Exploring the interplay of politics and commerce in one of the most dynamic periods of British history, this book traces the fortunes of the India and Eastern Trading Company Limited, established in 1906 to finance a jute plantation in Assam, north-east India. In a watershed period for commercial culture, as family capitalism and industrial economics gave way to a predominance of speculative investment and the marketing of ideas, analysis of this London-registered company and its international management forms a lens through which to view the broader socio-political and economic environment of the late-Victorian period to the interwar. Mapping the eclectic bonds that created a network of association between a multinational cast of merchants, company promoters, mining engineers, politicians and industrialists, reveals the multiplicity of strands which coalesced to create one share company. By examining their responses to the opportunities created by colonialism: to enabling legislations and set-backs, to competition and collaboration, internationalism versus rising nationalism, an important era in British history is examined from an entirely fresh perspective.
The history of the India and Eastern Trading Company Limited is a tale of cloaked agendas, of land speculation under the guise of colonial agriculture, of German and Russian interests embedded in British-empire prospects, which exposes the intrigues of some of the most infamous imperialists of the era; figures who were the subject of intense academic scrutiny throughout the twentieth century and remain at the forefront of impassioned debate in the twenty first.
By:
Sarah Dietz
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 675g
ISBN: 9780367513542
ISBN 10: 0367513544
Series: Routledge International Studies in Business History
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 31 December 2020
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Chapter One The Company Prospectus and the Opportunity for Jute Growing in Assam India and Eastern Trading Company ̶ The Prospectus Chapter Two German Enterprise in the British Empire Alexander Classen – The Founder Chapter Three The Role of the Company Promoter in Joint-Stock Enterprise Henry Theodore Van Laun – The Promoter Chapter Four Networks, Patronage and their International Diffusion Eugene Auguste Digby – The Fundraiser Chapter Five Gentlemanly Capitalism and Britain’s Informal Empire in South America Stanley William Ford – The Chairman Chapter Six International Corporate Governance and Creating a Competitive Investment Culture in Joint-Stock Companies Hugo Likiernik – The Company Secretary Chapter Seven Chamberlainism and the Impact of Increasing Anglo-German Antagonism on Commerce William Burton Stewart – The Politician Chapter Eight The Plantation Economy, Jute Cultivation and Land Speculation Bronisław Oderfeld – The Industrialist Chapter Nine Rebranding and Refinancing Colonial Enterprise John Henry Grayson Riley – The Capitalist Chapter Ten The Amalgamation of Colonial Plantations During the First World War George St. Lawrence Mowbray – The Amalgamator Conclusion Index
Sarah Dietz is a textile specialist who has received awards from the Royal Society of Arts and the Worshipful Company of Weavers in association with the Textile Institute. Following a successful career in the British textile industry, currently she works as an independent historian, specialising in the history of entrepreneurship.
