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 1807 to 1813. This collection is drawn from his personal papers during his time as the premier of the East India Company (EIC). Amongst these documents you will find extensive correspondence with other officials, papers from the EIC’s political department, papers from its secret department, and files pertaining to the earl’s tenure as president of the Board of Control.

The collection offers valuable insights into the upper echelons of the EIC during a period when it was consolidating its influence throughout the Indian subcontinent, having established governance of the wealthy region of Bengal during the late eighteenth century. It has been asserted, widely, that the EIC’s administration of India during the early nineteenth century was characterised by corruption, cruelty, and exploitation of the indigenous population, as well as the natural resources of the Indian subcontinent. The EIC extracted revenue and its policies are deemed to have exacerbated poverty, famine, and instability, all of which contributed to the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny of 1857–1858. Following the suppression of this uprising, the rule of the EIC in India was superseded by that of the British Crown.

This collection is a rich resource for students, educators, and researchers wishing to explore the development and influence of the once powerful East India Company, as well as the formation of the British empire. It will also appeal to those interested in the broader histories of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.