Peter Robb’s third book drawn from the diaries of one Richard Blechynden (1759–1822)—architect, surveyor, and civil engineer, who moved permanently to Calcutta in 1791—focuses on the ‘special meaning and function’ of friendship among Europeans, and between Europeans and Indians in early colonial Calcutta. It must be stated outright that the term ‘friendship’, as it is employed in the book, frequently does not adhere to its definition found in any common dictionary, or even to the obvious interpretation that comes to mind of referring to a relationship based on familiarity and mutual affection. Rather, as the book moves from anecdote to anecdote and incident to incident, the term finds itself open to scrutiny, as the relationships themselves are often used (and abused) by the various characters that make an appearance in these tales.
I say tales, because Robb’s book, while undoubtedly a work of high scholarship and meticulous research, reads more like a novel with characters that inspire both awe and contempt for the accounts of the seemingly rampant corruption in the days of a bygone Calcutta.
After Sentiment and Self and Sex and Sensibility,1 the first two volumes based on the Blechynden diaries, Robb turns his attention to the social, economic and political spheres where ‘friendship’ and personal connections played an extensive role in the very structuring of these domains. A common occurrence was to appoint or recommend the appointment of a nephew or cousin to a position in the government, or securing work contracts through prior personal contact. What is striking about this, and throughout the book, is that while there is a notion of this being a time when colonial rule was still very much in its early phase, the structures of bureaucracy involved in drawing up contracts for public works, the norms of debt and credit-taking, and the best practices of dealing in trade and administration were not only established, but entrenched deeply enough for various officials to find ways around them to an extent that corruption was not an exception, but almost a monotonously routine occurrence. This was also the time, however, when rules and procedures became increasingly more bureaucratic, and any appointments made based on personal connections were frequently exposed and subjected to investigation. Robb argues that as institutions became more formalized and objective, the ‘uses of friendship’ changed as a social response to ‘modernity’ (pp. 38–41).Modernity was and remains defined in largely European terms, and was more concerned about the Europeans and their lives in India, rather than the governance of the Indian subjects.
This Euro-centrism does not remain confined to modernity as a background factor of early nineteenth century Calcutta life. Conspicuous by its absence is Calcutta itself: how the city thrived or suffered as a consequence of the actions of men and women who were aware that they were colonizers, that they were on foreign land, no matter to what degree they had control of it. But as one moves from one episode to the next, it does seem striking that the European characters seem completely at home, as comfortable as if they had lived in India all their lives, as though Calcutta was not much different from London. It is almost as though a swarm of Britishers moved to Calcutta, and then continued to live their lives socially and professionally as though not much, other than the weather, had changed. Although a little acknowledgement of the time taken by Europeans to familiarize themselves with the landscape would have been appreciated, one also has to understand and accept that this nonchalant assumption of power, control and high rank is the very means by which the politics of inclusion and segregation played itself out in colonial India.
The book explores the changing dynamics of friendship in response to matters of money, social standing, business, and profits. Power and money are seldom isolated, and Blechynden’s experiences in Calcutta suggest no different. Credit-related negotiations feature extensively in the book, as Company employees often faced a lack of readily available cash, their wages being paid in irregular arrears. However building contracts, legal cases, business transactions, and real estate dealings continued to burgeon in these insecure circumstances, with ‘friendship’ being the underlying factor that moved these decisions. Personal relationships did not automatically mean that the dealings and transactions were anything less than formal: Robb notes how Blechynden made it a point to preserve documents and letters of instruction in case of need in the future (p. 156). Appointments, contracts, and credit, though often expressed in friendly terms, did not always neutralize the conflicts that arose as a result of differences in social capital and influence between Europeans, as was seen in the final resolution of the debt owed to Blechynden by Aaron Upjohn, an engraver and adventurer (pp. 66–88). The last two chapters direct attention toward the relationship between Indians and Europeans, and expand on the inherent, but as yet unstructured, racism predominant in colonial Calcutta. Europeans needed the support of the native people not just as subjects of colonial rule, but also as business partners and colleagues. Robb explains, however, that social equality was neither offered by the Europeans, nor expected by the Indians.
Robb’s notes provide proof of the conscientious groundwork already observable within the first chapter of the book, but a more comprehensive perusal reveals what is undeniably a staggering number of primary sources beyond the eighty volumes of Blechynden’s diaries, including memoirs, newspapers, journals, correspondences, pamphlets, public records and other private diaries. The author succeeds in driving home the point about the selfish uses of friendship and the influence of personal relationships in building the social, political and economic ethos of colonial Calcutta. Robb’s skill in consolidating, synthesizing and then moving seamlessly between the events, individuals, and transactions, often not in a historically chronological order, makes it evident that he sees this history being motivated by the actions of these very individuals and their network of relationships. It brings to mind the debates on sub-imperialism—the every day decisions of the men on the spot, the real ‘founders of the empire’—that gave structure and lent character to the nature of colonial rule in India.2 Highly readable (despite the occasional trip down the rabbit hole of financial jargon), Useful Friendship achieves its goal of painting a vivid but arresting portrait of European social and economic life in early colonial Calcutta, exquisitely capturing the idiosyncratic character of the society that reinforced and reinvented these relationships. It does seem prudent, however, to state that as this book throws light on a very particular aspect of the socio-economic history of India under Company rule, it is best read along with Peter Robb’s first two volumes which will undoubtedly illustrate the larger picture and provide further (or prior) context.
1 See Peter Robb, Entiment and Self; Sex and Sensibility (Oxford University Press, 2011).
2 See Eric Stokes, The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India (Cambridge University Press, 1978). See also discussion in SekharBandopadhyay, From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India (Orient Blackswan, 2004).
Nandini Dey recently graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MSc in History. She is currently working at the India Institute, a research and advocacy think tank.