Building on the success of our ‘Pint of’ nights, join Don in the Cellar Bar for a history talk with an edge! Enjoy a real ale, glass of wine or Tea/Coffee while you liste.

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The East India Company

How did a commercial company, chartered by Queen Elizabeth I and given a monopoly of trade between England and the Far East, become the de facto ruler of a large part of India during the eighteenth century? Why did Company interests turn from trade to territory? Despite the Company’s political and military power why did the British Crown in 1858 assume direct control of the Indian subcontinent in the form of the new British Raj?