The Chaplains of the East India Company, 1601-1858

Description

The East India Company's merchants were called Adventurers because they ventured their money in the risky markets of the Spice Islands and the fabulously wealthy Mughal Empire. In another sense also, the Company's entire 250 years were an adventure, exciting and dangerous, and creating over time, by violence and corruption, an empire. Contrary to the common view, the Company always claimed a Christian identity, hence the chaplains, on their voyages and in their trading 'factories' and garrisons, to guard the morals and morale of their operations. This the chaplains did with varying conviction and success. Forbear of the multinational of today, the Company continues to fascinate, attracting a vast amount of study worldwide as an economic and political phenomenon, an instrument of development, patron of art, and locus of attention in the new-imperial and postcolonial literature. Virtually unnoticed hitherto alongside the seafarers, merchant-adventurers, soldiers and imperialists, and their Indian collaborators, was a succession of educated, mostly young men with a tricky assignment and a distinct angle on all that took place: the chaplains.

The Reverend Dr. Daniel O'Connor is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is now retired after a career in the Church and in teaching.

[Daniel O'Connor] has researched deeply into his subject, and includes much intriguing detail concerning individual chaplains. -- The Church Times The Revd Daniel O'Connor has produced an excellent addition to the studies of the East India Company's servants...It is a remarkable study in scholarly compression...This book has many treasures. -- Chowkidar Journal Daniel O'Connor has done mission and Indian scholars a service in pointing out the importance of the rich source of material in the Company archives. He hopes that it might encourage more detailed monographs and a more comprehensive history. The present work is an admirable overview and should achieve that aim. * Journal of Anglican Studies * This book offers an excellent overview of the chaplaincy in India and makes a valuable contribution to the study of Christianity, imperialism, and the East India Company. The work should, as the author intends, provoke more in-depth study. * International Bulletin of Missionary Research (October) *