Vassals of the Crown - The British Indian Empire

pmaitra

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Vassals of the Crown - The British Indian Empire

This thread is about the structure of the British Indian Empire.



The British Indian Empire was founded by the British with the acquiescence of the many Indian Princes and Kings who were rulers of their own kingdoms in their own right. The Empire was structures into Provinces and Agencies. The Provinces were either Presidencies or Vassal States. The Agencies were divided into Vassal States.


 

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Ray

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The most infamous mode of annexing parts of India devised by the British was Dalhousie's Doctrine of Lapse.

Wikipedia, being concise, is being quoted to explain this Doctrine.

The Doctrine of Lapse was an annexation policy purportedly devised (see below about Kittur) by Lord Dalhousie, who was the Governor General for the British in India between 1848 and 1856. According to the Doctrine, any princely state or territory under the direct influence (paramountcy) of the British East India Company (the dominant imperial power in the subcontinent), as a vassal state under the British Subsidiary System, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either "manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir".[1] The latter supplanted the long-established right of an Indian sovereign without an heir to choose a successor. In addition, the British decided whether potential rulers were competent enough. The doctrine and its application were widely regarded by Indians as illegitimate.

At the time of its adoption, the Company had absolute, imperial administrative jurisdiction over many regions spread over the subcontinent. The company took over the princely states of Satara (1848), Jaipur and Sambalpur (1849), Nagpur and Jhansi (1854) and Awadh (Oudh) (1856) using this Doctrine. The Company added about four million pounds sterling to its annual revenue by use of this doctrine.[2]

The British took over Awadh in 1856 with the reason that the ruler was not ruling properly. This led to a revolution.

With the increasing power of the East India Company, discontent simmered amongst many sections of Indian society and the largely indigenous armed forces; these rallied behind the deposed dynasties during the Indian rebellion of 1857 also known as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 . Following the rebellion, in 1858, the new British Viceroy of India, whose rule replaced that of the British East India Company, renounced the doctrine.

The princely state of Kittur was taken over by the East India Company in 1824 by imposing a 'Doctrine Of Lapse'. So it is debatable whether it was actually devised by Lord Dalhousie in 1848, though he arguably did make it official by putting it to paper-and-ink. Dalhousie's annexations and the doctrine of lapse had caused suspicion and uneasiness in the mind of almost all ruling princes in India.the right of succession was denied to the Hindu princes.[3]
Doctrine of lapse - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 

pmaitra

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Very true Ray Sir.

One must, however, admire Lord Dalhousie.

He is the man who envisioned what would turn into today's Indian Railways. His interests were British interests, but he must be admired for his administrative genius.

If you cannot defeat the enemy, destroy that enemy by making him your friend. While the founding of the Empire began with violence and battles, it was given completion by forging alliances with Indian princes and kings. The British were masters in the art of flattery when it came to the Indian nobility! Lord Dalhousie was apt at making such swift provisions.


James Andrew Broun-Ramsay alias Lord Dalhousie (1st Marquess of Dalhousie)
 
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Iamanidiot

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Calcutta was the capital for nearly 120 years of this British empire.Nowadays it is worser than a mofussil town
 

pmaitra

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Calcutta was the capital for nearly 120 years of this British empire.Nowadays it is worser than a mofussil town
Not really.

London was the capital of the British Empire. Calcutta was the HQ of the East India Company and then Calcutta became the capital of the British Indian Empire since 1874 till 1911. That's 36 years as capital of the British Indian Empire, not 120.

Calcutta, regardless of what it is today, is an egalitarian city. During the days of the British Raj, many places in Calcutta were meant for Europeans only. IMHO, it's much better than what it was then. :)
 
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Tomcat

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Major provinces
.
At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor. The following table lists their areas and populations (but does not include those of the dependent Native States):[15] During the partition of Bengal (1905–1912), a new Lieutenant-Governor's province of Eastern Bengal and Assam existed. In 1912, the partition was partially reversed, with the eastern and western halves of Bengal re-united and the province of Assam re-established; a new Lieutenant-Governor's province of Bihar and Orissa was also created.


