The East India Company: Corrupt Governance and Cruelty in India, 1806-1814

The First Earl of Minto, Sir Gilbert Elliot Murray Kynynmound, served as Governor-General of India from 1806-1813. This collection is drawn from his personal papers during his time as premier of the East India Company (EIC), with extensive correspondence with other officials, papers from the political department, papers from the secret department, and files pertaining to his time as President of the Board of Control.

Overall, the collection offers a top-down perspective on the brutal rule of the East India Company during the early 19th century. The East India Company was expanding its quasi-colonial ambitions into the Indian subcontinent, having first established governance of the wealthy Bengal region in the late 18th century. The rule of the EIC during these years was characterised by corruption, cruelty and exploitation of the native population and natural resources of the Indian subcontinent. Officials of the EIC aggressively extracted and plundered revenue and their policies exacerbated rural poverty and famine throughout the region. The resentment fostered during these years led directly to the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which then led to Britain assuming direct colonial control of modern day India and Pakistan.

The Governor-General further observed that various obvious reasons concurred to suggest the expediency of fitting out the expedition at Fort St George in preference to Fort William

Bengal Government's Secret Committee, Oct 1807, Dispatches from the Bengal Government's Secret Committee, 1807-1810; img 9

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Insights

The Political Department papers cover the years 1807 to 1813. These minutes include correspondence from the Governor-General's agents.

As Governor-General in India, the Earl oversaw the trial of the first Chief Justice of Bengal. This Chief Justice was on trial for his conduct in the trial of the tax collector Maharaja Nandakumar between 1787 and 1788.

The Earl's Correspondence with the Directors of the East India Company is contained in a series of letterbooks. These writings cover subjects from army morale to protecting the East India Company's trading rights.

The Secret Department papers cover the years 1808 to 1813. Subjects addressed in these minutes include: correspondence from other countries and relations with France during the Napoleonic Wars.

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