Honourable Company: A History of The English East India Company (81 page)
Read Honourable Company: A History of The English East India Company Online
Authors: John Keay
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Company’s 3rd, 36-7, 39, 73-7
Company’s 5th, 37-9
Company’s 6th, 41, 81-9
Company’s 7th, 61-4
Company’s 8th, 54-60, 88-9
Company’s 10th, 91
Company’s 12th, 94-8
Wadia Lowji, 266
Waite, Sir Nicholas, 183-4, 188-92, 196, 212-13
Walsh, John, 375
Wandiwash, Battle of, 343
Ward, Ned, 219
Wargaum (Wadgaon) Convention, 406, 407, 413
Watson, Admiral Charles, 266-70, 293-5, 297, 305-17, 319-20
Watts, William, 299, 300, 306, 312, 315, 320
Weddell, John, 104-7, 121-4, 205, 251
Welden, Richard, 50
Wellesley, Arthur, Duke of Wellington, 400, 414, 445, 447
Wellesley, Richard, Lord Mornington, 444, 445
Weltden, Captain Anthony, 202-4, 223, 334
Westminster, Peace of, 126
Whampoa, 208, 348, 455
White, George, 200, 201, 202, 203
White, Samuel, 200-3, 223, 334
Whitehall, Treaty of, 131
Wilkins, Charles, 422
William III, King, 178, 181, 190
Wilson, C. R., 220
Wilson, Captain William, 353
Winter, Sir Edward, 196
Witherington, Captain, 301, 302
Woodruff, Philip, 397-8
Woollen trade, (broadcloth, tweed etc.) 52, 53, 58-9, 74, 81, 98, 358-9, 423, 438
Yale, Elihu, 164, 165, 199-200, 202, 203, 205, 208
Yale, Thomas, 199-200, 205-7
Yedo, 57-8, 64
Yemen, 81-5, 88-9
Yule, Sir Henry, 161
Zanzibar, 12, 75, 443
Ziau-ud-Din, 222-3, 226-7, 244
Zwaarte Leeuw,
45, 64
It would take more than one lifetime to compile a history of the East India Company from its voluminous records. I have referred to them only occasionally. Books like this necessarily depend on other books. But wherever possible I have based the narrative on reprints, selections, extracts and calendars of the original records. Happily the Company has been well served in this respect. My main debt is therefore to those scholars and archivists, mostly long deceased, who laboured to elucidate different aspects of the Company’s history by reproducing, abbreviating, or summarizing original materials. Their names will be found amongst the authors listed in the bibliography. I should, however, like to single out the works of Sir William Foster, Sir George Forrest, Sir Henry Yule, Sir William Hunter, Dr J. Long, Dr C. R. Wilson, Professor H. H. Dodwell, Colonel H. D. Love, and Dr S. C. Hill.
It is customary to offer some explanation for adopting a particular system of rendering foreign words into English. Since no system informs my choice of spellings I must pass on this. Familiarity and common usage have prevailed over consistency. The same goes for proper names. In the case of place names I have tried to use those designations or spellings in use now, giving the contemporary version in brackets. But this does not always work. Sometimes the current names seem less appropriate than those of 200 years ago. Thus I have stuck with Gombroon rather than have to choose between Bandar Abbas and Bandar Khomeini; with Macassar, which looks like making a comeback, rather than Ujung Pandang; and with Trichy and Tanjore because their currency seems to have survived the polysyllabic reformation of south Indian names. There are many other such inconsistencies for which I accept full responsibility.
The five years spent on this book have been a gross indulgence. I thank Carol O’Brien at HarperCollins for raising no objection to its
being twice the proposed length and taking twice the allotted time. Being so long busy about the Company could also have placed a strain on personal relationships. Yet Julia has never baulked at having a hardback rodent for a husband and has in fact encouraged his ferreting with insight, good cheer, and love. My debt to her defies acknowledgement.
J
OHN
K
EAY
was educated at Ampleforth College, York and Magdalen College, Oxford. As an author and broadcaster specialising in Asian history and current affairs, he has been treading the trail of the East India Company since the 1960s. His other books include
Into India, When Men and Mountains Meet, Eccentric Travellers, Explorers Extraordinary, India Discovered, India: A History
and
The Great Arc.
Married with four children, he lives in the Scottish Highlands with his wife Julia. They are the joint editors of the
Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
From the reviews
of The Honourable Company:
‘What a marvellous story is that of the East India Company!…And John Keay tells it well, humanely and spicily, as well as all we need about organisation, background, etc…Mr Keay gives us the spectrum, the trade with China and Japan, the Arabian Gulf, the East Indies, India, the lot.’
A. L. R
OWSE
,
Contemporary Review
‘Splendid, tumultuous narrative history…The sotry is so colourful, at least in its early stages, that it can be read as a bumper book of Indian adventure.’
A
NTHONY
Q
UINTON,
The Times
‘A tale worth retelling in detail, when it is done with as much as flair and imagination as this.’
G
EOFFREY
M
OORHOUSE,
Guardian
‘A gem of a book on a vast and complex adventure of British trading, maritime and colonial history…highly recommended not only for scholars but to all those interested in an important segment of British and human history.’
Catholic Herald
‘Full of delicious anecdotes…fascinating reading.’
W
ILLIAM
D
ALRYMPLE
,
The Spectator
INTO INDIA
WHEN MEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET
THE GILGIT GAME
ECCENTRIC TRAVELLERS
EXPLORERS EXTRAORDINARY
HIGHLAND DROVE
THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
’
S
HISTORY OF WORLD EXPLORATION
INDIA DISCOVERED
THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SCOTLAND
(
WITH JULIA KEAY
)
INDONESIA: FROM SABANG TO MERAUKE
LAST POST: EMPIRE
’
S END
INDIA: A HISTORY
THE GREAT ARC
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This paperback edition 1993
FIRST EDITION
First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollins
Publishers
1991
Copyright © John Keay 1991
John Keay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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EPub Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-39554-5
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