Province of British India Area (in thousands of square miles) Population (in millions of inhabitants) Chief Administrative Officer

Burma 107 9 Lieutenant-Governor

Bengal 151 75 Lieutenant-Governor

Madras 124 38 Governor-in-Council

Bombay 123 19 Governor-in-Council

United Provinces 107 48 Lieutenant-Governor

Central Provinces and Berar 104 13 Chief Commissioner

Punjab 97 20 Lieutenant-Governor

Assam 49 6 Chief Commissioner
 

Ray

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Seriously kolkutta is really a filthy , among metros in India
I am right here in Mumbai.

I wonder if your statement is true or you are in the league of Dominique Lapierre.

Open up your eyes now, tell me what you see!

BTW, Calcutta was known as the City of Palaces. Check you GK books.
 

Tomcat

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one of the main pillars of British rule in india was the Indian Civil Service or the British India Civil Service it was bought in to force by the Goverment of India Act 1858 under section XXXII of the act Its members were appointed The competitive examination for entry to the civil service was combined for the Diplomatic, the Home, the Indian, and the Colonial Services. Candidates must be aged between 21 and 24, which gave everyone three chances for entry. The total marks possible for the examination were 1,900.[3]

Successful candidates underwent one or two years probation in England, according to whether they had taken the London or the Indian examination. This period was spent at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, or the School of Oriental Studies in London, where a candidate studied Law and the procedures of India, including criminal law and the Law of Evidence, which all gave the knowledge and the idea of the revenue system, reading Indian history and learning the language of the Province to which they had been assigned.[4] By 1934, the system of administration in India came gradually to consist of seven All India Services and five Central Departments, all under the control of the Secretary of State, and three Central Departments under joint Provincial and Imperial control. The ICS and the Indian Police (Service) were in the 'transferred field', that is, the authority for the control of these services and for making appointments were transferred from the Secretary of State to the provincial governments. It seems relevant to mention that the All India and class I central services were designated as Central Superior Services

By 1920, there were a total of five methods of entry into the higher civil service: firstly, the open competitive examinations in London; secondly, separate competitive examinations in India; thirdly, nomination in India to satisfy provincial and communal representation; fourthly, promotion from the Provincial Civil Service and lastly, appointments from the bar which by one-fourth of the posts, out of the total posts reserves for the ICS, were to be filled from the bar
 

Ray

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IAS is a replicate of ICS.

Imperialism at its zenith!
 

Nagraj

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This is awesome!
thank you for posting this!
Do you have any larger map. frankly can't see much in this map.
Vassals of the Crown - The British Indian Empire

This thread is about the structure of the British Indian Empire.

 

Ray

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There is no doubt that the map is a marvel.

Encapsulate history.

Never seen a better map than this!
 

Nagraj

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this map alone is worth a good book . tells much more about our history.
There is no doubt that the map is a marvel.

Encapsulate history.

Never seen a better map than this!
 

Param

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IAS is a replicate of ICS.

Imperialism at its zenith!
Imperial or not, it is steel the "steel frame of India".

Btw it was an ICS officer VP Menon who was instrumental in unifying India between 1946 and 1950.Most people would have only heard about Patel.
 

nrj

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Country flag
IAS is a replicate of ICS.

Imperialism at its zenith!

Subhash Chandra Bose was one of the few early ICS from India.

In those times, person who clears ICS in London was treated like God in India.
 

W.G.Ewald

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Is the Red Ensign in the first post a national flag or a military flag?
 

pmaitra

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Is the Red Ensign in the first post a national flag or a military flag?
It is the Imperial Flag, thus, I'd say the term 'National Flag' would be more appropriate.

Flag and Coat of Arms of the Colony of the East India Company:


Flag and Star of India of the British Indian Empire:
 

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