Written by John Bishop
It all began in 1961 when Clive became a great friend of a man who eventually became Professor of Physics in Bengal. “You must come out!”, he said, and so Clive did. In 1998 he went to Calcutta. There, he went to the local cemetery and saw rows and rows of graves of young aspiring entrepreneurs from Britain who had died of disease in their quest for fortune. For every successful Nabod there were thousands of his compatriots who did not acquire vast fortunes but instead met premature death, often without a penny to their name. In the 1600’s India was one of the richest and most populous countries in the world, while England was a relatively impoverished island with a population of about 5 million.
The East India Trading Company was formed and traded in spices, tea, textiles and later opium. Profits from trading these were enormous; for example 10 lbs of nutmeg could be bought for one penny and sold in London for 600 times the price. At the time it was thought that the plague could be warded off with nutmeg. To trade you had to take the junior position of a writer at a very low salary. But migrating to India in the 1790’s gave you access to power and riches through the company IF you survived. Migrating back to Britain allowed you to translate that wealth into power within the country. The growth of the Company also became an extension of power of the Empire and with it came an army and colonial rule.
So, who were the Nabods? They were frequently very rich. They were able to build very fine houses filled with treasures from the East. They were able to buy seats in Parliament; at one time they occupied over 100 such seats. They were despised by the Tories because they were not the landed gentry and bought estates up at inflated prices. They were the” nouveau riche” of the day. They were disliked by the Whigs because of their profiteering and disregard for human rights. They had a tendency to gravitate in the Berkshire area because it was close to London and Westminster, and Windsor was the main royal seat when Royal Patronage played an important part in political life. The most famous Nabod was Clive of India, who not only ran the trading company but also conducted a successful military campaign. Clive came back from India with a fortune of £500 million in today’s money and was known as Clive of India! Local houses built by Nabods include Basildon Park, Beenham House, Aldermaston Court, Donnington Grove, Englefield House, Purley Hall.
The East India Trading Company ceased to trade in 1857, although there had been significant government intervention from 1797. There is no doubt that this period of trading had a substantial influence on society, politics, language and culture at the time. Maybe things are not so bad today after all? Clive Williams gave an excellent presentation and much more can be discovered in his book “The Nabods of Berkshire”.
