Tristram Hunt

TEN CITIES THAT MADE AN EMPIRE

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published by Allen Lane 2014
Published in Penguin Books 2015

Copyright © Tristram Hunt, 2014

Cover: View of Cape Town and Cape of Good Hope, 1816 (photograph © akg-images)
Cover design: Richard Green

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-141-95753-1

Contents

List of Illustrations

List of Maps

Introduction

1 Boston

2 Bridgetown

3 Dublin

4 Cape Town

5 Calcutta

6 Hong Kong

7 Bombay

8 Melbourne

9 New Delhi

10 Liverpool

Illustrations

Bibliography

Notes

Acknowledgements

Follow Penguin

To M.D.E.H.

List of Illustrations

COLOUR PLATES

1. Paul Revere and Christian Remick, A View of Part of the Town of Boston in New England and British ships of war landing troops, 1768. (Photograph: Historic New England, Boston/The Bridgeman Art Library)
2. Paul Revere, The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th, 1770. (Photograph: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC)
3. Sidney Smith, A View of John Hancock’s House across Boston Common in 1768. (Photograph: New York Public Library/The Bridgeman Art Library)
4. John Singleton Copley, Samuel Adams, 1770. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (Photograph: De Agostini Picture Library/The Bridgeman Art Library)
5. Teapot, probably made in Derby, Staffordshire, c. 1765–1770s. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Museum Purchase (accession # 1953–417, image #DS90–557).
6. The Boston Tea Party, illustration from Rev. W. D. Cooper, The History of North America, 1789. (Photograph: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC)
7. St Nicholas Abbey, Barbados. (Photograph: Spectrum/Heritage Images/Scala, Florence)
8. Anon, View of Bridgetown and Carlisle Bay (‘Governor Robinson Going to Church’), c. 1742. By courtesy of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society
9. Thomas Rowlandson after ‘E.D.’, Rachel Pringle of Barbadoes, 1796. The Royal Collection, copyright © 2014 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)
10. James Malton, View of Leinster House, Dublin, 1792. Private Collection. (Photograph: The Stapleton Collection/ The Bridgeman Art Library)
11. Edward Smyth, pediment and frieze for the Custom House, Dublin, 1791. (Photograph: Michael Fewer/South Dublin County Libraries, T. J. Byrne Collection)
12. Strickland Lowry (attr.), An Interior with Members of a Family, 1770s. (Photograph: by courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin)
13. Francis Wheatley, The Irish House of Commons, 1780. Leeds Museums and Galleries (Lotherton Hall). (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)
14. William Hodges, View of Cape Town & Table Mountain, 1772. William Fehr Collection Castle of Good Hope, Iziko Museums of South Africa (Acc. no. CD21). (Photograph: Africa Media Online)
15. Thomas Whitcombe, The East Indiamen ‘Minerva’, ‘Scaleby Castle’ and ‘Charles Grant’ off Cape Town, 1820. (Photograph: copyright © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London)
16. Francis Swaine after Jan van Ryne, View of the Old Fort William as seen from the opposite bank of the Hooghly, c. 1763. British Library, London. (Photograph: The Art Archive)
17. Indian School, Sir David Ochterlony in Indian dress, smoking a hookah and watching a nautch in his house in Delhi, c. 1820. British Library, London. (Photograph: The Art Archive/Eileen Tweedy)
18. James Gillray, The Bengal Levée, showing Lord Charles Cornwallis holding reception at the Old Government House, Calcutta, 1792. (Photograph: The Art Archive/Eileen Tweedy)
19. Thomas Lawrence, Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley, 1813. The Royal Collection, copyright © 2011 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)
20. Charles D’Oyly, View of Government House, illustration from Views of Calcutta and its Environs, 1848. (Photograph: Getty Images)
