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The memoirs of Sidney Wadsworth are a vital source on Britain's colonial history during the first half of the twentieth century. Recounting his long and distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service, Wadsworth paints an entertaining picture of the many places in Madras province where he served, with illuminating portraits of the important British and Indian figures with whom he associated. Here we see through his eyes the growth of Indian nationalism and the rise of Gandhi, and the impact of the Second World War on Madras. Reliving his journey from junior member of the ICS to High Court judge, Wadsworth displays a shrewd acumen and a keen eye for the ridiculous. By no means uncritical of British rule, he emerges from these pages as a conscientious, humane and reasonable official--unlike some of his contemporaries--and one able to accept the huge changes overtaking India. The physical and moral demands of his daily routine reveal the commitment of an administration that, for all its failings, steadily pursued the goal of good and impartial government. Also featuring excerpts from the memoirs of other civil servants then in the province, A Judge in Madras will fascinate anyone interested in the colonial encounter.

In 1891 a major anti-British revolt erupted in the northeast Indian princely state of Manipur after a dangerously miscalculated attempt by the Government of India to assert its authority in the wake of a palace coup. Following the murder of a number of senior officers, a substantial British force descended upon the state to restore order and to bring the prime culprits to a questionable justice, generating widespread condemnation in England. The Manipur Uprising and its aftermath showed the fragility of indirect rule in India and British underestimation of native loyalty to princely rule. With fresh archival research and contemporary reports, Caroline Keen here provides a compelling account of erratic imperial policy-making at the highest level.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century,the royal status of Indian princes was under threat in what became a critical period of transition from traditional to imperial rule.Weakened by treaties concluded with the British earlier in the century,the rulers were subject to a concentrated campaign by British officials to turn palace life into a westernised construct of morality,rules and regulations.Young heirs to the throne were exposed to a western education to encourage their enthusiasm for changes in the princely environment.At the same time bureaucracies constructed on the British Indian model were introduced to promote'good government'.In many cases,royal practice and authority were sacrificed in the urgency to install efficient and accountable methods of administration.Adult rulers were frequently sidelined in the intricacies of state politics and the traditional princely power base was steadily eroded. Using the framework of a princely life-cycle,this book evaluates British policy towards the princes during the period 1858-1909.Within this framework Caroline Keen examines disputed successions to Indian thrones,the reaction of young rulers to a western education, princely marriages and the empowerment of royal women,the administration of states,and efforts to alter court hierarchy and ritual to conform to strict British bureaucratic guidelines.A recurring theme is the frequently incompatible relationship between British officials posted to the states and their superiors within the Government of India. Rarely examined archival material is used to provide a detailed analysis of policy-making which deals with British procedure at all levels of officialdom. For scholars and researchers of South Asian and British imperial history this book casts new light upon a highly significant phase of imperial development and makes a major contribution to the understanding of the operation of indirect rule under the Raj.