
44:54Calcutta and
44:55confronted
44:56Siraj at a
44:57village called
44:58Plassey,
44:59120 miles north
45:00of the city,
45:01in what would
45:01become a
45:02decisive moment
45:03in the history
45:04of the East
45:04India Company.
45:11At Plassey,
45:12Clive was
45:13terribly outnumbered
45:14by more than
45:1510 to 1.
45:16But Clive had a
45:17plan that didn't
45:17just rely on
45:18military might
45:19alone.
45:20He'd been in
45:20secret correspondence
45:21with one of the
45:22Nawab's key
45:23lieutenants,
45:24the commander
45:24of his cavalry,
45:26a man called
45:26Mir Jafar.
45:28The deal is
45:29done between
45:30Clive and
45:30Mir Jafar that
45:31a certain key
45:31part of the
45:32fight, Mir Jafar
45:34will come on
45:35to his side.
45:35In other words,
45:36he'll leave his
45:36chief and then
45:37return for putting
45:38him on the
45:39throne.
45:39The company
45:39will not only
45:40be paid vast
45:41sums of money,
45:41and we are
45:42talking about
45:42fantastical sums,
45:44but also it
45:45will be given
45:45a free reign in
45:46terms of its
45:46trade.
45:50It was all
45:55over in a matter
45:55of hours, but
45:56it had little
45:57to do with
45:57military might.
45:59Mir Jafar, the
46:00traitor, had been
46:01paid off, and he
46:01ensured that the
46:02majority of the
46:03Nawab's troops took
46:04no part in the
46:05battle.
46:06He was then
46:06installed as
46:07Britain's puppet.
46:09This opened up the
46:10richest province of
46:11India to the
46:12company.
46:13Robert Clive
46:14regarded this
46:15Machiavellian
46:16manoeuvring as
46:17the pinnacle of
46:17his career.
46:21Clive and the
46:22company were now
46:23rich.
46:24Better still, in
46:25exchange for a
46:26single payment of
46:27£270,000, the
46:29company was granted
46:30the right to manage
46:31the Diwani, or the
46:33Revenue and Civil
46:34Administration, of
46:35Bengal.
46:38This allowed them
46:39to collect the land
46:40tax from the entire
46:41population of Bengal,
46:4310 million people.
46:44It effectively turned
46:45them into the de
46:46facto government.
46:48Robert Clive
46:48estimated that it
46:50would be worth
46:50£1.7 million
46:52every year.
46:55With control over
46:55the revenues of
46:56India's richest
46:57province, the
46:58company's role had
46:59profoundly changed.
47:01It's the point at
47:03which the East
47:04India Company
47:04really moves from
47:05being a trading
47:06enterprise to an
47:08actual ruler of
47:09territory.
47:11The Diwani was
47:12a licence to print
47:13money.
47:14After the costs of
47:15administering Bengal
47:16had been met, the
47:17company's profit margin
47:19was 49%.
47:20The commercial floodgates
47:22had opened.
47:27In 1766, news of the
47:29India Company and Diwani
47:30reached London.
47:31The prospect of
47:32massive financial gains
47:34in Bengal pushed the
47:36company's share price
47:37through the roof.
47:38Now, this is partly
47:39fuelled by Clive, who
47:40wrote to his friends
47:41from India, advising them
47:43to buy stock.
47:44And he wrote to his own
47:44attorneys as well, telling
47:46them to make huge
47:47purchases on his behalf.
47:49Not surprisingly, other
47:50British and foreign
47:51investors followed suit.
47:52Robert Clive returned home
48:02a national hero, with a
48:04personal fortune equivalent
48:06to £38 million today, and
48:09a generous income from
48:10landholdings in Bengal.
48:12He went on a spending
48:13spree.
48:14He bought a raft of
48:16properties, including his
48:17childhood home, Stich Hall,
48:18which he renovated for his
48:20father.
48:20And then he bought this
48:21place, Walcott Hall, for
48:23the princely sum of £90,000.
48:31Not bad for 6,000 acres.
48:34Clive began transforming
48:35his new home into a lavish
48:36palazzo, with one of the
48:38finest gardens in England.
