Merchants of the Raj: British Managing Agency Houses in Calcutta Yesterday and Today

458 Pages·1992·43.41 MB·English

by  Stephanie Jones (auth.)

MERCHANTS OF THE RAJ
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Merchants of the Raj
British Managing Agency Houses
in Calcutta Yesterday and Today
Stephanie Jones
Foreword by the Earl of Inchcape
M
@ Inchcape Family Investments 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
First published 1992 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LT O
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-12540-1 ISBN 978-1-349-12538-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12538-8
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Copy-edited and typeset by Povey-Edmondson
Okehampton and Rochdale, England
To Calcutta, on its 300th anniversary, and to all my friends
there
'Calcutta is full of contrasts, especially between the extreme
filth of the city, and the great warmth and style of the
people who live there.'-Monica Clough, ]ames Finlay House
Magazine, 1990
Contents
List of Plates viii
Foreword by the Earl of Inchcape X
Author's Preface and Acknowledgements xii
Names of Contributors xiv
Introduction 1
1. The Historical Background, c.1840-1939 5
2. War and Nationalism, 1939-47 79
3. Independence and Partition, 1947-9 103
4. Reorganisation and Adaptation, c.1950s 135
5. The Beginnings of Indianisation, c.1960-76 221
6. Formal Indianisation and After, 1976-91 309
7. The Future 359
Conclusions 365
Appendix I Short Biographies of 'Merchants of the Raj' 385
Appendix II Selected Chronology, with Indian Political and
Economic Background 397
Appendix III The Indian Companies Acts and Indian
Managing Agencies 409
Appendix IV Glossary of Words in Common Usage among
the British Business Community in Calcutta 415
Bibliography 421
Index 425
vii
List of Plates
1. Mackinnon Mackenzie office exterior
2. Mackinnon Mackenzie office interior
3. Shipping in the Hooghly
4. Stores, Rivers Steam Navigation Company
5. Andrew Yule head office, Calcutta
6. Mr A. L. Cameron of Andrew Yule, President of the Bengal
Chamber of Commerce soon after Independence, killed in a
Hindu/Muslim riot
7. Mr Bhaskar Mitter, first Indian Chairman of Andrew Yule
8. Mr K. S. B. Sanyal, who retired as Chairman of Andrew
Yule in 1991
9. Mr Harnam Wahi of Macneill & Barry and subsequently of
the Assam Company
10. Sir Paul Benthall of Bird & Co.
11. Gradation of jute
12. Jute fibre
13. Wellington Jute Mill entrance
14. Champdany Jute Mill from the manager's bungalow
15. Mr John Weir of Champdany, photographed before
leaving Dundee, late nineteenth century
16. Interior, Glasgow office of James Finlay, c.1907
17. Head Office staff of James Finlay in Glasgow, with tea map
in the background
18. Mr Saroj Mehera of James Finlay
19. Shop in Moscow selling Finlay's tea
20. Shaw Wallace head office, Calcutta
21. Sir Anthony Hayward, last British Chairman of Shaw
Wallace and last British President of the Bengal Chamber
22. Mr S. P. Acharaya, the last Chairman of Shaw Wallace
before the sale to the Chhabrias
23. Gillanders head office, Calcutta
24. Balmer Lawrie head office, Calcutta
viii
List of Plates ix
25. Sir Owain Jenkins of Balmer Lawrie
26. Sir John Jardine Paterson of Jardine Henderson
27. McLeod House, Calcutta
28. Duncan House, Calcutta
29. Standard Chartered Bank head office, Calcutta
30. The Bengal Chamber of Commerce
31. The board of Goodricke: Mr D. K. Mehra, Mr P. A.
Leggatt, Mr S. K. Bhasin, Calcutta
32. Weighing the tea, Koomber tea garden, Cachar
33. Mr B. M. Khaitan of Macneill & Magor at the Races,
Calcutta
34. Mr Gillem Sandys Lumsdaine and Mr J. L. Rikhye of
Macneill & Magor
35. Babus of Macneill & Magor office
36. Packaging Macneill & Magor tea
37. J. Thomas tea auction room
38. Vinod Parek, first Indian Chairman of J. Thomas, later to
join James Warren
39. Dipak Roy, who retired from J. Thomas in 1988
40. Hunting by elephant I
41. Hunting by elephant II
42. The Bengal Club
43. The Victoria Memorial, Calcutta
44. Tea on the lawn, Calcutta
45. Bungalow tennis before 1930
46. Memsahib in Darjeeling carried by Nepalese bearers
47. Darjeeling Light Railway
Note: Photographs in the author's collection of modem-day
Calcutta were taken on 31 August 1991 by Mr Biresh
Paul of Goodricke Group Ltd, Calcutta. Photographs of
pictures in the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, J. Thomas
& Co. Pvt Ltd, the Bengal Club and Macneill & Magor
were taken on 23 August 1991 by Mr Vivek Das,
Calcutta. Photographs from the archives of James Finlay
plc in Glasgow were loaned with the kind assistance of
Mrs Monica Clough. The photograph of the author seen
on the jacket was taken by Mr Biresh Paul of Goodricke
Group Ltd, Calcutta