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The East India Company at home 1757-1857 is the record of a project
which ran from 2011-14, extending far beyond academics to include
independent researchers and writers (including BACSA members) in
many different fields. The volume contains nineteen case studies, with
linking essays exploring the themes of the volume. These include the
role of the country house as a focal point for families with Indian
connections to establish a county presence which often lasted for
generations. Many of these houses were grouped in proximity to the
centre of East India Company power in London, though studies also
look at their manifestations further afield. The houses displayed objects
reflecting the owners' connections with India, the wealth obtained and
the connoisseurship often acquired. Independent scholars played a
significant role in researching the history of a number of the families
and the houses they created, which will be of interest to BACSA
members who visit or live nearby - the Childs of Osterley (National
Trust), the Benyons at Englefield House, the Amhersts at Monfreal
Park, the Setons of Touch House, and others. Close studies of objects
collected in India will also enhance visits to see them in public spaces -
such as the 'silver coffer' of Tipu Sultan, a treasured possession of the
Fraser family, now on display in the British Museum, and the ivory
furniture widely collected by the well-to-do in India, and now on
display in Sezincote, Powis Castle (National Trust) and elsewhere.
While avoiding the jargon which sometimes blights academic writing,
the exposition of the themes of the volume by professional historians
may seem rather heavy to the general reader, and some of the chapters
written by independent researchers have a lighter touch. A particularly
engaging study by Joanna Goldsworthy focuses on the irrepressible
Fanny Parks, who claimed on her return to England the status of
cultural authority on India with her 'Grand Moving Diorama of Hindostan and Cabinet of Curiosities'. Novelist Penelope Farmer
provides a compelling account of the mundane but humanly engaging
life of William Farmer, discovered only recently in a cache of family
letters. Meanwhile, Diane James, a PhD student, gives a fascinating
account of Colonel Robert Smith, engineer and talented painter in
India, who recalled the land of his career in architectural fantasies in
Rome, the south of France, and in Paignton where his partially oriental
extravaganza of Redcliffe Towers can now be visited as a hotel.
Case studies have the advantage of presenting important and interesting
new research in a variety of areas. On the other hand, they can seem
arbitrary, and there is a disproportionate emphasis on Chinese
influences in wallpaper, armorial china, lacquerware and designs for
staircases in north Wales. Much of the extensive influence of India in
the interiors of country houses goes unremarked. There is little on the
use of Indian textiles in interiors, or the clothes of the ladies and
gentlemen who graced them. An astonishing range of books, many of
them illustrated, as well as paintings and prints of India filled country
houses and made India one of the most documented areas of the world.
However, two important areas for further research are highlighted: the
subsequent lives of the Indian servants who returned with their
employers to their country homes, and the fate of the many children of
mixed parentage who were despatched far from their mothers to a new
life in Britain. The focus of the study on the East India Company, with
a terminal date of 1857, provides important new evidence on the
interaction of India and Britain in a particular domestic framework. It
does not pretend to tell the whole story. It should also be remembered
that the influence of India grew enormously in the later 19th century,
from the Great Exhibition of 1851, later international exhibitions, the
display of gifts given on royal tours, the support given by the British to
Indian arts and crafts, and the devotion of the Queen Empress to all
things Indian. In architecture, art, textiles and design, the interactions
described in this volume were greatly enhanced. The East Indian
Company at Home is recommended for many new and interesting
insights into a very wide subject.
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