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Just over 400 years ago,
a group of London merchants arrived

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here on the Indian coast hoping
to do some peaceful trading.

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Those early pioneers dreamt
of making huge profits.

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From humble beginnings,
this rag-tag band of adventurers

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secured land from Indian rulers,

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formed alliances with
local craftsmen

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and built from scratch a commercial
enterprise

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to export goods to Britain.

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The East India Company was
part of this tremendous

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globalisation of the world

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which really started in
the 17th century,

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and speeded up in
the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Over 200 years, the company
grew into a commercial titan.

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Its wealth rivalled
that of the British state.

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It had its own army,

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and eventually ruled over
400 million people.

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Its trade was vital to Britain's
commercial success

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and its shares were the centre point
of London's financial markets.

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It revolutionised the British
lifestyle.

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The East India Company changed
the way we dress,

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it changed the way we eat,

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it changed the way we socialise.

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And, by accident, created one of the
most powerful empires in history.

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They were instrumental in making
Britain THE maritime superpower.

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They helped lay the foundations for
our own global trading system today

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and they also helped to make English
the world's language.

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Every step of the company's rise
is recorded in a unique archive.

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"What a lucky fellow you are,
Charley, going to India -

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"you lead such a luxurious life!

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"Why, you dog, when you come
home you will be a rich man."

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But the letters and diaries also
chart its fall into profiteering,

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nepotism and corruption.

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"Every ancient friend of
the family

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"hoped I should live to be
a major general."

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And eventually a chilling
story of drug-running and famine.

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"Numbers of famishing
wretches followed our army

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"for the sole purpose of existing
on the offal of the camp."

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This is the story of the greatest
company the world has ever known.

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This is where it all started.

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On December 31st, 1600,

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The East India Company was
established by royal charter

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in London

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and granted a monopoly on trade with
the East by Queen Elizabeth I.

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It was the beginning of a new
age in Britain's history -

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an age of speculation and profit,

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enterprise and competition.

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Capitalism would change forever

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the lives of its people
and politics.

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Trade would make Britain great

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and turn London into the richest
city in the world.

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The company built a series of
massive warehouses

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across the City of London to store
its goods.

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There was Lime Street,

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Fenchurch Street, Seething Lane.

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Then when they filled up,

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they built more warehouses near
the Tower of London

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and here on Cutler Street.

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These buildings were filled with
muslins, calicos and silks

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from India and the Orient.

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Thanks to the East India Company,

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exotic goods like spices
from Indonesia,

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tea and porcelain from China,

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became part of everyday life.

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Every year, huge merchant ships
of the East India Company,

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known as East Indiamen,

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would leave from right here, loaded
down with silver bullion

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and British merchandise,

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heading up the Thames and out to sea
to trade with the East.

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On board were young men
filled with hope.

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Who they were and what happened
to them

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are questions we can now answer.

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Thousands of them left behind

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an extraordinary record of their
daily lives in documents

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now held at the British Library.

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"Snakes have been found in the beds

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"where gentlemen were about
to repose.

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"A lady was called in by her servant
to see a snake

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"that lay contentedly between
two of her infants

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"while sleeping in a small cot.

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"This perilous situation produced
the utmost anxiety."

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In following their dreams,

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these young men would
inadvertently forge an empire.

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"Wealth and honour will pour upon me

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"and to crown my felicity,
some high-born damsel

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"will eventually become my wife."

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An empire that would create
thousands of winners,

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but millions of losers.

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"The vulture rising reluctantly
from its bloody banquet

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"flapped its broad wings in anger
and joined the wild chorus

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"with discordant cries."

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Wills, diaries, letters -
more than 100,000 manuscripts -

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fill nine miles of shelving.

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The letters and diaries of
the people who lived and died

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under the company's flag

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are the lost voices of
the East India Company.

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Historian Robert Hutchinson has
spent six years studying them.

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There are thousands upon thousands
upon thousands of wills

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of company employees,
and all of them give insight

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into life working for the company.

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Most of these documents have never
been seen before.

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They put us in direct contact with
the men and women of the company -

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a unique glimpse of our social
history.

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They're very graphic accounts
of the attitudes

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and the beliefs and the commitment

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to the lives they'd made
for themselves in India.

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They are extraordinarily graphic.

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You've been through all of them?

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Not all of them,
but it's a lifetime's work.

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They're just fragments
of personal testimony.

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But pieced together,
they paint a vivid portrait

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of daily life in the service
of the Honourable Company.

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Armed with these letters and diaries
I'm going on a journey

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to retrace the footsteps of this
band of adventurers,

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charting the rise and fall
of the world's greatest company.

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One country above all would play
a pre-eminent role in that story...

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..and become the jewel in
the company's crown -

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India.

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Our story began in 1639 at an
unlikely spot on the east coast.

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A place that became known as
Madraspatnam.

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When the company arrived here

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it wasn't pursuing dreams of
conquest or empire,

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but looking for a secure base
from which to conduct trade,

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and one of its employees,
Francis Day,

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was convinced
that this was the right spot.

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And with good reason.

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This is the Coromandel Coast -

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a name synonymous with diamonds,
pearls and the finest cotton.

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In mid-17th century
Europe,

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Indian cotton was
the height of fashion.

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It was cheap,
colourful and hard-wearing.

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A fortune could be made
exporting it.

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Francis Day claimed a section of
beach and set up shop.

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Though he may have had other
things on his mind.

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This lusty young man had
a girlfriend nearby

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and he was keen to see
her as often as possible.

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He even threatened to resign unless
the company accepted his suggestion.

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Not for the last time, human history
turned on an affair of the heart.

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But this was hardly the place
to start a trading post.

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A dangerous sand bar,

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just off the coast, would cause
ships to capsize or run aground.

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And if you made it ashore...

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it wasn't much better!

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"They have no drinkable water
within a mile of them,

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"the sea often threatening
destruction on one side,

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"and the river in the rainy season

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"inundations on the other.

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"The sun from April to September
scorching hot.

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"Madraspatnam is one of the most
incommodious places I ever saw."

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Incommodious or not,

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the company had established
a vital foothold in south India -

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and began to trade.

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They brought in what was the chief
product of this area

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from their point of view -

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weavers and dyers to manufacture
hand-loom cloth.

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And this was the biggest export
from here.

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Within a year, 300 Bengali weavers
had set up shop,

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alongside a motley crew of publicans
and prostitutes.

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A handful of Englishmen were
busy exporting cloth and spices

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back home for sale in London -

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much to the delight of the company's
shareholders.

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They could send their ships out
here, fill the holds with spices,

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and hopefully return rich men.

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It was a very lucrative trade -

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one that had been exploited by
other European powers

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for quite a long time now.

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But, by making a monopoly,

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they could ensure there'd be
no domestic opposition

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to threaten the shareholders'
profits.

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Even so, the company's investors
were taking a huge gamble.

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Each voyage could take
two years or more -

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a long and tense wait to see
a return on investment.

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Along the way there would be

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potential loss of ships through
storms.

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There could be piracy,

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there could be conquest by local
rulers, etc, etc...

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So this was a very high-risk
venture.

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But one that paid dividends
from the beginning.

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When company ships first returned
from the East Indies in 1607,

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investors had hit the jackpot.

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Ah. That single voyage netted
an absolutely vast amount of money

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because of these...
cloves!

