‘Britain in India, 1858–1947’ seeks to trace the last 90 years of British rule in the light of modern historical debates. The volume examines the ambiguities of British rule that followed from the post-Mutiny settlement: the tensions between an authoritarian bureaucracy and the promise of a liberal vision of the future, and between imperial interests and the growing coordination of Indian aspirations for self-rule. The volume analyses these tensions with reference to contemporary historical debates, and traces them through changing international relations and world wars to Indian independence and partition in 1947.

Lionel Knight is the retired head of history and politics at the City of London School in England. He holds an MA from Cambridge University and a teaching qualification from the Institute of Education, University of London, and was a schoolteacher fellow at St Hugh’s College in Oxford. He has served on the councils of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Hakluyt Society.

Anthem Perspectives in History

Acknowledgements; Preface; Introduction; Chapter 1. Crown Rule to 1880; Chapter 2. Liberal Imperialism, 1880–1899; Chapter 3. The Consequences of Lord Curzon: India or the Empire, 1899–1916; Chapter 4. The First World War, 1914–1922; Chapter 5. Dyarchy and Depression, 1922–1939; Chapter 6. The Impact of War, 1939–1945; Chapter 7. Independence, 1945–1947; Conclusion; Appendix; Chronology; Notes; Glossary; Further Reading; Questions; Index