21. Chinese School, The Opium Clipper ‘Waterwitch’ in Calcutta, c. 1850. Sze Yuan Tang Collection. (Photograph: Martyn Gregory Gallery, London)
22. Bilingual text from the Treaty of Nanking, 1842. National Archives, Kew. (Photograph: Topfoto/HIP)
23. Chinese School, East Point, Hong Kong, with the residence and godowns of Jardine, Matheson and Company, mid-nineteenth century. (Photograph: Martyn Gregory Gallery, London)
24. Marciano Baptista, A view of Hong Kong harbour, 1860s. Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. Museum Purchase, 1961. (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)
25. John Thomson, Queen’s Road, Hong Kong, from the clock tower looking towards the east, c. 1868. (Photograph: Wellcome Library, London)
26. George Chinnery, Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy with his Chinese servant, c. 1830s. Private collection.
27. Parsi cotton merchants of Bombay, illustration from Robert Brown, The Countries of the World, late nineteenth century. (Photograph: Topfoto)
28. George Reid, Sir Henry Bartle Frere, 1881. (Photograph: copyright © National Portrait Gallery, London)
29. Raja Deendayal, View of Bombay showing the Municipal Corporation Building and Victoria Terminus, c. 1893. (Photograph: copyright © The Raja Deendayal Foundation)
30. Sir George Gilbert Scott, Bombay University Library, 1878. (Photograph: Benjamin Matthijs Lichtwerk/Getty Images)
31. William Emerson and Lockwood Kipling, water fountain, 1869. Crawford Market, Mumbai. (Photograph: Garrett Ziegler)
32. Henry Gritten, Melbourne viewed from the Botanic Garden, 1867. (Photograph: State Library of Victoria, Melbourne)
33. N. J. Caire, Monsieur Caron conducting the Exhibition choir, performing the Exhibition Cantata at the opening of the International Exhibition, Melbourne, 1881. (Photograph: State Library of Victoria, Melbourne)
34. Sands & McDougall Limited, Tramway map of Melbourne and Suburbs, 1880s. (Photograph: State Library of Victoria, Melbourne)
35. Lord Sheffield’s Australian cricket team, 1891–2. (Photograph: Mary Evans Picture Library/Graham Hales Collection)
36. Parade of soldiers, Collins Street, Melbourne, c. 1915. (Photograph: Mirrorpix)
37. The Nizam of Hyderabad paying homage to George V and Queen Mary at the Delhi Durbar, 1911. (Photograph: Topfoto/HIP)
38. Aerial view of Kingsway (Rajpath) looking due East, New Delhi, 1947. (Photograph: courtesy of the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge)
39. View of the east end of the North Secretariat Block with the Council House in the background, New Delhi. (Photograph: RIBA Library Photographs Collection)
40. Gandhi and Mountbatten at the Viceroy’s House, New Delhi, 1947. (Photograph: courtesy of The Trustees of the Broadlands Archives, Hartley Library, University of Southampton)
41. Poster for the Dominion Line, 1899. (Photograph: Topfoto/HIP)
42. View outside the Chinese shops in Pitt Street, Liverpool, illustration from Herman Scheffauer, ‘The Chinese in England: A Growing National Problem’, in The London Magazine, June 1911. (Photograph: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford (Per.2705 d.85 26 (1911) p.466))
43. Walter Richards, Modern Liverpool, 1907. World Museum, National Museums Liverpool. (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)
44. Police move in on rioters in Toxteth, Liverpool, July 1981. (Photograph: Rex Features/ Associated Newspapers)
45. Visualization of the Peel Group plan for Liverpool Waters. (Photograph: courtesy of Rust Studios/www.ruststudios.co.uk)
46. Samuel Copen, A Prospect of Bridge Town in Barbados, 1695. British Library, London. (Photograph: copyright © British Library Board (All rights reserved)/The Bridgeman Art Library)
47. The Mountbattens with their domestic staff, the Viceroy’s House, New Delhi, 1947. (Photograph: courtesy of The Trustees of the Broadlands Archives, Hartley Library, University of Southampton)

TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS

The Royal Yacht Britannia in Hong Kong harbour, 1997. (Photograph: Getty Images)