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A single cargo of this ensured that
the investors made a 230% profit,

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bringing them £36,000 -

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that's tens of millions in today's
money.

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It's hard to comprehend just how
much of a revolution this was.

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Something that we now
take for granted.

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Used in medicine as a painkiller,

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cloves were so highly prized

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they were literally worth
their weight in gold.

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With the construction of a warehouse

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and several homes, the company was
turning three miles of beach

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into commercial real estate.

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Trade was valuable, so they
protected their new settlement

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with a stockade and called it

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Fort St George.

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The original Fort St George was
built on this spot.

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Now it's been massively strengthened
and enlarged over the years,

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but it took 14 years to build,

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and the East India Company directors
bitterly complained of the cost.

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00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:17,560
But this was like a big security
barrier for their warehouse.

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Madras was the springboard
for expansion.

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Within 50 years, the company was
building two further settlements -

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which they called Bombay
and Calcutta.

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These three urban centres

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certainly owe their existence

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to the East India Company.

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They didn't exist before.

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They grew out of small trading posts
which were gradually fortified,

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00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:48,720
became more residential,

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Indian communities moved in
servicing the needs

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00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,520
of the company and British trade.

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And, yeah, absolutely crucial.

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In the early years, these three
forts had very small garrisons.

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00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,440
About 550 men were serving here
at Fort George

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00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,320
in what was then Madras.

216
00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,240
Less than half of them were
European troops,

217
00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,560
the rest of them were
locally recruited Indians.

218
00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:15,200
The merchants were here to trade,
not fight.

219
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The trouble was, this was a
dangerous place to do business.

220
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:23,760
Competition from other European
traders was fierce.

221
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:25,440
Skirmishes were common.

222
00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:28,280
Thick walls were a necessary
precaution.

223
00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:32,000
When you come up here to
this battlement

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you get such a sense of the
defensive power of this fort.

225
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Look at these walls -
they're comfortably 30m thick.

226
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Sloping here, so that any
cannonballs incoming

227
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will bounce harmlessly over
the heads of the defenders.

228
00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:45,440
And each of these embrasures here
- these V-shaped embrasures -

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would've had a big heavy cannon,

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and these cannonballs would have
flown out through here,

231
00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:52,200
an interlocking field of fire,

232
00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,200
making sure that anyone approaching
these fort walls

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00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:56,880
would have been obliterated.

234
00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,360
It's an incredibly tough
position to take.

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With the consent of the local
Indian ruler,

236
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the settlement grew rapidly.

237
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By 1700, Madraspatnam had
become a bustling town

238
00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,440
with 80,000 inhabitants.

239
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Trade was booming.

240
00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,960
Goods were now flooding back
from here to Britain,

241
00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,600
and were having a profound effect
on the British lifestyle.

242
00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:27,880
Can I have a single tea, please?

243
00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,640
It was the beginning of new
kinds of diets -

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00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,160
of choice, of consumerism.

245
00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,200
People could now choose to have
sugar from the West Indies,

246
00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:38,960
pepper from India.

247
00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:43,680
It was also the start of the Brits'
obsession with hot drinks -

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00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:46,240
tea and coffee arrived
for the first time.

249
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:51,680
Thanks very much.

250
00:13:57,280 --> 00:13:58,640
Delicious.

251
00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,400
Gingham, silk, muslin, calico...

252
00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,320
Back in Britain, the company was
importing a cavalcade

253
00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,040
of rich new fabrics.

254
00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:13,680
Bowled over by the exquisite skill
of India's craftsmen,

255
00:14:13,680 --> 00:14:15,680
the British public went crazy.

256
00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:19,280
18th century Indian textiles

257
00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,160
held at London's
Victoria and Albert Museum

258
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,800
reveal that an impressive range
of techniques

259
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,680
were used in their manufacture.

260
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,280
All these objects are made of chintz,
which is basically

261
00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,520
cotton which has been hand-painted

262
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,280
rather than printed.

263
00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:43,160
The Indians managed to find ways
of dyeing cotton

264
00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,360
so the colours remained brilliant
and were colour-fast,

265
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,360
so that was very exciting for people
in the West.

266
00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:54,320
Cheap, washable and hard-wearing -

267
00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,480
they made a huge impact.

268
00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,320
Less formal clothing became
acceptable and fashionable.

269
00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,240
And it certainly worried
the British textile industry,

270
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:08,680
because they were very fearful that
there would be no demand

271
00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,800
for their own wool and linen
products.

272
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,920
And, at one point, it caused such
a sensation,

273
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,800
and so much fear amongst
the silk workers,

274
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:21,560
that they tore the clothes off
people's backs.

275
00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,440
Really? Because they thought
their livelihoods were threatened.

276
00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,120
It was that dramatic.

277
00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,640
Company merchants were quick
to respond

278
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:30,880
to the consumers' changing tastes.

279
00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:35,000
The East India Company would report
back regularly

280
00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,720
after every shipment to Britain
from India,

281
00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:40,680
saying, "Well, we liked this,
but these didn't sell so well."

282
00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,200
And, "Could you do more
of the floral sprigs?"

283
00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:45,680
Or, "Could you do of more
of this colour?"

284
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,400
"The long cloth you sent us
proved so very coarse,

285
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,520
"ill-washed and packed,

286
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,840
"that it is unfit to be sent home.

287
00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,680
"Our money is much better
than such trash!"

288
00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,600
The British retail fashion industry
was born.

289
00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,000
Pyjamas, bandanas, dungarees -

290
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,000
dozens of new words entered
the English dictionary.

291
00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,000
Demand for Indian textiles was
so great

292
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,960
it threatened to destroy
Britain's industry.

293
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,640
"Everything that used to be made
of wool or silk,

294
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,440
"relating to either the dress
of women,

295
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,520
"or the furniture of our houses,

296
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,000
"was supplied by the India trade."

297
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,680
The Government even passed a law
to ban people

298
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:32,600
from wearing Indian textiles.

299
00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,480
But it didn't work - testimony
to the rising power of the consumer.

300
00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,240
Over the next 100 years,
sales of Indian textiles

301
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,800
would generate 60% of
the company's income.

302
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:54,600
By 1700, it was operating
22 trading posts across India.

303
00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:56,760
Calcutta was one of the biggest.

304
00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,200
The company's star was rising fast.

305
00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,440
But investors were about to be
handed a commercial opportunity

306
00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,840
beyond their wildest expectations.

307
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,840
For 200 years,
India had been part of a vast empire

308
00:17:23,840 --> 00:17:25,680
ruled by a powerful dynasty.

309
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:30,400
The Mughals had imposed
a centralised government,

310
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,320
built imposing monuments,

311
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,040
and unified the country with
a road system and single currency.

312
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,600
The population was huge compared
with Britain's -

313
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,400
it was about 140 million,

314
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:46,720
and Britain then had about
four million.

315
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,160
Erm, the economic position

316
00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,840
was it was the second largest economy
in the world,

317
00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,640
reputedly, erm...

318
00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,880
with about 25% of the world's GDP.

319
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:02,480
For the first few decades,

320
00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,320
the mighty Mughals barely even
noticed the East India Company.

321
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:08,120
The British didn't cause trouble,

322
00:18:08,120 --> 00:18:10,400
and besides, they paid good money.