48:41After ruling a state four
48:43times bigger than Britain,
48:44Clive was determined to
48:46forge a political career
48:47back in the old country.
48:48His new Shropshire pile came
48:51with an added bonus.
48:55Walcott Hall had
48:56traditionally been owned by
48:57the powerful Walcott family,
48:59and they'd been able to
49:00nominate the area's MPs.
49:02When they fell badly into
49:03debt, Clive saw his chance.
49:05He bought the estate, and
49:06with it came control of the
49:08local parliamentary borough.
49:09That allowed him to basically
49:11appoint his cousin as the MP.
49:13For the next 50 years, Clive's
49:15money ensured that his family
49:17continued to live in style, and
49:19they continued to control the
49:20politics of the local area.
49:24Clive added half a dozen seats in
49:27Shropshire, and further estates in
49:29Devon, Monmouth and Surrey to a
49:31bulging property empire.
49:32He was just one of a number of
49:36company men who'd grown fabulously
49:37wealthy in Bengal, and then had
49:39returned home to improve their
49:41status in life.
49:42They'd bought their way into the
49:43aristocracy.
49:44They'd bought influence and power.
49:48They became known as nabobs, a term
49:51synonymous with vanity and absurd
49:54pretension.
49:54They're perceived to be too rich for
49:58their own good, to wear their
50:00diamonds too ostentatiously, to
50:02wear textiles from India, concerns
50:05about so-called oriental despotism
50:07that they may have brought back from
50:10the Mughal empire in India with
50:11them.
50:12All of those are great concerns for
50:13people.
50:15The nabobs represented the East
50:17India Company at its most venal and
50:19corrupt, a direct threat to the
50:21social and political order.
50:22There was a concern that not only
50:26were they bringing back great
50:27wealth, but they were also
50:28infiltrating Parliament with these
50:29sort of oriental corruption and
50:32Asiatic practices of government
50:34which were viewed with a great deal
50:35of sort of concern and scepticism and
50:37anxiety by the ruling elite in
50:39Britain.
50:40By the 1780s, they had become a
50:42powerful minority, with one-tenth of
50:45the seats in Parliament.
50:50But their good fortune would soon
50:52end.
50:58A natural calamity was about to throw
51:00the Honourable Company into the
51:02biggest crisis in its history.
51:09Famine had long been a part of life in
51:11Bengal, but one that began in the late
51:131760s was turned into a full-blown
51:16humanitarian disaster by the East
51:19India Company.
51:21It's hard to come to terms with even
51:23after all these years, but while the
51:25nabobs were back in Britain buying
51:26stately homes, throwing parties, filling
51:28them with silver, wine and art, the people
51:32of Bengal, who were paying for all that, were
51:34experiencing some of the most appalling
51:36conditions in Mansionable.
51:44A prolonged drought and a poor harvest
51:46caused a famine that continued for three
51:49long years, the worst in living memory.
51:52The agony of the Bengali people is described in vivid detail.
51:58The East India Company watched and recorded everything.
52:05the most part of the world was
52:07increasing.
52:087,600 dying in Calcutta in the last six
52:10weeks, double that number in other towns in
52:13the province, and then these chilling, terrible,
52:16awful words.
52:17Hunger drives many of them to such distress that the
52:22strongest frequently in some parts of the
52:25country fall upon the weaker and devour them.
52:29So we're talking about cannibalism.
52:31We're talking about cannibalism here.
52:33They're forced into those kinds of horrible means of
52:37staying alive, and then, in contrast, the next
52:40paragraph says, balls, concerts and all public
52:44entertainments ought to subside at this time of
52:47general scarcity, but I'm sorry to say they have not, and
52:52under the doors and windows of these places of
52:55amusement lie many dead bodies and others, again, in all
52:59the agonies of death, despair and want.
53:02So as you're going out to a concert or something, you're
53:05stepping over destitute, dead and dying people?
53:07Piles of dead people.
53:09Did the East India Company help, or did they make
53:11things worse?
53:11They made things worse.
53:13They raised the taxes on agricultural produce.
