Provincial Society and Empire: The Cumbrian Counties and the East Indies, 1680-1829

Over the long eighteenth century, thousands of men and women from the English provinces lived and worked in the East Indies. Yet the provincial commitment of human, financial and social capital to ventures in the East Indies has largely been disregarded. This book challenges the widely held view that British rule in India was driven primarily by the interests of London merchants and national political elites. Based on extensive original research, including the piecing together of biographical fragments of over 400 men and women from the Cumbrian counties, setting them in their family, social, financial and cultural networks, and outlining the details of their sojourns in the East,the book portrays a provincial world heavily implicated in the East Indies. It discusses how provincial people's encounter with the East Indies was driven by the desire of middling folk and gentry to promote, sustain, and, in some cases, revive fortunes, position and influence in their own provincial milieu, and thereby demonstrates how provincial preoccupations shaped the East Indies, and how East Indies experiences shaped provincial life.

KaySaville-Smith is Director of the Centre for Research, Evaluation and Social Assessment in Wellington, New Zealand. She completed her doctorate at the University of Lancaster.

Table of Contents

The Provincial World and Global Encounters
Cumbrian Contexts, Patterns and Lives
Why Go to the East Indies?
'Passage to India'
Returning and Returns
Conclusion: 'Use of Globes'
Appendix A: East Indies Enumerated Cumbrian Men
Appendix B: East Indies Enumerated Cumbrian Women
Appendix C: East Indies Women, Associated Cumbrian Men and Their Children
Appendix D: Hudleston, Kin Connections and the East Indies
Appendix E: East Indies Connections of the Winders, Stephensons and Fawcetts
Appendix F: East Indies Connections of the Braddylls, Wilsons and Gales
Appendix G: Kin Connections of Catherine Holme
Appendix H: Kin Connections of Thomas Cust
Bibliography