323
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,680
The Mughal Empire had a tax
on imports of bullion,

324
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:17,040
so they were doing quite well out
of the company,

325
00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,720
bringing in all this silver
and gold.

326
00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:22,920
They were also selling the company
trading concessions,

327
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,480
and wherever they were able to set up
factories,

328
00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:28,680
they had to pay for it.

329
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:32,120
So it was quite a good sort of source
of income for the Empire.

330
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:40,120
But, in 1707, the Mughal Empire
began to disintegrate.

331
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,480
When the last great Mughal emperor,
Aurangzeb, died,

332
00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,760
his successors were unable
to hold his empire together,

333
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:53,680
and power devolved into a patchwork
of competing regional states.

334
00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:55,920
Obsessed with its own problems,
therefore,

335
00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:57,760
the empire didn't have time to
worry about

336
00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,800
the little old East India Company.

337
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,040
Amid the confusion,
a deal was signed.

338
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,080
In exchange for an annual fee,

339
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,440
the East India Company was granted

340
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,960
the right to trade - duty-free
- across the state of Bengal.

341
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:17,280
No gift could have been greater.

342
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:20,160
Company merchants previously
restricted to the coast

343
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,080
could now do business across
an entire province.

344
00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,920
And as the Mughal Empire weakened
further,

345
00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,560
the company expanded.

346
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,680
The East India Company was
sucked into this vacuum.

347
00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,680
It would back one local claimant
to a throne against another.

348
00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:39,360
And in return for its support,

349
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:42,800
it would be given little land
holdings or trading concessions.

350
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,360
That meant, within decades,
the East India Company was becoming

351
00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,040
a sovereign entity in its
own right.

352
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:50,800
It had the power to raise revenue,

353
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:52,360
to make war and peace,

354
00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:55,200
to mint its own coins,
to administer justice.

355
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,720
The East India Company was
becoming a state.

356
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,680
A state that, by 1800,

357
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:09,000
would rule 140 million people
across 94,000 square miles

358
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,520
and command an army
a quarter of a million strong -

359
00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,400
all controlled by 159 civil servants
in a London office

360
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,440
some 14,000 miles away.

361
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,560
Their headquarters,
East India House,

362
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,280
has long since disappeared
under this towering structure -

363
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:25,760
the Lloyd's building.

364
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,280
It was from here that
the company was run.

365
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,880
As its ships scoured
the world's oceans,

366
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,280
they were controlled by directors
elected by shareholders,

367
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,520
who were known collectively
as the Court of Directors.

368
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,520
There would be weekly board meetings
of their directors.

369
00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:44,360
There'd be quarterly auctions
of the company's products,

370
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:46,280
and then annual general meetings

371
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,160
which would often be ferocious
affairs

372
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,800
where shareholders would be fighting
over the size of the dividend.

373
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,440
TRADING FLOOR HUBBUB

374
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:58,760
Share dealing, corporate governance,

375
00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:01,640
annual accounts -
the company would help develop

376
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:03,720
all the paraphernalia of modern
business,

377
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,720
turning London into the world's
commercial capital.

378
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:18,080
In India, the company's affairs were
generating a mountain of paperwork,

379
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:22,480
every transaction recorded for
scrutiny back in London.

380
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,960
So it needed a large body of
able, young men

381
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,800
to keep everything in order.

382
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,560
This awe-inspiring building was
the nerve centre

383
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,880
of the East India Company's
affairs in Bengal.

384
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,720
In here were based a group of men
known as the writers.

385
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,000
They were bean counters and clerks
noting down minutes of meetings

386
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:43,880
and financial transactions -

387
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,800
all the tedious day-to-day
business of the East India Company.

388
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,160
For the well-connected young
Briton of the 1700s,

389
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,840
a job with the company was
a free ticket on the gravy train.

390
00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,760
To get a job as a writer, all you
had to do was ingratiate yourself

391
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:02,520
with one of the company directors.

392
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,120
They were free to give the jobs to
whoever they chose,

393
00:22:05,120 --> 00:22:08,760
and that meant that family
connection counted for everything.

394
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,400
They gave them to their sons,
their cousins, their nephews

395
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,680
and their associates' sons.

396
00:22:14,680 --> 00:22:19,640
Things like merit or experience
counted for nothing.

397
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,440
"I shall be placed on the staff,

398
00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:25,960
"wear a cocked hat and laugh at
the Governor General's jokes,

399
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,240
"and a capital appointment
will follow in due course."

400
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,200
The pay wasn't great,

401
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,280
but you could do a bit
of wheeler-dealing on the side.

402
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,600
Private trading was a good way
for young men to

403
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,480
supplement their income.

404
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:43,480
The company did allow it,
but there were rules.

405
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,400
A captain was allowed to have
a portion of his cargo

406
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:48,720
to be reserved for his own private
business.

407
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,400
And the young writers out here

408
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,080
were allowed to trade in certain
commodities -

409
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:58,040
spices, diamonds, and textiles
woven with gold and silver thread.

410
00:22:58,040 --> 00:22:59,960
It was a nice little earner.

411
00:22:59,960 --> 00:23:03,560
They lend money to Indian nobles
at extortionate interest rates,

412
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,640
they speculate, they profiteer

413
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,440
and they engage in trade

414
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,680
and they use the East India Company
monopolies

415
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,960
and its political power to create

416
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,040
very favourable trading conditions
for themselves.

417
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,000
But a career in India came with
considerable risk.

418
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,040
None of the company's men were
prepared for the dangers

419
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,440
of a tropical climate.

420
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,560
They were greeted on arrival by

421
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,040
a withering barrage of heat
and disease.

422
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,560
It was said that during
the hot season here in India,

423
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,160
it was as dangerous a place as
anywhere in the world

424
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:45,920
for humans to live.

425
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:51,200
"Here I passed a night in a bed

426
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,680
"which might be called
a chop house for mosquitoes."

427
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,640
"The intemperance of the climate,

428
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,080
"together with the excessive
heat of the sun

429
00:23:58,080 --> 00:23:59,760
"are very noxious to our health."

430
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,960
"I had so bad a night of it,
I really expected it to be my last.

431
00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,520
"My stomach is so weak it refuses
everything."

432
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:10,280
Many who came to Calcutta

433
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,920
ended up here,
in South Park Street Cemetery.

434
00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:20,040
There are so many stories
of friendships, love affairs,

435
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,680
families torn apart by
death and disease.

436
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,880
To just pick one out here...

437
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:28,760
John Blackistone, a junior
officer in the company's army,

438
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,480
and he had a friend who he looked up
to, a few years his senior,

439
00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:33,920
called Lieutenant Rowley,
who was in the Engineers.

440
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,680
Rowely got dysentery and slowly
wasted away.

441
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:39,720
Blackistone wrote,
"Poor fellow!

442
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,200
"He expired in my arms.

443
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:46,400
"To one so young as myself
and unaccustomed to such scenes,

444
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:50,720
"this could not but be a most
painful circumstance."

445
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,560
People grew to accept that
death could be sudden.

446
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,960
"We've known instances of dining
with a gentlemen at midday

447
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:07,360
"and being invited to his burial
before suppertime."

448
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:11,600
Calcutta historian
Sudip Bhattacharya

449
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:15,360
is researching mortality amongst
the early settlers.

