Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 ‘Productive’ Indian Railways, 1875–1914: Space for Gentlemanly Capitalists and Industrialists in a Mixed Economy
- 2 Indian Railways and Famines, 1875–1914: Magic Wheels and Empty Stomachs
- 3 Military Railways in India, 1875–1914: Russophobia, Technology and the Indian Taxpayer
- 4 Indian Railroading: Floating Railway Companies in the Late Nineteenth Century
- 5 Northern Wars and Southern Diplomacy: Sir Douglas Forsyth's Second Career on the Indian Railways
- 6 Eminent ICS Victorians: Richard Strachey and Theodore Hope as Poachers and Gamekeepers
- 7 Background, Proceedings and Legacy of the Mackay Committee of 1908: Gentlemanly Capitalists, Indian Nationalists and Laissez-faire
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
5 - Northern Wars and Southern Diplomacy: Sir Douglas Forsyth's Second Career on the Indian Railways
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Introduction
- 1 ‘Productive’ Indian Railways, 1875–1914: Space for Gentlemanly Capitalists and Industrialists in a Mixed Economy
- 2 Indian Railways and Famines, 1875–1914: Magic Wheels and Empty Stomachs
- 3 Military Railways in India, 1875–1914: Russophobia, Technology and the Indian Taxpayer
- 4 Indian Railroading: Floating Railway Companies in the Late Nineteenth Century
- 5 Northern Wars and Southern Diplomacy: Sir Douglas Forsyth's Second Career on the Indian Railways
- 6 Eminent ICS Victorians: Richard Strachey and Theodore Hope as Poachers and Gamekeepers
- 7 Background, Proceedings and Legacy of the Mackay Committee of 1908: Gentlemanly Capitalists, Indian Nationalists and Laissez-faire
- Conclusion
- Appendices
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index
Summary
Introduction
The Times obituary of Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth in 1886 paid the former ICS representative a dubious compliment in placing him highly in the group of ‘men of second rank’ within the ‘modern history of British India’. Forsyth was not unique in having combined a somewhat forgettable and modestly paid Indian government career with a move into the City. His boardroom appointments within Indian railways straddled several companies and geographical regions. The manner in which he promoted those companies, attracting public- and private-sector support, illustrates the division of power within Anglo-Indian commerce in the late nineteenth century. Forsyth used business, diplomatic and ICS/India Office contacts to negotiate advantageous arrangements on financings for companies representing the military, famine protective and commercial aspects of Indian railways. He forged close relationships with business mavericks in the Stafford House Committee (SHC), a charitable organization which transformed itself into a holding company for railway promoters. In the diplomatic arena he worked with ambitious and frustrated consular representatives to deliver combined British and Portuguese guarantees to a small Goa railway. Indian government guarantees were then negotiated to support funding for a contiguous railway, which stretched across large parts of the south. The Southern Mahratta promised to make the Deccan region free of famines, but failed to deliver famine protection. In the North, Forsyth promoted vast military expenditure in partnership with the Indian railway pioneer W. P. Andrew.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Financing India's Imperial Railways, 1875–1914 , pp. 115 - 138Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014