The British in India

Oct 1, 2024 8:26 PM

Author:David Gilmour

A SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, SPECTATOR, NEW STATESMAN, TLS BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A richly panoramic exploration of the British experience of India ... hugely researched and elegantly written, sensitive to the ironies of the past and brimming with colourful details' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

The British in this book lived in India from shortly after the reign of Elizabeth I until well into the reign of Elizabeth II. Who were they? What drove these men and women to risk their lives on long voyages down the Atlantic and across the Indian Ocean or later via the Suez Canal? And when they got to India, what did they do and how did they live?

This book explores the lives of the many different sorts of Briton who went to India: viceroys and offcials, soldiers and missionaries, planters and foresters, merchants, engineers, teachers and doctors. It evokes the three and a half centuries of their ambitions and experiences, together with the lives of their families, recording the diversity of their work and their leisure, and the complexity of their relationships with the peoples of India. It also describes the lives of many who did not fit in with the usual image of the Raj: the tramps and rascals, the men who 'went native', the women who scorned the role of the traditional memsahib.

David Gilmour has spent decades researching in archives, studying the papers of many people who

have never been written about before, to create a magnificent tapestry of British life in India. It is

exceptional work of scholarly recovery portrays individuals with understanding and humour, and makes an original and engaging contribution to a long and important period of British and Indian history.

Reviews

Hugely researched and elegantly written, sensitive to the ironies of the past and brimming with colourful details

—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times

Glorious, human, colourful, teeming and spicy. If you read just one book on imperial India, let it be this

—— John Lewis-Stempel , Sunday Express

An exceptional book. It evokes those animated crowd scenes painted by William Frith, full of people going about their workaday lives, or enjoying themselves. ... David Gilmour's canvas is British India and he provides the answers in a penetrating and vivid portrait of the British men and women who ran the show from the mid-18th century to 1947.

—— Lawrence James , The Times

Entertaining… superb… history needs anecdote to make us relate to it, something Tinniswood [does] brilliantly.

—— Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

Adrian Tinniswood’s handsomely produced Behind the Throne is full of such pleasing details, as it takes us on a fascinating snoop into the studies, kitchens and bedrooms of various monarchs from Elizabeth I to the present queen… Tinniswood gets [the tone] just right, never overly deferential, but humorous and distantly respectful… Behind the Throne is a wonderfully entertaining account of life through five centuries of royal households.

—— Christopher Hart , Sunday Times

Adrian Tinniswood's juicy new domestic history of the royal household… [is] delicious – as piquant as the green salad with which Edward VIII liked to eat his cold grouse.

—— Rachel Cooke , Observer

Devoted watchers of The Crown will especially enjoy the nimble analysis of both the narcissistic Edward VIII’s brief reign and Princess Margaret’s doomed romance… this enlightening narrative allows the royal family mystique to disappear just a little.

—— Publishers Weekly

An intimate and entertaining look at the private lives of monarchs from Elizabeth I to the current occupants of Buckingham Palace… Deft, zesty social history.

—— Kirkus

If Downton Abbey showcases a well-oiled machine of domestic efficiency in an English estate, you might think the servants surrounding British monarchs would be held to an even higher standard of discretion and excellence. And, as historian Tinniswood warns, you’d be entirely wrong. The reality, as he explores in this diverting book covering the domestic life at court from Elizabeth to Elizabeth, is both much messier and incredibly interesting… This rare glimpse into royal households reveals the priorities and peculiarities of kings and queens.

—— Booklist

Tinniswood retells some of the best-known and best-loved episodes in British royal history… with elegance and wit… [and] based on extensive research.

—— Linda Porter , BBC History Magazine

Tinniswood tells us… What is revealed by this history of regal domesticity is that, in many respects, nothing has altered.

—— UK Press Syndication

This book will be greatly enjoyed… [Behind the Throne] has plenty…splendid nuggets.

—— Hugo Vickers , The Tablet

Entertaining… Behind the Throne…contains gems

—— Simon Heffer, **Books of the Year** , Daily Telegraph

Tinniswood is one of our finest historians and he brings to life the reality of royal life behind the scenes in stunning detail. If you want to know about the private lives of monarchs, this brilliant, beautifully illustrated account will more than satisfy.

—— Alison Weir , BBC History Magazine, **Books of the Year**

Penetrating and enjoyable. It is very fluently written, spiced with wit, and always judicious.

—— Clarissa Campbell , Times Literary Supplement

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