450
00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:18,240
The cemetery was opened in 1767

451
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,000
and burials took place until 1790.

452
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,040
So it's quite a short period?

453
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,760
Yes, it's a very short period,

454
00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,880
which only goes to demonstrate the
mortality, the high mortality. Wow.

455
00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:36,800
There's one here that you might
be interested in.

456
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,440
He was sincerely and universally
regretted by Europeans and natives.

457
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,360
Superintendent of the police
in Calcutta.

458
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:46,520
So it affected everybody. Just
because you were high and mighty,

459
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,560
it didn't mean you weren't going
to get sick? No, no. For instance,

460
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:52,280
here you have a judge,
he was one of the first judges

461
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,480
of the Supreme Court of Adjudication
in Bengal.

462
00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,680
They lacked the science,
they lacked the knowledge

463
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,520
about how to combat these microbes?

464
00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:03,760
Yes. So everyone was in
the same boat. Yes.

465
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,440
The worst period for sickness
was of course the monsoon,

466
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,720
between June and September.

467
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,400
If you managed to survive September,
around 15th October,

468
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,160
they would celebrate
the fact that they had survived.

469
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,040
A number of deaths took place
in September.

470
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:29,560
Many people died.

471
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,120
In one year alone,
more than a third

472
00:26:33,120 --> 00:26:36,920
of Calcutta's European population
died during the rainy season.

473
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:40,400
The average life span of a Briton
in Bengal

474
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,880
was said to be two monsoons.

475
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,840
The company regularly shipped blank
tombstones from England

476
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:47,720
to meet demand.

477
00:26:51,360 --> 00:26:55,080
This is the dark twin
of the East India Company's success.

478
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:58,280
This is the one they probably
wouldn't have wanted to talk about

479
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,880
when they were recruiting those
young men, full of hope,

480
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,120
to come out here and grow rich
and powerful.

481
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:09,760
The company tried to help.

482
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,600
It supplied ships and factories
with vast quantities of wine

483
00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:17,120
in the mistaken belief that
alcohol would promote health.

484
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,720
It didn't help much - but the men
couldn't have been more pleased.

485
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,680
And when the cellars ran dry,

486
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,240
there was always the local brew.

487
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,160
Toddy made from the sap
of palm trees

488
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,840
was meant to cure griping
of the stomach.

489
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,360
Then there was arrack, the locally
brewed firewater.

490
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:37,040
It was supposed to promote
health in young men.

491
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:44,600
When it became clear that Peruvian
bark - or quinine - cured fevers,

492
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,320
people started taking that.

493
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:49,640
Trouble is, it was very bitter.
They found they had to mix it with

494
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:53,280
sugar, soda water, gin and lemons -

495
00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:57,240
the quintessentially British
gin and tonic had been produced.

496
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,040
When men weren't busy dying,

497
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,160
shuffling paperwork or raking in
the cash,

498
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,280
they were getting smashed.

499
00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,840
Hard drinking was a central part
of their louche lifestyle.

500
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:14,400
"Spent a severe night of punch,

501
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,600
"and having sung ourselves to sleep
in our chairs,

502
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:18,680
"were awoke next morning at five
by the gun,

503
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,880
"when we turned into our several
nests

504
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,920
"to growl and keep our burning heads
as cool as the weather would permit."

505
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,560
Rampant alcoholism put paid to many
a promising career.

506
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:31,960
"More English fell in Hindustan

507
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,440
"by the intemperate and injudicious
use of ardent spirits

508
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:37,680
"than by the sword."

509
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,920
Drinking, gambling and brawling -

510
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:45,320
they were the quintessential
Englishmen abroad.

511
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,800
The staunchly Protestant company
directors

512
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,280
soon realised they had a problem.

513
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,200
While they cared little
about their employees' alcoholism,

514
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,520
they did care about their choice
of women.

515
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,320
Some of them were apparently
taking up with the locals

516
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:01,800
or, possibly even worse,

517
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:04,480
the Catholic daughters of Portuguese
traders.

518
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,080
This had to be dealt with,
and the company came up with

519
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,000
a brilliant suggestion, which was,

520
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,960
pack a ship full of British women
and send them out here!

521
00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:13,840
What could possibly go wrong?

522
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:16,480
The answer was...

523
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:18,560
just about everything.

524
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:22,440
One lady traveller divided these
women into two groups.

525
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,920
"Old maids of the shrivelled
and dry description,

526
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,920
"and girls educated merely to
cover the surface

527
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,120
"of their mental deformity."

528
00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:35,240
When the women arrived, they behaved
just as wildly as the men,

529
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,080
forming relationships with locals
and having a great time.

530
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,520
The plan was abandoned immediately.

531
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,680
The East India Company realised they
should stick to shipping out tweed.

532
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:11,240
Company servants had no need of
a matchmaker, in any case.

533
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:16,000
They were busy forming
attachments of their own.

534
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,720
The allure of Bengali women was
proving as potent

535
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,760
as the local firewater.

536
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,320
"The attachment of many European
gentlemen

537
00:30:26,320 --> 00:30:29,560
"to their native mistresses
is not to be described.

538
00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:33,200
"An infatuation beyond all
comparison often prevails."

539
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,280
Many company men adopted the local
tradition of polygamy.

540
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,040
"I have known various instances of
two ladies

541
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:47,840
"being conjointly domesticated,

542
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,200
"and one of an elderly military
character,

543
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:54,680
"who solaced himself with no less
than 16 of all sorts and sizes."

544
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,640
Many of these relationships
lasted a lifetime.

545
00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,200
Thousands of company servants
provided generously

546
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,840
for the future of their Indian
mistresses and offspring

547
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,240
in wills held
at the British Library.

548
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:20,000
So here we have Matthew Leslie,
who calls himself

549
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:24,360
by his Muslim name -
Meer Mohamed Hussein Khan -

550
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,000
and he talks about his wife
and he talks about

551
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:33,320
his three mistresses, all of whom
receive quite large sums of money.

552
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:38,080
His late wife Zehourun - for her
sole and separate use of benefit,

553
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:40,560
20,000 sicca rupees to be paid

554
00:31:40,560 --> 00:31:42,520
straight after his death,

555
00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,440
the same sum of money is invested
in company bonds

556
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,280
and quarterly payments made
in every year.

557
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:51,880
The same kind of thing goes on
for his other girls.

558
00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,200
And the amounts seem to be
going down here.

559
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:55,800
So there was favouritism?

560
00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:58,400
There's a league table
of favouritism here.

561
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:03,880
So here is Heera Bili.
She gets 12,000 rather than 20,000,

562
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:08,480
and quarterly payments, so you can
see his favouritism decreases.

563
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,440
But not only has he got
four mistress heirs,

564
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,200
but he also, in his will, mentions

565
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,720
that if there's any of the young
girls living in my family -

566
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,320
living in his house -

567
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,400
who may be with child at the time
of my decease,

568
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:24,920
if they give birth within the
requisite time after he died,

569
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,880
he's going to acknowledge that
they're his children

570
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:29,920
and he leaves money to them.

571
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,280
And his executors will have
discretion

572
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:35,240
to determine whether
or not such child or children

573
00:32:35,240 --> 00:32:38,040
"were or were not begotten by me".