53:16They banned the hoarding of rice and grain, which were
53:19traditionally used to tide over the population through
53:23periods of scarcity.
53:24They ripped up some of the food crops to plant much more
53:28profitable indigo and even more profitable opium.
53:31And, finally, some of their junior servants started to
53:37speculate and profiteer from the sale of rice and grain,
53:44selling it out of the province at grossly faded prices.
53:48The letters reveal where the company's priorities really lay.
53:56While they lament the distresses which the inhabitants may be
53:59reduced thereby, they can't divest themselves of anxious apprehensions
54:06concerning the effects which a continuation of the drought may
54:10have on the collections of our revenues.
54:13So they're thinking profits rather than disaster relief.
54:22It's estimated that between 2 million and 10 million people died, a
54:27salutary lesson on the dangers of unchecked corporate power.
54:33And you have streams and streams of people who are dying walking to company
54:37officials saying, help us, you know, kind of, you are now the rulers.
54:40You need to do something.
54:42You have responsibility for us, and the British do very little.
54:47Nobody was ultimately brought to account for it, but there was certainly a sense that the
54:52nature of East India Company government at the time had exacerbated the famine, that it
54:57had made things worse if it hadn't actually caused it.
55:06The famine was a human tragedy and a financial disaster.
55:11The Bengal economy collapsed.
55:13The company's income plummeted.
55:15Its share price crashed and all dividend payments were suspended.
55:20The bubble was burst.
55:22People wanted to know why.
55:23How could this have happened?
55:25It had set up its own inquiry, and a scapegoat was lined up.
55:29Robert Clive, Britain's richest man.
55:35He became seen as the leader of the Nabobs and was nicknamed Lord Vulture.
55:42Denounced for enriching himself with Indian loot, Clive was hauled before Parliament.
55:49He asked his accusers to remember the situation that he'd been in.
55:52An opulent city had lain at his mercy.
55:54Clive had been shown through vaults full of treasure, gold and precious stones on every
55:59side.
56:00He finished by saying, by God, Mr Chairman, I stand astonished at my own moderation.
56:05Well, if Clive was greedy or corrupt, he certainly wasn't the only one in the House of Commons.
56:10He was acquitted.
56:11In fact, he was even thanked for services to his country.
56:15But like a plot twist in a Victorian melodrama, his life ended in tragedy.
56:23In November 1774, Clive was found dead at his London home.
56:28He'd suffered depression for much of his life, and he'd become an opium addict.
56:32It's very likely that he committed suicide.
56:35Dr Samuel Johnson wrote that his crimes had driven him to slit his own throat.
56:40It was a scandalous and pitiful end to a life of extraordinary, if controversial, achievement.
56:49Accused of corruption, incompetence and greed, the company's reputation was in tatters.
56:55And there was worse to come.
56:57The crisis that was affecting the company really came to a head in 1772, where there was a failure
57:03of a major Scottish bank, the Air Bank, which created a credit crunch.
57:07About 30 other banks, in fact, failed.
57:09And that led to a major shortage of money in the economy.
57:12The company had to go repeatedly to the Bank of England for loans to tide them over.
57:16They were very indebted.
57:19Now starved of funds, the world's greatest company had run out of cash.
57:24There was only one possible way out, massive government bailout.
57:30For reasons that are spookily familiar, it was decided that the East India Company was
57:34too big to fail.
57:38The British government rescued the company, with public money today equivalent to £176 million.
57:46But its powers were progressively curtailed.
57:50The India Act of 1784 transferred its executive management to an independent board of control,
57:56answerable to parliament.
57:59All kickbacks were banned.
58:03The British state was now pulling the strings.
58:07Instead of chances like Robert Clive, the British government would now send out its own more
58:12reliable people to run India.
58:14The Governor General here in Calcutta would rule supreme, given sweeping new powers in revenue,
58:20diplomacy and war.
58:23There was nothing less than the birth of empire.
58:34And Dan Snow continues his journey next Wednesday at nine.
58:38More history on BBC Four tonight, with the truth behind the legend of Genghis Khan at 11.
58:44Next, here on BBC Two, Mock the Week, looks back at animals.
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