P. J. Marshall

Commentary on article “British Society in India under the East India Company” by P.J. Marshall There is a person behind any research and analysis, which means that author’s personal background is significant. According to recommendation letter to pro-vice chancellor on Bristol university’s website, I found out that Professor Peter James Marshall was born in Calcutta and his family is British-Indian on both sides, which defines him as mixed race . There might be an assumption that his family history laid a reliable foundation for his claims about British society in India. Throughout the article Marshall presents his vision on British society in India step-by-step and immediately supports them with arguments. First he states that Anglo-India in spite of coming from Britain is shaped by Indian society. This forwards us to two points. First is the name “Anglo-India” which …show more content…
These notions might be explained by the statement of Hardinge given that opinions on public matters are made on calculations of personal interest rather than political ideology . Even attendance in public worship was a bit unpersuasive as people were more concerned with profit coming from building churches. Here it seems uncertain to me if all people there were just so interest-seeking, almost utilitarianists. Is British society in India considered as mass of hunters for profit, which might discredit it in front of local population? This is how British society might look like for others, as for themselves they enjoyed John Stuart Mill’s phrase “middle class” (I think it is not coincidence that founder of utilitarian theory worked for Company and influenced British society in India). Phrase “middle class” was a compliment to people, as they were considered as best of working class. However ,within the time, people started to doubt whether their homeland’s natives really thought of them