574
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,360
So that's pretty brutal. If they
look like him, they get the cash?

575
00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:44,480
Absolutely. And he leaves 53,000
in ready cash,

576
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:49,960
in his will - £53,000 sterling
that is, not rupees -

577
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,280
and today, in economic power,

578
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,960
that's worth about £62 million.

579
00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:00,960
The East India Company had serious
misgivings about its employees

580
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,080
cohabiting with local women.

581
00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,760
But then again, knowledge of local
markets was good for business.

582
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,800
Liaisons with indigenous women
teach men languages,

583
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:15,640
so the company really has a vested
interest in these relationships

584
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,840
being close and tightknit.

585
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,680
'By the middle of the 18th century,

586
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,400
'90% of company employees in India
had local partners.'

587
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:28,400
Morning, Driver.

588
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,760
'Many could now afford several
mistresses

589
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:32,840
'and a house full of servants.'

590
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:34,280
Right, let's go!

591
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:40,440
But something odd was going on.

592
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,720
They'd arrived here as humble
merchants,

593
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:44,880
but their new-found wealth

594
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,240
was having a bizarre effect.

595
00:33:47,240 --> 00:33:50,000
They adopted the ostentatious,
flamboyant lifestyles

596
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,800
of an Eastern prince -

597
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,240
surrounding themselves with armies
of servants,

598
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,680
being carried from place to place
in a palanquin.

599
00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,000
The pomposity and extravagance of
these white Mughals knew no bounds.

600
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,760
Much to the annoyance
of their fellow countrymen.

601
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,560
"Many of the British inhabitants
affect great splendour

602
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:10,400
"in their mode of living.

603
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,040
"They assume an air of much
consequence,

604
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,120
"and often treat the rest of
their countrymen

605
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,400
"with supercilious arrogance."

606
00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:20,120
I think this is my favourite
picture from the period.

607
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,360
It shows a man who looks like
a Mughal emperor.

608
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:25,320
He's sitting on a cushion, smoking
a hookah, attended by servants,

609
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:28,560
master of all he surveys,
in his luscious robes and turban.

610
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,600
But that is no Mughal emperor.

611
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:33,160
In fact, it's an accountant
from Yorkshire.

612
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:35,000
His name's John Wombwell.

613
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:37,120
He's living the dream.

614
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,440
While some lived like overblown
maharajahs, others -

615
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:45,680
like Major General Charles Stuart -

616
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,880
engage with India
on a more profound level.

617
00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:53,200
Charles Stuart came out here
from his native Ireland aged 19,

618
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:55,760
and immediately fell in love
with the place.

619
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:59,120
He had a house here on Wood Street
which he turned into a museum,

620
00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:02,560
filling it up with Indian artefacts
and carvings.

621
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,920
He was happy to show anybody around

622
00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:08,040
and share his passion
for all things Indian.

623
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:13,920
Stuart found the exoticism of Hindu
myths irresistible.

624
00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,160
"Whenever I look around me in
the vast region of Hindu mythology,

625
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:22,480
"it appears the most complete
and ample system of moral allegory

626
00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,480
"that the world has ever produced."

627
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,200
Stuart's encounter with India
changed his life.

628
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:31,840
Within a year of his arrival,

629
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,200
he had discarded Christianity
and become a Hindu.

630
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,760
Hindoo Stuart, as he became known,
learned the local languages,

631
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:43,080
dressed like a local,

632
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,440
would've been very comfortable
in places like this.

633
00:35:45,440 --> 00:35:48,880
He took a local woman as a wife and
had a brood of mixed-race children.

634
00:35:48,880 --> 00:35:51,840
He even hired a group of
Brahmins, Hindu scholars,

635
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,280
to prepare the family's food
in traditional Hindu manner.

636
00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:03,600
Stuart wasn't unusual in embracing
his new home.

637
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:07,200
Many Britons and Indians accepted
each other in an atmosphere

638
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,080
of mutual understanding.

639
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,800
The British came to India
before the 19th century

640
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:18,800
very much as explorers, adventurers,
people out to make their money,

641
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:21,720
and they encountered a very old
and very complex civilisation,

642
00:36:21,720 --> 00:36:23,920
and they were often impressed by it.

643
00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,880
And so they didn't feel that they
were in any way superior to Indians.

644
00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,960
They were just simply one of a
number of groups jostling in India

645
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:33,080
to try and earn a living and to try
and make their way.

646
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:38,560
And in the final analysis,
integration was good for business.

647
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,520
In any case, the company's attention

648
00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,960
was focused on
a far bigger problem -

649
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,000
an escalating military
confrontation with the French.

650
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,000
The British and French had set up
trading posts

651
00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,120
within a few miles of each other -

652
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:56,880
the French at Pondicherry
and Chandernagore,

653
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:59,920
the British in Madras and Calcutta.

654
00:36:59,920 --> 00:37:01,960
In 1756,

655
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:04,720
rivalry exploded into open warfare.

656
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,280
Driven by antagonism over colonial
interests,

657
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,320
the Seven Years' War raged from
Europe to North America

658
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,760
and across the world's oceans.

659
00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:17,120
MILITARY BAND PLAYS

660
00:37:18,680 --> 00:37:22,640
But in India, the ultimate prize
was control over trade.

661
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,120
MEN SHOUT IN UNISON

662
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,000
The merchants of the East India
Company

663
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,120
had traditionally tried to avoid
war -

664
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:37,560
its costs were certain,
but its outcomes far less so.

665
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:39,120
It was bad for business.

666
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,920
But as the French grew more
threatening in the subcontinent,

667
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:44,520
the company realised it
needed to get more serious

668
00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:46,360
about the military side of things,

669
00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,040
and the motley crews guarding
its forts in India

670
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:50,920
weren't up to scratch.

671
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:53,920
What it needed was a serious
standing army.

672
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,080
The company decided to strengthen
its garrison at Fort St George.

673
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,960
In January 1748,

674
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,720
150 British troops arrived in
Madras,

675
00:38:04,720 --> 00:38:07,040
led by Major Stringer Lawrence,

676
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:11,240
an irascible old soldier
known affectionately as Old Cock.

677
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:16,360
He's 50 years old, he's fought
in the lowlands in Spain

678
00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:19,240
and also in the Jacobite Rebellion,
and he is a man with

679
00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,560
great knowledge of military affairs,

680
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,720
and his job is really to re-form
the company troops

681
00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:26,040
out in India.

682
00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:32,440
He begins by forming them
into companies,

683
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:33,840
each commanded by an officer,

684
00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,560
and those companies are equipped,
trained and disciplined

685
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:38,600
exactly like British troops
would be,

686
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:40,400
and of course the end result
of all of this

687
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:43,440
is that it becomes a much more
effective fighting force.

688
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:46,200
MILITARY BAND PLAYS

689
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,960
His new army was led by European
officers,

690
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:51,720
but most of the troops were Indians,

691
00:38:51,720 --> 00:38:54,920
known as sepoys,
from the Persian word for "soldier".

692
00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,280
Stringer Lawrence is seen as

693
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,600
the grandfather of the modern
Indian army.

694
00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:03,600
Many units are the direct
descendants of those

695
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:05,760
he founded 250 years ago.

696
00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:13,600
One young soldier in Lawrence's new
army was the future national hero,

697
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:15,320
Clive of India.

