India: Playground of Empire

Women played an important and somewhat unseen role in the lives of their husbands. Though in the first volume of his memoir Forty-One Years in India published in 1897 Field Marshal Lord Roberts does not mention his wife, he dedicates the book as follows:

TO THE COUNTRY TO WHICH I AM SO PROUD OF BELONGING,

TO THE ARMY TO WHICH I AM SO DEEPLY INDEBTED,

AND TO MY WIFE,

WITHOUT WHOSE LOVING HELP

MY ‘FORTY-ONE YEARS IN INDIA’

COULD NO BE THE HAPPY RETROSPECT IT IS,

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.1

Though she was never at the forefront of his Indian experience, Roberts’ wife played an important role in his coming to terms with his experiences and organizing them to produce his memoir.

Roberts’ memoir allows for a unique look into the mind of a colonizer with a very typical Indian experience. He treats his experience as execution of duty, but relays his story to the reader with relish, as though his time in India was the great adventure of his lifetime. Roberts’ India was the British India which characterized the romantic Victorian vision. Not only that, but he describes a certain respect of the natives and a need to respect their traditions and customs. He writes about British governance and understanding of the native populace, saying

It is difficult for people who know nothing of Natives to understand and appreciate the value the set on cherished customs, peculiar idiosyncrasies, and fixed prejudices, all of which must be carefully studied by those who are placed in a position of their Rulers, if the suzerain Power is to keep their respect and gain their gratitude and affection.1

In this passage Roberts shows his passion for his Indian experience. Not only does he tell his story, but he also communicates that cleverness and courage are needed to fully serve the Empire. He treats the natives as one might treat children. He seems to find them somewhat humorous and immature. Roberts clearly communicates his understanding of how they need to be governed and controlled. To Roberts, the indigenous people are not human, instead he sees them as a pleasant attraction, something to be viewed and wondered at.

The India of the Victorian age was a cash cow for the British Empire, but it was not money that motivated ordinary Britons to leave home and risk life and limb. Rather it was the adventure and danger that India presented. To them it was a place of glory and beauty and adventure. It was a playground, and provided an escape from normal lives in England to lives of combat, adventure, and Europeans Only Clubs. The danger was very real, and the death toll among the English was astronomical. But even in death the country retained its exciting mystique. English headstones list causes of death such as “…gored by a bison”, “…died of wounds received from a panther”, “…eaten by a tiger.”2 These causes of death are characteristic of India’s legends, but one cannot help but think that these lives were lost in the pursuit of adventure and that, even though the English subdued and mistreated the people they colonized, they gave many lives in pursuit of what they believed to be the right thing to do. It is important to remember that these people were not evil, but a product of their times, and when looked at this way one comes to appreciate the bravery and dedication required to carry out what the British did for 300 years, however twisted their reasoning.

Endnotes

1. Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Forty-One Years in India (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1897), vii-10.

2. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight (Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1975), 12-17.

3. Michael Edwardes, The Last Years of British India (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1963), 1-5.

4. R. J. Minney, India Marches Past (New York: D Appleton and Company, 1933), 65.

Bibliography

1. Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Forty-One Years in India (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1897), vii-10.

2. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight (Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1975), 12-17.

3. Michael Edwardes, The Last Years of British India (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1963), 1-5.

4. R. J. Minney, India Marches Past (New York: D Appleton and Company, 1933), 65.

5. R. P. Masani, Britain in India (Bombay: Oxford University Press, 1960), 1-6.

6. P. E. Roberts, History of British India (London: Oxford University Press, 1967), 643-650.