The impact of Scots emigrants on India

Question 1

Entrepreneurs

Answer 1

Andrew Yule set up the Hoolungpooree Tea Company and expanded in to insurance, cloth and jute. He eventually retired to Britain a very rich man.

Question 2

Business

Answer 2

Scots were prominent in the development of trade in India. For example, The Bombay Chamber of Commerce was founded by one of Bombay’s many Scottish traders John Skinner. Skinner was involved in the Bombay Steam company and was one of the main promoters of the Bank of Bombay, established in 1841.

Question 3

Culture

Answer 3

Westernisation of Indian society meant many things, including the banning of what the British considered to be savage practices. This included the Hindu practice of Suttee undertaken by bereaved widows, who threw themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands.

Question 4

Politics

Answer 4

Scots had a significant impact on India as leading colonists for the British Empire. For example, James Andrew Broun-Ramsay. 1st Marquess of Dalhousie
was one of a number of Scots who served as Governors of India.

Question 5

Communications

Answer 5

During his time as Governor, Dalhousie
developed a plan to build railway lmes to connect the main regions of India as well as a telegraph communication system. He also encouraged the development of a national
postal system.

Question 6

Religion

Answer 6

Many Scots came over to India to serve in the religious missions with the aim of spreading Christianity. This was rarely welcomed by the native people of India.

Question 7

Native Societies

Answer 7

Scottish soldiers played a prominent role in the crushing of an Indian rebellion against British rule. The Indian Mutiny broke out in
1857 and many of the senior commanders in the British Army who fought against it were Scottish - such as Generals Colin Campbell, James Hope Grant and Hugh Rose. Following the massacre of 120 British children and women at Cawmpore. Scottish soldiers of the 78th and 84th Highland
regiments took swift and brutal retribution when they recaptured the town from the Indians. Captured Indian soldiers were forced to lick the blood of their victims before being put to death.

Question 8

Education

Answer 8

Many Scottish missionaries were well educated themselves and keen to
educate the Indians. They believed that if educated Indians were exposed to the word of God in the bible they would be converted to Christianity. They therefore had an important role in the development of education in India. For example, Reverend Alexander Duff from Perthshire was influential in the founding of the University of Calcutta in 1857 as well as
the establishment of the first medical college in the country. Another missionary. John Wilson from Lauder in Berwickshire, set up the oldest college in Bombay.

Question 9

main topics (8)

Answer 9

• Entrepreneurs
• Business
• Culture
• Politics
• Communications
• Religion
• Education
• Bative Societies