698
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,480
Robert Clive was from a family
of provincial gentry.

699
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,640
As a young boy,
he was a bit of a tearaway

700
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,120
and loved getting into fights,

701
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,480
he was expelled three times
from school,

702
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,120
so his father thought nothing much
would come of him

703
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:31,080
and he might as well gamble
and send him out here to India

704
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,560
to join the East India Company,
which made men or broke them.

705
00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:40,360
At first, Clive had been desperately
homesick and hated the searing heat.

706
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:43,720
"If I should be so blest

707
00:39:43,720 --> 00:39:47,000
"as to revisit again my own country,
but more especially Manchester -

708
00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:48,880
"the centre of all my wishes -

709
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,040
"all that I could hope
or desire for

710
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,080
"would be presented before me
in one view."

711
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:55,840
He was known as a man

712
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,720
who had a relatively short temper.

713
00:39:57,720 --> 00:40:00,200
He was, as we discover
in his later career,

714
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,000
a man with tremendous energy,

715
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:03,880
vigour and resolution,

716
00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:06,520
and this must have seemed
a pretty crushing way

717
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:08,280
to begin his career.

718
00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:12,960
Clive would be the driving force
in transforming the company

719
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:14,480
from commercial giant

720
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:17,880
to THE dominant political power
in India.

721
00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:24,720
In 1756, his great adversary
was the Mughal ruler of Bengal.

722
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,400
Siraj ud-Daulah loathed the British

723
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,560
and bitterly resented
the company's hold on Calcutta.

724
00:40:33,720 --> 00:40:36,400
In June, he attacked the city.

725
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,240
Calcutta fell within hours.

726
00:40:40,240 --> 00:40:42,560
And on the evening of June 20th,

727
00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:46,920
146 British prisoners were taken
to Fort William -

728
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:50,040
now the site
of the government post office.

729
00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:54,040
100 yards from this spot

730
00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:56,920
stands a grim reminder of what
happened next.

731
00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:00,960
The most vivid account we have
was left by a man called

732
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:02,800
John Zephaniah Holwell.

733
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,240
He'd been the chief magistrate of
Calcutta. He'd been left in charge.

734
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:08,960
And he and his men were marched
into a cell

735
00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,120
just 18 foot wide at gun point.

736
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,080
It became known simply
as the Black Hole,

737
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,800
and what happened in there became
one of the most infamous stories

738
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:21,200
in the whole of British Imperial
history.

739
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:29,800
It's said the prisoners,
crushed together,

740
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:32,120
suffocating and fighting to stay
upright,

741
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,680
were gripped by claustrophobic
terror.

742
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:39,120
The heat was almost unbearable.

743
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:42,960
To try and slake his thirst,

744
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,680
Holwell took off his sweat-soaked
shirt

745
00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:47,880
and wrang it out into his mouth.

746
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:51,920
Other people trampled on the
weakened bodies of their comrades,

747
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:56,160
desperately trying to reach the two
small windows at the top of the wall

748
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,400
and gulp down some fresh air.

749
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:02,680
It was a night of unspeakable
suffering and cruelty.

750
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,680
When the doors were flung open
at dawn the next day,

751
00:42:08,680 --> 00:42:10,760
the cell was filled with corpses.

752
00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,560
To Holwell's horror,
just 23 had survived.

753
00:42:15,880 --> 00:42:17,800
Towards the end of the account,

754
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,240
there's a particularly memorable
line.

755
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:23,520
He writes, "But oh! Sir, what words
shall I adopt to tell you

756
00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:25,600
"the whole that my soul suffered

757
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:29,360
"at reviewing the dreadful
destruction round me?

758
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:33,240
"I will not attempt it.
And indeed, tears stop my pen."

759
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,520
The news of what had happened
to their fellow countrymen

760
00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:41,440
at the hands of a barbarous
Indian despot

761
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:44,720
electrified congregations
right across Britain.

762
00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,920
This, after all, was a generation
that was starting to believe that

763
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,880
"Britons never, never, never
shall be slaves".

764
00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:55,000
The story of the Black Hole

765
00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,480
left a deep scar in the British
psyche for generations.

766
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:02,800
To Victorian schoolchildren,
the events of 1756

767
00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:05,240
were as familiar as
the Battle of Hastings.

768
00:43:05,240 --> 00:43:10,000
But historians like Sushil Chaudury
believe Holwell's account

769
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:12,000
can't be trusted.

770
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:15,920
Holwell first mentioned that in
the Black Hole,

771
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:19,000
165 or 175 people were confined.

772
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,600
Later, he revised the number.

773
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:25,760
He said it's 146, and out of 146,

774
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:29,640
23 were alive, but 123 died.

775
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:33,480
You don't think so many people could
be packed into that small a space?

776
00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:39,120
Surely not. It was impossible to put
in 146 people in that small room,

777
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:41,960
which is 18ft by 14ft,

778
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,680
and then he said he knew most
of the people,

779
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:47,440
but it was pitch dark.

780
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:50,240
It was impossible for anyone
to recognise people there.

781
00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:52,680
And then he said
he looked at his watch.

782
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:54,920
How could he look at his watch?
You know?

783
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,240
It's fabrication, no doubt.

784
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,600
What we don't know for sure

785
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:09,840
is how many actually perished
that night.

786
00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:12,000
The numbers range from three

787
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,000
to over 100.
I suspect it's somewhere in between.

788
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,080
What is not in question is that this
was an atrocity. Was it deliberate?

789
00:44:18,080 --> 00:44:19,800
Almost certainly not.

790
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,440
It was unfortunate that this small,
airless room was...

791
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:26,240
It happened on an incredibly hot
and humid night,

792
00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:28,640
some of the people inside were
already wounded

793
00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:30,720
from the battle
that had taken place.

794
00:44:30,720 --> 00:44:33,360
There were bound to be
some fatalities,

795
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:37,200
but that there were so many
was a point taken very seriously

796
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:41,320
by the remaining British in India
and also the British back home,

797
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:44,560
and there was very much a sense
that they wanted revenge.

798
00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:55,760
Determined to re-assert supremacy,

799
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,000
Clive recaptured Calcutta,

800
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,880
and confronted Siraj
at a village called Plassey,

801
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:02,800
120 miles north of the city,

802
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:05,880
in what would become a decisive
moment in the history

803
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:07,720
of the East India Company.

804
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:16,560
At Plassey, Clive was terribly
outnumbered

805
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,400
by more than 10 to 1.

806
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:21,760
But Clive had a plan that didn't
just rely on military might alone.

807
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,680
He'd been in secret correspondence

808
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:26,400
with one of the nawab's
key lieutenants -

809
00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:29,440
the commander of his cavalry,
a man called Mir Jafar.

810
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:33,040
The deal is done between Clive
and Mir Jafar

811
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:35,280
that at a certain key part of
the fight,

812
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:37,040
Mir Jafar will come onto his side.

813
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,280
In other words, he'll leave his
chief,

814
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,560
and in return for putting him
on the throne,

815
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,160
the company will not only be paid
vast sums of money -

816
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,560
and we are talking about
fantastical sums -

817
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:49,960
but also, it will be given a free
rein in terms of its trade.

818
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,480
It was all over
in a matter of hours,

819
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,040
but it had little to do with
military might.

