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This book situates women at the centre of the practices and policies of British imperialism. Rebutting interpretations that have marginalised women in the empire, the book demonstrates that women were crucial to establishing and sustaining the British Raj in India from the 'High Noon' of imperialism in the late nineteenth century through to Indian independence in 1947. Using three separate modes of engagement with imperialism: domesticity, violence and race, it demonstrates the varied ways in which British women, particularly the wives of imperial officials, created a role for themselves. From the late nineteenth century, Anglo-Indians constructed an idea of family and marriage that was, both literally and metaphorically, the foundation for British imperialism in India. Although imperial marriage was very modern in its emphasis on companionship and partnership, it also incorporated more traditional ideas about husbands, wives and families. The politicized imperial home stood in sharp contrast to the ideal of middle-class British domesticity that had developed from the late-eighteenth century onwards in the metropole. Relationships with Indian servants, created and maintained primarily by women, were a complex mixture of intimacy and trust counterbalanced by feelings of fear and suspicion. For Anglo-Indians, the Mutiny served as a constant reminder of the tenuous nature of imperialism in India. The relationship between Anglo-Indian and Indian women was complex coloured by expectations about femininity and women's role in the empire. Indian men may have derided Anglo-Indian women as 'brainless memsahibs', but the British government similarly scorned their contribution to empire.
’s political power stemmed not from their position as citizens in a democratic polity (which the British empire obviously was not), but rather from their personal, social and marital connections with imperial officials. As the wives of imperial officials and as members of the ruling race themselves, Anglo-Indian women were privy to the quotidian details of imperial administration and actively
to examine the various predictions about such responses that were made by imperial officials. It was often supposed that the very novelty of aviation would induce terrified submission to imperial authority. This was a compelling argument. The pioneering achievements of aviation, such as the first crossing of the Atlantic by air in 1919, still occasioned much excitement even
‘We are in the Forest Service, at least William is.’ 1 With this deceptively simple statement, Mrs F. Meiklejohn introduced her brief recollections of life under the British Raj as the wife of an imperial official. Her assessment of her position in the British empire could have been echoed (with the substitution, as appropriate, of the Indian Army or Indian Civil Service or Political
their fellow Britons, Anglo-Indian wives saw their time in India as characterized by service, sacrifice and fortitude. Anglo-Indian wives believed that they had consecrated some of the most precious private aspects of their lives to the empire. As the wives of imperial officials, the central relationship of their lives – their marriages – was inextricably bound up with the Raj
those of humble origins could aspire. 8 Those who embraced this ethic and its attendant social rituals were included in the social life of the community. The simple act of leaving a calling card, for example, opened the homes of their fellow imperial officials to newly-arrived officers and their wives. The wife of the commissioner of police in Calcutta, for each season during the 1920s, received
: what was the sociology of this overreaction and, more specifically, what exactly were imperial officials worried about? The object of this chapter is to examine these issues. Its focus is less on the experience of demobilization, and more on the imperial perception of it. The imperial panic over demobilization probably influenced much subsequent academic discussion of the subject. The significance
well-armed and well-versed in the use of their weapons, the government of the Raj in the twentieth century continued to view women in essentially the same light as it had during the Mutiny. To the government, women were the most vulnerable link in the fragile chain of imperial defence. The government continued to believe that the imperative to protect helpless women diverted imperial officials
legal time rather than in legal space. 13 Chartered colonies such as Rhode Island, by contrast, had additional insulation from royal power, since charters often limited the Crown’s rights and jurisdiction and forced imperial officials to govern through intermediaries. 14 Ireland and most colonies also had their own legislatures, which were able to exercise varying degrees of autonomy, introducing further
connections. The practice of law was malleable and consular officials helped to create transfrontier legal practices that bridged colonial and consular jurisdiction. The movement of people were key to this legal process, as they highlighted the jurisdictional gaps between imperial authorities across borders and imperial officials reimagined legal practices based on the identities of these people. Finally, consular jurisdiction was also distinct from the open treaty ports on its maritime edge; law and legal administration in treaty marts on the frontier was wholly different