The Chaplains of the East India Company, 1601-1858

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The East India Company's merchants were called Adventurers because they ventured their money in the risky markets of the Spice Islands and the fabulously wealthy Mughal Empire. In another sense also, the Company's entire 250 years were an adventure, exciting and dangerous, and creating over time, by violence and corruption, an empire. Contrary to the common view, the Company always claimed a Christian identity, hence the chaplains, on their voyages and in their trading 'factories' and garrisons, to guard the morals and morale of their operations. This the chaplains did with varying conviction and success. Forbear of the multinational of today, the Company continues to fascinate, attracting a vast amount of study worldwide as an economic and political phenomenon, an instrument of development, patron of art, and locus of attention in the new-imperial and postcolonial literature. Virtually unnoticed hitherto alongside the seafarers, merchant-adventurers, soldiers and imperialists, and their Indian collaborators, was a succession of educated, mostly young men with a tricky assignment and a distinct angle on all that took place: the chaplains.

Reviews

[Daniel O'Connor] has researched deeply into his subject, and includes much intriguing detail concerning individual chaplains. -- The Church Times
The Revd Daniel O'Connor has produced an excellent addition to the studies of the East India Company's servants...It is a remarkable study in scholarly compression...This book has many treasures. -- Chowkidar Journal

Author Bio

The Reverend Dr. Daniel O'Connor is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is now retired after a career in the Church and in teaching. He is a former lecturer at St Stephen's, Delhi University, India. The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown M.P. is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1983, currently for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath. He served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010.