820
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,640
Mir Jafar, the traitor,
had been paid off

821
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,400
and he ensured that the majority
of the nawab's troops

822
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:08,040
took no part in the battle.

823
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,760
He was then installed
as Britain's puppet.

824
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,920
This opened up the richest province
of India to the company.

825
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,280
Robert Clive regarded this
Machiavellian manoeuvring

826
00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:20,520
as the pinnacle of his career.

827
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:26,880
Clive and the company were now rich.

828
00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,840
Better still, in exchange for
a single payment of £270,000,

829
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,040
the company was granted the right
to manage

830
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:38,400
the Diwani - or the revenue and
civil administration - of Bengal.

831
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:42,840
This allowed them
to collect the land tax

832
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:46,000
from the entire population of
Bengal - 10 million people.

833
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,480
It effectively turned them
into the de facto government.

834
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,720
Robert Clive estimated that it
would be worth

835
00:46:52,720 --> 00:46:56,560
£1.7 million every year.

836
00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:00,080
With control over the revenues
of India's richest province,

837
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:04,280
the company's role had
profoundly changed.

838
00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:07,760
It's the point at which the
East India Company really moves

839
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:11,440
from being a trading enterprise
to an actual ruler of territory.

840
00:47:13,640 --> 00:47:16,280
The Diwani was a licence
to print money.

841
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:19,840
After the costs of administering
Bengal had been met,

842
00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:22,800
the company's profit margin was 49%.

843
00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:25,760
The commercial floodgates
had opened.

844
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:33,280
In 1766, news of the Diwani
reached London.

845
00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:37,160
The prospect of massive financial
gains in Bengal

846
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,040
pushed the company's share price
through the roof.

847
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:42,440
Now, this is partly
fuelled by Clive,

848
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:44,560
who wrote to his friends from India,

849
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:46,440
advising them to buy stock

850
00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:48,440
and he wrote to his own attorneys,
as well,

851
00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:51,000
telling them to make huge purchases
on his behalf.

852
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:55,360
Not surprisingly, other British
and foreign investors followed suit.

853
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:05,640
Robert Clive returned home
a national hero

854
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:10,400
with a personal fortune equivalent
to £38 million today,

855
00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:14,000
and a generous income
from landholdings in Bengal.

856
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,400
He went on a spending spree.

857
00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:20,240
He bought a raft of properties,
including his childhood home,

858
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:22,680
Styche Hall, which he renovated
for his father,

859
00:48:22,680 --> 00:48:24,320
and then he bought this place,

860
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,080
Walcot Hall, for the princely sum
of £90,000.

861
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,840
Not bad for 6,000 acres.

862
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:39,360
Clive began transforming his new
home into a lavish palazzo

863
00:48:39,360 --> 00:48:42,800
with one of the finest gardens
in England.

864
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,600
After ruling a state four times
bigger than Britain,

865
00:48:46,600 --> 00:48:49,040
Clive was determined to forge
a political career

866
00:48:49,040 --> 00:48:51,200
back in the old country.

867
00:48:51,200 --> 00:48:55,160
His new Shropshire pile
came with an added bonus.

868
00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:01,080
Walcot Hall had traditionally been
owned by the powerful Walcot family

869
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:04,320
and they'd been able to nominate
the area's MPs.

870
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:07,160
When they fell badly into debt,
Clive saw his chance.

871
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:08,760
He bought the estate

872
00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:11,960
and with it came control of
the local parliamentary borough.

873
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:16,120
That allowed him to basically
appoint his cousin as the MP.

874
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,320
For the next 50 years,
Clive's money ensured

875
00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:20,400
that his family continue to
live in style

876
00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:24,280
and they continued to control
the politics of the local area.

877
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,680
Clive added half a dozen seats
in Shropshire

878
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,560
and further estates in Devon,
Monmouth and Surrey

879
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:34,520
to a bulging property empire.

880
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:38,680
He was just one of a number
of company men

881
00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:41,160
who'd grown fabulously wealthy
in Bengal

882
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:44,400
and then had returned home to
improve their status in life.

883
00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:46,720
They'd bought their way
into the aristocracy,

884
00:49:46,720 --> 00:49:49,160
they'd bought influence and power.

885
00:49:50,720 --> 00:49:52,680
They became known as nabobs,

886
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:56,720
a term synonymous with vanity
and absurd pretention.

887
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:00,960
They're perceived to be
too rich for their own good,

888
00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:04,080
to wear their diamonds too
ostentatiously,

889
00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,640
to wear textiles from India,

890
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:09,840
concerns about so-called
Oriental despotism,

891
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,560
that they may have brought back from
the Mughal Empire in India with them.

892
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:16,920
All of those are great
concerns for people.

893
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:19,360
The nabobs represented the
East India Company

894
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:22,000
at its most venal and corrupt -

895
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:25,120
a direct threat to the social
and political order.

896
00:50:26,440 --> 00:50:29,400
There was a concern that not only
were they bringing back great wealth

897
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:32,000
but they were also infiltrating
Parliament

898
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:33,840
with sort of Oriental corruption

899
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,040
and Asiatic practices of government,

900
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:39,760
which were viewed with a great deal
of concern and scepticism and anxiety

901
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:41,960
by the ruling elite in Britain.

902
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,800
By the 1780's, they had become

903
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:48,600
a powerful minority, with one-tenth
of the seats in Parliament.

904
00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:55,320
But their good fortune
would soon end.

905
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:03,720
A natural calamity was about
to throw the honourable company

906
00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:06,600
into the biggest crisis
in its history.

907
00:51:11,000 --> 00:51:13,680
Famine had long been a part of life
in Bengal,

908
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,520
but one that began in the late 1760s

909
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:20,560
was turned into a full-blown
humanitarian disaster

910
00:51:20,560 --> 00:51:23,120
by the East India Company.

911
00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:26,280
It's hard to come to terms with
even after all these years,

912
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,840
but while the nabobs were back
in Britain buying stately homes,

913
00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,640
throwing parties, filling them
with silver, wine and art,

914
00:51:33,640 --> 00:51:36,720
the people of Bengal, who were
paying for all that,

915
00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:40,760
were experiencing some of the most
appalling conditions imaginable.

916
00:51:46,040 --> 00:51:48,720
A prolonged drought and a poor
harvest

917
00:51:48,720 --> 00:51:52,240
caused a famine that continued
for three long years -

918
00:51:52,240 --> 00:51:54,600
the worst in living memory.

919
00:51:57,080 --> 00:52:00,920
The agony of the Bengali people
is described in vivid detail.

920
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:08,800
The East India Company watched
and recorded everything.

921
00:52:08,800 --> 00:52:12,960
"7,600 dying in Calcutta
in the last six weeks.

922
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:16,400
"Double that number
in other towns in the province."

923
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:20,200
And then these chilling, terrible,
awful words...

924
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:23,560
"Hunger drives many of them
to such distress,

925
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:27,760
"that the strongest frequently,
in some parts of the country,

926
00:52:27,760 --> 00:52:31,960
"fall upon the weaker
and devour them."

927
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:33,680
We're talking about cannibalism?

928
00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:35,760
We're talking about cannibalism
here.

929
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:40,520
They're forced into those kinds
of horrible means of staying alive.

