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British Society in Guntur During the Early Nineteenth Century*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 June 2009
Extract
That a similarity underlay local diversities of British society in India during the early 19th century is shown by Bernard S. Cohn's description of the British in Benares. A century ago, George F. Atkinson, in his Curry and Rice, observed:
Let me remind you that, while there are numerous races, each with a different creed, caste, and language, so there are customs and manners peculiar to each: and this variety is not confined to the natives; for the habits and customs of social life among the English in India likewise present their petty diversities; and the “Qui Hye” of Bengal, the “Mull” of Madras, and the “Duck” of Bombay, adhere to and defend their own customs with jealous warmth of feeling … but there are [some ways of life] such as are common to the whole of India.
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- Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1962
References
1 Atkinson, G. F., Curry and Rice, On Forty Plates: The Ingredients of Social Life at “Our” Station in India (London, 1859), preface.Google Scholar
2 Norton, John, A Letter to Robert Lowe on the Condition and Requirements of the Presidency of Madras (Madras, 1854), p. 179.Google Scholar
3 Ricketts, Henry, Report of the Commissioner for the Revision of Civil Salaries and Establishments (Calcutta, 1858), I, 161–165.Google Scholar
4 Dodwell, Henry, The Nabobs of Madras (London, 1926), p. 125.Google Scholar
5 The Madras Almanac for 1813 listed 136 non-official Europeans; that for 1832 listed 114; and that for 1834 listed 110. During the 1840's and especially during the 1850's, the number of non-official Europeans again increased. The average number of military personnel between 1800 and 1850 ranged between 10,000 to 14,000 Europeans and between 15,000 to 25,000 Indians. See: House of Commons. Return on Total Europeans and Natives employed in Madras Presidency: 1800–1851. Parliamentary Papers, 1853 (I.C.S. Sessional Paper No. 366, Vol. V, No. 16).
6 Even “unsettled” or ryotwari districts like Tanjore and Cuddapah rarely held more than 15 officers. Military cantonments (e.g. Bangalore and Secunderabad), of course, had their own kind of society, quite distinct from society in the districts. Details on all Europeans may be found in Guntur District Records. Six volumes of Madras Civil Servants are the official establishment lists. Also see: Drach, and Kuder, , The Telugu Mission (Philadelphia, 1914), on early missionary activity.Google Scholar
7 Mackenzie, Gordon, A Manual of Kistna District (Madras, 1883), p. 183. From 1859 to 1904 Guntur was part of Krishna District. Census figures are found in annual Jamabandi Reports of the Guntur District Records, as well as in letters concerning the Guntur Kazi between 1826 and 1848.Google Scholar
8 Influential Indian as well as non-official European communities became involved in this intrigue.
9 [Thomas, Julia], Letters from Madras: 1836–1839 (London, 1846)Google Scholar, Feb. 16, 1838. Also: Brown, Hilton, The Sahibs: The Life and Ways of the British in India as Recorded by Themselves (London, 1948), p. 129.Google Scholar
10 [Thomas, Julia], op. cit., 12 21, 1837Google Scholar; Brown, H., op. cit., p. 136.Google Scholar
11 Brown, H., op. cit., p. 127.Google Scholar
12 Walter Elliot [Report on Guntur District] to Government of Madras (para. 96), April 17, 1846: Madras Revenue Proceedings and Consultations (India Office Library [abbr: IOL]: range 280: vol. 20: p. 7635), No. 39 of Dec 6, 1847, “Chart of Officers … ”
13 Lord Elphinstone-Maclean Correspondence, Elphinstone Collection (IOL: Eur. Mss. F. 87), Governor's Letters Received File, Vol. VI, Nos. 44, 51, 55, 57 (Box 2-E) and Letters Sent File (Box 3-A). Elliot to Elphinstone, Aug 20, 1844, Jan 14, 1845: ibid. (Box 10-D). Lord Tweeddale to Lord Haddington, Jan 25, 1845: Tweeddale Collection (IOL: Eur. Mss. F. 96), Home Letter Book II., p. 35. Many other letters may be cited.
14 Letters on and by Lewin and Bruce in official records and in the Elphinstone and Tweeddale Collections are too numerous to be detailed here.
15 These names have been gathered from newspapers, The Madras Almanac, private writings, personal records of officials, and monographs. Brown's, HiltonParrys of Madras (Madras, 1954) is an example of one such family.Google Scholar
16 Ricketts, , op. cit., pp. 161–165.Google Scholar
17 Norton, op. cit., wryly remarked that promotion should depend more on merit and less on senility, that drones were “pitchforked” into the judiciary (a “Refuge for the Destitute”), that hanging a witness instead of a prisoner by mistake could still bring a Post-Master Generalship, and that, in “the casting net of centralization … the upcountry Collector dare hardly shave without a circular order” in the Gazette, pp. 319–322.
18 Lord Tweeddale to Lord Ripon, Oct 2, 1844: op. cit., Home Letter Book I, pp. 360–361.
19 A fascinating example is found in Row, V. Venkata Gopal, The Life of Vennelacunty Soob Row (Madras, 1873). Soob Row was born in Ongole and grew up in Guntur, ultimately attaining an important office in Madras.Google Scholar
20 Report, Elliot, op. cit., para. 60.Google Scholar
21 Ruthnaswamy, M., Some Influences that made the British Administrative System in India (London, 1939), p. 87.Google Scholar
22 Robertson to Revenue Board, Sept 11, 1811 (para 18, encl. I): Guntur District Records (vol. 385: pp. 303–320).
23 Mackenzie, , op. cit., pp. 346, 358. Elliott Report, op. cit. (Appendix C).Google Scholar
24 Arbuthnot, A. J., Selections from the Writings of Sir Thomas Munro … (Madras, 1886), pp. 521–527Google Scholar; Sketch, Biographical, Personal Records, XVII, 285–357.Google Scholar
25 Goldingham to C. R. Cotton (para. 8), D e c 13, 1839: Madras Revenue Proceedings (IOL: range 280: vol. 6: p. 2461). This bungalow was later converted into a Lungarkhana (hospital) for treating Indians.
26 Goldingham to Revenue Board, Nov 24, 1837: Guntur District Records, Vol. 5393, pp. 221–227; Writer's Petitions, Vol. 31, no. 4,
27 Elliot Report (paras. 100–105), op. cit.
28 Whish to Shashagiri Rao, enclosed in Huzur Sheristadar's Petition to Government, December 23, 1845: Madras Revenue Proceedings, range 280, Vol. 72, pp. 7335–45.
29 Ibid. All these letters (dated from 1827 to 1845) are enclosed with Shashagiri Rao's Petition to Government.
30 For comparisons in Bengal and Bombay, see: [Anon, .], Life in the Mofussil; or, The Civilian in Lower Bengal (London, 1878)Google Scholar; Pritchard, Iltudus, The Chronicles of Budgepore (London, 1893)Google Scholar; Carstairs, Robert, The Little World of the Indian District Officer (London, 1912)Google Scholar; and Maconochie, Evan, Life in the Indian Civil Service (London, 1926)Google Scholar. For South India, see: Dykes, J. W. B., Salem, an Indian Collectorate (London, 1853). Note: Some scorn for the British in South India seems always to have pervaded the opinions of the British in the north, perhaps because of their Indianized character.Google Scholar