25. The end of the British East India Company
Queen Victoria added the title Empress of India to her stylings, and the period known as the British Raj began in India following the Sepoy Rebellion. Most of the East India Company bureaucracy remained in place, though no longer employed by the company. The company itself remained in existence for another fifteen years, administering the tea trade for the British government, though it no longer had a monopoly. It also assumed the role of keeping the British outpost at St. Helena supplied, due to its importance to British ships and as a source of saltpeter, an essential component of gunpowder.
It was dissolved formally in 1874 by acts of Parliament. The company’s army and navy were absorbed by their counterparts under the British Crown. The Bombay Marine became Her Majesty’s Indian Navy. Most of the policies of the EIC regarding its military arm remained in effect under the Raj, as did those of the administration for some time. British influence continued to expand in the Indies through the middle of the 20th century, when Indian independence was finally granted as the British Empire broke apart in the aftermath of World War II.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia, 1600 – 1834”. Anthony Farrington. 2002
“The Anarchy – The Relentless Rise of the East India Company”. William Dalrymple. 2019
“The East India Company: A History”. Philip Lawson. 1993
“The world’s first multinational”. Nick Robins, New Statesman. December 13, 2004
“The East India Company: 1784 – 1834”. C. H. Philips. 1961
“Lords of the East: The East India Company and its Ships”. Jean Sutton. 1981
“East India Company”. Entry, UCLA Social Sciences, MANAS. Online
“The Chinese Opium Wars”. Jack Beeching. 1975
“Warren Hastings and British India”. Penderel Moon. 1949
“The Great Mutiny: India 1857”. Christopher Hibbert. 1980
“The Aftermath of Revolt: India, 1857 – 1870”. Thomas R. Metcalf