When Robert Clive returned to London in 1760, after his second journey to India and defeating Siraj-ud-Daula at the battle of Plassey, as one of the richest men of Europe, he was called the ‘Clive of India’ and belonged to or probably sowed the seeds of a new class, what came to be known as the ‘Nabobs of London’. ‘Nabob’ is the transliteration of Nawab, a Hindustani word, which meant a ruler of a territory, equivalent to a Duke but later it started meaning a very wealthy person. Clive, who started off as a humble servant of the East India Company, grew to such a position that when he took his life in 1774, he left a fortune of £500,000 (~ £33 million as of 2021). Here, we will not explore Clive’s life and his adventures, rather we will take a look at how simple employees of the East India Company rose to become such wealthy people that they were referred to as nabobs.
In 1599, a few men – Sir Stephen Soame, the then mayor of London, Sir Thomas Smythe, Auditor of London and a politician whose father set up the Levant Company, Sir John Wolstenholm, some odd number of seafarers who previously sailed the high seas with Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh and liked to call themselves privateers, some other people doing mere odd jobs on the streets of London – gathered together to discuss on the matter of sailing to the East Indies with the interest of commerce. They called themselves ‘Merchant Adventurers’. Richard Hakluyt, the chronicler and colonial apologist were also present in the gathering to keep notes of what would become a historical gathering. It was decided that they would petition Queen Elizabeth I for a charter to trade in the East Indies. Their first attempt to convince the Queen was unsuccessful, however, they received unofficial approval to continue their efforts of procuring ships and logistics in a following attempt. The group reconvened on 31 December 1600 and this time they succeeded in persuading the Queen to give them a charter which also granted them a monopoly of 15 years from the east of Cape of Good Hope to the west of Magellan’s Straits. The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies or simply the East India Company was set up. Although Sir James Lancaster commanded the first voyage in 1601, the Brits landed in Surat on 24 August 1608 aboard the ship called Hector commanded by Sir William Hawkins. He met Jahangir, Padishah of the Mughal Empire and asked for a firman to set up a trading factory in Surat. This was denied owing to pressure from the already trading Portuguese. They set up a trading post in Masulipatnam in 1611 anyway and started trading. They already had a fresh charter, issued by King James I in 1609, extending the monopoly indefinitely. The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies or simply the East India Company was a company of some merchants who wanted to trade in the East Indies.
The Company brought with them some of the zealous men who were ready to do anything, from war to politics, to make their lifestyle in England better. From setting up one post after another to fighting off trade rivals, the company did anything and everything to establish the monopoly that was issued to them. Initially, they started acquiring territories to protect their posts and trade. But later on, when they saw the failing administration and feuds of the Indian rulers, they quickly grabbed the opportunities to rule their territories. Exorbitant taxing of people and controlling commerce as they deemed fit became a primary feature in the territories ruled by the Company. Slowly but slyly they became the sahibs of those territories.
Why Nabobs?
Bengal was the richest province in the Mughal Empire. Murshid Quli Khan the first Nawab of Bengal was first appointed as a mere Diwan of Bengal subah in 1700 and later promoted to the governor in 1717. But he had assumed autonomy long before that. The British in fact had been in Bengal since the 1630s and by the 1690s after setting up multiple factories in Bengal, they founded the city of Calcutta. They paid £350 per annum (3000 rupees) to the Mughal Emperor, for letting them trade freely in Bengal, while their exports were upwards of £50,000. It was lucrative. Both for the Company and the executives and employees of the Company as they too carried out trade activities of their own. The officers and employees started getting rich and they were making money like never before. This, however, proved problematic for the commerce of the Nawab and led to friction between the Company and the Nawab. The Company, however, had no dim-wits. They slowly consolidated power and made the Nawab powerless, slowly but steadily. When Ali Vardi Khan died, he was succeeded by his grandson, Siraj. He inherited only the problems of the kingdom. His courtiers were intrigued against him, especially the Son-in-law of Ali Vardi Khan and Siraj’s uncle Mir Jafar. It may be mentioned here that the English used the ‘Black Hole Tragedy’* as a provocation to fight against Siraj, but in reality, it was a conspiracy to gain control, money and wealth by the Company and the courtiers of Siraj. Clive himself asked for a huge prize after the battle which was a sure win, given that all the pieces were set in place previously.
In 1757, after a hundred and fifty-seven years, the spirit of the privateers and the seafarers who formed and joined the company was realised. After the Battle of Plassey, the Company and its servants were given a sum of £1,238,575 (~ £130 million today) and that was just the beginning. In total £232 million, in today’s value, was paid to the Company of which Clive’s share was a whopping £22 million. Above that, the English received the Zamindari of 24 parganas. Clive had indeed become the Nabob. From an overly glorified shopkeeper of the EIC to being ‘Clive of India’, The Nabob, Clive came a long way in a relatively short period. After this whole episode, Bengal bled. The territory was drained of all its wealth. The Battle of Plassey and the Battle of Buxar sealed the rule of the East India Company in the subcontinent. They became the de facto rulers of Bengal. Over-taxation and zero consideration even in times of drought and crop failure made lives miserable for the people. However, the Nabobs enjoyed a good life. In fact, all Company employees got involved in private trading activities and got richer every day. They practically looted the country. So much so that the word loot is even looted from this country.
By the time Warren Hastings became the Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, Bengal had sunk into total chaos. The 1769-70 Famine of Bengal had killed a third of the population, just two years before his appointment in 1772. Even during the famine the English never stopped hoarding grains, raising the price of grains to colossal levels. They kept getting richer. There came a time when other people of England, not in employment with the Company, started getting wary of the Nabobs as they bought estates and houses as they pleased and led a very luxurious lifestyle. Warren Hastings made some reforms to arrest the uncontrolled and rampant corruption of Company officials, but when he was under trial during his impeachment, he led a stylish life in a leased home which he later sold for auction.
These Nabobs of London were disliked by Indians and non-company English alike, although for completely different reasons. The Indians hated the nabobs as they were exploited by them, the English on the other hand disliked the nabobs and used the term as abuse as they feared they may stir up the whole English economy and existing social class. The Nabobs, however, gave heed to none and kept on looting and being Nabobs. They had so much money that they even tried to influence the House of Commons. The Crown too, seeing the profit, did not interfere in the matter much. The Company, as one of the directors stated, became ‘an empire within an empire’. It became a fact that if one wants to improve their fortune they must join the Company. But the bubble burst in July 1772, after Hastings took over as the Governor. The EIC, owing to all these corruptions, had to write to the Parliament asking them for a massive bailout. In two asks they requested £700,000. But by August the directors were talking about a million Pound Sterling. RH Edmund Burke foresaw this and commented, ‘This cursed Company would, at last, like a viper, be the destruction of the country which fostered it at its bosom.’ But the EIC was too big to fall. After a mega bailout, which according to Dalrymple was perhaps one of history’s first corporate bailouts and after the Regulating Act of 1773, the Company endured. The East India Company became the ruler of the British possessions in India – The Nabobs.