930
00:52:40,520 --> 00:52:44,280
And then, in contrast,
the next paragraph says,

931
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:47,760
"Balls, concerts and all public
entertainments

932
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:51,880
"ought to subside at this time
of general scarcity,

933
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:54,280
"but I'm sorry to say they have not.

934
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:57,640
"And under the doors and windows of
these places of amusement

935
00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:00,280
"lie many dead bodies,
and others, again,

936
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:05,160
"in all the agonies
of death, despair and want."

937
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,400
So as you're going out to a concert
or something,

938
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:09,800
you're stepping over the destitute,
dead and dying?

939
00:53:09,800 --> 00:53:11,200
Piles of dead people.

940
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,640
Did the East India Company help
or make things worse?

941
00:53:13,640 --> 00:53:15,360
They make things worse.

942
00:53:15,360 --> 00:53:18,160
They raised the taxes
on agricultural produce.

943
00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:20,600
They banned the hoarding of rice
and grain,

944
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:23,840
which was traditionally used
to tide over the population

945
00:53:23,840 --> 00:53:26,120
through periods of scarcity.

946
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,880
They ripped up some of the
food crops

947
00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:31,120
to plant much more profitable indigo

948
00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:33,840
and even-more-profitable opium.

949
00:53:33,840 --> 00:53:38,040
And, finally,
some of their junior servants

950
00:53:38,040 --> 00:53:39,760
started to speculate

951
00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:45,360
and profiteer from the sale
of rice and grain,

952
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:50,640
selling it out of the province
at grossly inflated prices.

953
00:53:51,960 --> 00:53:55,760
The letters reveal where the
company's priorities really lay.

954
00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:01,320
While they lament "the distresses
which the inhabitants

955
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:03,760
"may be reduced to thereby",

956
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:07,920
they can't divest themselves
of anxious apprehensions

957
00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:11,800
"concerning the effects which
a continuation of the drought

958
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,720
"may have on the collections
of our revenues".

959
00:54:15,720 --> 00:54:22,200
So they're thinking profits rather
than disaster relief.

960
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:29,400
It's estimated that between two
million and ten million people died.

961
00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:33,160
A salutary lesson on the dangers
of unchecked corporate power.

962
00:54:34,600 --> 00:54:37,840
You have streams and streams of
people who are dying

963
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,320
walking to company officials
saying, "Help us.

964
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:43,720
"You are now the rulers,
you need to do something,

965
00:54:43,720 --> 00:54:45,480
"you have responsibility for us,"

966
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:47,280
and the British do very little.

967
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:50,920
Nobody was ultimately brought
to account for it,

968
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:53,200
but there was certainly a sense that

969
00:54:53,200 --> 00:54:56,640
the nature of East India Company
government at the time

970
00:54:56,640 --> 00:54:59,560
had exacerbated the famine.

971
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:03,320
That it had made things worse,
if it hadn't actually caused it.

972
00:55:08,160 --> 00:55:10,360
The famine was a human tragedy

973
00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:12,520
and a financial disaster.

974
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:14,960
The Bengal economy collapsed,

975
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:17,280
the company's income plummeted,

976
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:21,720
its share price crashed and all
dividend payments were suspended.

977
00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:23,960
The bubble was burst.

978
00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:27,080
People wanted to know why -
how could this have happened?

979
00:55:27,080 --> 00:55:28,960
Parliament set up its own enquiry

980
00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:31,120
and a scapegoat was lined up -

981
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:34,000
Robert Clive, Britain's richest man.

982
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:39,960
He became seen as the leader
of the nabobs

983
00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:42,520
and was nicknamed Lord Vulture.

984
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,120
Denounced for enriching himself
with Indian loot,

985
00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:49,360
Clive was hauled before Parliament.

986
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:54,240
He asked his accusers to remember
the situation that he'd been in -

987
00:55:54,240 --> 00:55:56,200
an opulent city had
lain at his mercy.

988
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,880
He'd been shown through vaults
full of treasure,

989
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:01,320
gold and precious stones
on every side.

990
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:02,960
He finished by saying,

991
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:06,640
"By God, Mr Chairman, I stand
astonished at my own moderation."

992
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:09,640
Well, if Clive was greedy
or corrupt,

993
00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:12,400
he certainly wasn't the only
one in the House of Commons.

994
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:14,160
He was acquitted.

995
00:56:14,160 --> 00:56:18,000
In fact, he was even thanked
for services to his country.

996
00:56:19,080 --> 00:56:22,240
But like a plot twist
in a Victorian melodrama,

997
00:56:22,240 --> 00:56:24,120
his life ended in tragedy.

998
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:29,400
In November 1774, Clive was found
dead at his London home.

999
00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:33,400
He'd suffered depression for much
of his life,

1000
00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:35,240
and he'd become an opium addict.

1001
00:56:35,240 --> 00:56:37,720
It's very likely that he committed
suicide.

1002
00:56:37,720 --> 00:56:40,400
Dr Samuel Johnson wrote that his
crimes had driven him

1003
00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:42,520
to slit his own throat.

1004
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:47,280
It was a scandalous and pitiful end
to a life of extraordinary,

1005
00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:50,000
if controversial, achievement.

1006
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:53,640
Accused of corruption, incompetence
and greed,

1007
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:56,360
the company's reputation was in
tatters,

1008
00:56:56,360 --> 00:56:58,840
and there was worse to come.

1009
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,040
The crisis that was affecting
the company

1010
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:03,600
really came to a head in 1772,

1011
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:07,560
where there was a failure of a major
Scottish bank, the Ayr Bank,

1012
00:57:07,560 --> 00:57:11,240
which created a credit crunch.
About 30 other banks, in fact, failed

1013
00:57:11,240 --> 00:57:14,320
and that led to a major shortage
of money in the economy.

1014
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:17,080
The company had to go repeatedly
to the Bank of England for loans

1015
00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:20,440
to tide them over.
They were very indebted.

1016
00:57:20,440 --> 00:57:23,240
Now, starved of funds,

1017
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:26,920
the world's greatest company
had run out of cash.

1018
00:57:26,920 --> 00:57:29,440
There was only one possible
way out -

1019
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:31,520
massive government bailout.

1020
00:57:31,520 --> 00:57:34,720
For reasons that are spookily
familiar, it was decided

1021
00:57:34,720 --> 00:57:37,520
that the East India Company
was too big to fail.

1022
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:43,120
The British Government rescued
the company with public money

1023
00:57:43,120 --> 00:57:46,280
today equivalent to £176 million.

1024
00:57:48,120 --> 00:57:51,640
But its powers were
progressively curtailed.

1025
00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:56,480
The India Act of 1784 transferred
its executive management

1026
00:57:56,480 --> 00:58:01,000
to an independent board of control
answerable to Parliament.

1027
00:58:01,000 --> 00:58:03,280
All kickbacks were banned.

1028
00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:07,840
The British State was now pulling
the strings.

1029
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,600
Instead of chancers like
Robert Clive,

1030
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:13,840
the British Government would now
send out

1031
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:16,400
its own, more reliable people
to run India.

1032
00:58:16,400 --> 00:58:19,920
The Governor General
here in Calcutta would rule supreme,

1033
00:58:19,920 --> 00:58:23,920
given sweeping new powers
in revenue, diplomacy and war.

1034
00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:28,120
It was nothing less than
the birth of empire.