Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Hinduism
- Abbreviations
- Map of India
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Company?
- 2 The East India Company, Britain and India 1770–1790
- 3 The 1790s: A Time of Crisis
- 4 The Pillar of Fire Moves Forward: The Advent of British Missionaries 1793–1806
- 5 The Wisdom of the Serpent and the Innocence of the Dove: The Vellore Mutiny and the Pamphlet War 1806–1808
- 6 Troubled Years 1807–1812
- 7 Battle Lines Drawn: Missions, Dissent and the Establishment
- 8 The 1813 Renewal of the Company's Charter: The Religious Public Takes on the Company
- 9 A Turbulent Frontier: The Company and Religion 1814–1828
- 10 A New Dawn? The Era of Lord William Bentinck 1828–1835
- 11 Between Scylla and Charibdis 1836–1858
- Conclusion and Epilogue: Strangers in the Land
- Appendix 1 Presidents of the Board of Control
- Appendix 2 Governors-General and Governors of Madras and Bombay
- Appendix 3 Aide Memoire to Names
- Appendix 4 ‘The Pious Clause’
- Bibliography
- Index
- WORLDS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
1 - A Christian Company?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Hinduism
- Abbreviations
- Map of India
- Introduction
- 1 A Christian Company?
- 2 The East India Company, Britain and India 1770–1790
- 3 The 1790s: A Time of Crisis
- 4 The Pillar of Fire Moves Forward: The Advent of British Missionaries 1793–1806
- 5 The Wisdom of the Serpent and the Innocence of the Dove: The Vellore Mutiny and the Pamphlet War 1806–1808
- 6 Troubled Years 1807–1812
- 7 Battle Lines Drawn: Missions, Dissent and the Establishment
- 8 The 1813 Renewal of the Company's Charter: The Religious Public Takes on the Company
- 9 A Turbulent Frontier: The Company and Religion 1814–1828
- 10 A New Dawn? The Era of Lord William Bentinck 1828–1835
- 11 Between Scylla and Charibdis 1836–1858
- Conclusion and Epilogue: Strangers in the Land
- Appendix 1 Presidents of the Board of Control
- Appendix 2 Governors-General and Governors of Madras and Bombay
- Appendix 3 Aide Memoire to Names
- Appendix 4 ‘The Pious Clause’
- Bibliography
- Index
- WORLDS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY
Summary
Happy will it be, if our conquests should open the way for a farther introduction of the Gospel, and for the extension and enlargement of Christ's Kingdom … What a lustre would such an accession give to British conquests in the Eastern world!
(Dr Glasse)A CENTURY before this quotation, Humphrey Prideaux, who was to become Dean of Norwich, castigated the East India Company for bringing down God's curse on it for neglecting to propagate Christianity in India. He pointed out that the English East India Company had fallen from wealth and power while the Dutch company, which furthered Christianity in its territories, was thriving. Prideaux put forward nine proposals to bring the English company back into God's favour. Amongst them, he recommended that the Company should provide chaplains, set up schools and establish a seminary to supply Protestant ministers who would ‘oppose the Popish priests who swarm in India’. Consonant with the spirit of the age, with its rash of societies for the improvement of England's morals and manners, Prideaux sought to improve the morals and manners of India. He also advocated the appointment of a bishop in order to ensure a proper Anglican footing for the clergy. Prideaux, however, was sceptical of the Company fulfilling its Christian obligations voluntarily and urged his readers to ensure that a law was passed in Parliament to force the East India Company into action. His fears were well founded.
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- Information
- The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858 , pp. 7 - 17Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012