Henry Pelham, Plan of Boston in New England with its environs, 1777. (Photograph: Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library)

Slaves processing sugar cane, illustration from Histoire générale des Antilles habités par les Français, 1667–71. The British Library, London. (Photograph: The Art Archive)

Richard Ligon, A topographicall description and admeasurement of the yland of Barbados in the West Indyaes with the mrs. names of the seuerall plantacons, from A True & exact history of the island of Barbadoes, 1673. (Photograph: The Librarian, University of Glasgow Library (Sp.Coll. Hunterian K.3.3))

The first coin struck for commercial use in Barbados, 1788. (Photograph: Heritage Auctions)

Wide Streets Commission, Elevation of the west front and plan of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, 1787. (Photograph: Dublin City Library & Archive (WSC/Maps/63))

Henry Brocas Snr (attr.), after Samuel Frederick Brocas, View of the Four Courts from Merchant’s Quay, Dublin, 1818. (Photograph: courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Call No. ET C115))

Sackville Street, Post Office and Nelsons Column, illustration from George Newenham Wright, An Historical Guide to ancient and modern Dublin, 1821. (Photograph: Aberdeen University Library Special Collections (KK.rr.13 no.1))

Van de Graaff, Thiebault and Barbier, Plan van Het Cassteel en de Stad, de Goede Hoop (Plan of the Castle and Town of Good Hope), 1786. (Photograph: The Western Cape Archives and Records Service (Ref. M1/339))

Lady Anne Barnard, Panorama of Cape Town (detail), 1797–9. Private collection.

William Marshall Craig (after), View of the Cape of Good Hope: The Battle previous to the Surrender, 8 January 1806. National Army Museum, London. (Photograph: The Bridgeman Art Library)

W. S. Sherwill (after), A drying room in the opium factory in Patna, India, c. 1850. (Photograph: Wellcome Library, London)

Unveiling a statue of the Prince of Wales presented to the City of Bombay by Alfred Sassoon, from The Illustrated London News, 1879.

Four suburban house plans, from Sands and McDougall, The Melbourne Directory, 1885.

‘Enderby’, the residence of William John Mountain Esq., in south Melbourne, 1888. (Photograph: National Library of Australia (ref. an8711798))

Sir Herbert Baker and Edwin Lutyens on an elephant, 1913. (Photograph: RIBA Library Photographs Collection)

Edwin Lutyens, ‘Layout Plan of Imperial Delhi from Government House to Purana Kila’, c. 1920s. Whereabouts unknown.

List of Maps

The Growth and Decline of the British Empire

Boston, c. 1750s

Bridgetown, c. 1760s

Dublin, c. 1800s

Cape Town, c. 1800s

Calcutta, c. 1810s

Hong Kong, c. 1850s

Bombay, c. 1880s

Melbourne, c. 1900s

New Delhi, c. 1930s

Liverpool, c. 1940s

Acknowledgements

For their generous assistance with the research, writing and production of this book, the author would like to thank James Baker, Chris Bayly, Sara Bershtel, Paul Bew, Vivian Bickford, Chloe Campbell, Georgina Capel, Michael V. Carlisle, James Cronin, Thi Dinh, Richard Duguid, Donald Futers, Carrie Gibson, Julia Hobsbawm, Riva Hocherman, Julian and Marylla Hunt, Jennifer Huntington, Shruti Kapila, Peter Kilfoyle, Alan Lockey, Cecilia Mackay, Carrie Martin, Rana Mitter, Ruaridh Nicoll, Michael Parkinson, Stuart Proffitt, Gaye Blake Roberts, Hannah O’Rourke, Miri Rubin and the Department of History, Queen Mary, University of London, Claire Sandars, Ben Shephard, Owen Stanwood, Rory Stewart, Phil Tinline, Juliet Thornback, Imogen Walford, Ian Wason, David Watson, Alison Wedgwood, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, Jon Wilson.