East India Company at Home, 1757-1857

Osterley Park and House Project Update

Kate Smith — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:06:22 +0000

On 6 April and 9 April, the EICAH and National Trust teams welcomed volunteers and community representatives to take part in an oral history initiative aimed at drawing connections between the Osterley House’s early history as an East India Company home and life in contemporary Hounslow. The two days saw participants from the Sikh community affiliated with the Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Hounslow, and the Tamil Community Centre, Hounslow, in addition to local residents attend a three-hour workshop at Osterley House. The session kicked off with a guided tour of Osterley House by House and Collections Manager Claire Reed and the UCL team, where participants were given an overview of the collections of export art from India and China. The object histories presented to the participants highlighted the processes of the global flow of commodities through shipping and trade in the eighteenth century, and the patronage of the Child family, whose three generations served on the board of the EIC. Some important highlights constituted a large folding lacquer screen with the crest of the Child Family acquired in Canton in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, an early eighteenth century intricately embroidered bed valance from Gujarat, near Surat, a selection of porcelain objects such as parade jars and armorial ware, as well as two intricately models of Chinese junks carved in ivory and a mother of pearl pagoda. As a complement to these eighteenth century objects, participants were invited to bring in objects from their own homes, which had a personal or cultural significance for them. The second half of the day was devoted to personal interviews with individuals and group participants focusing on object driven oral histories where participants were encouraged to share their thoughts about how these objects had shaped their contemporary lives in Britain. The oral histories are part of the AHRC cultural engagement project Global Stories in Domestic Spaces, which will be featured as part of the exhibition and public display, ‘Trappings of Trade: A Domestic Story of the East India Company’, at Osterley House between July and November this year. As part of an effort to raise funds for conservation of the lacquer folding screen, the National Trust has organized a raffle the results for which will be announced during the annual Summer fair at Osterley this July.

‘Trappings of Trade: A Domestic Story of the East India Company’, will be on display at Osterley Park and House from 27 July to 3 November 2013.

Wales Study Day

Kate Smith — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:42:05 +0000

On 12 April the East India Company at Home team travelled to Cardiff to meet with curators, archivists, academics, local and family historians and heritage sector professionals from across Wales. The Wales Study Day took place at the National Museum Wales, whose rich collections contain examples of objects with deep East India Company links – a gold cup, armorial porcelain, portraits and snuff boxes. As well as engaging with these collections the Study Day participants also presented examples of objects and built environments that they have used in their own work. The day ended with a discussion about the distinctive nature of the Welsh East India Company experience. Many thanks to all who were involved with the day and special thanks to Oliver Fairclough and Andrew Renton of National Museum Wales for hosting the event.

Osterley Park and House Project Update

Kate Smith — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:29:06 +0000

‘Trappings of Trade: A Domestic Story of the East India Company’, will be on display at Osterley Park and House from 27 July to 3 November 2013.

Shugborough Estate, Staffordshire

Kate Smith — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:57:08 +0000

This case study is an examination of Shugborough, Staffordshire, the seat of the Earl of Lichfield, which touches on some aspects of a larger research project on the property that I hope to publish more extensively elsewhere. Shugborough differs from some of the other properties on which case studies are being produced under the auspices of the ‘East India Company at Home’ project, most obviously in its primary links to the Royal Navy, rather than the East India Company (EIC). In this regard I hope that the story of Shugborough, its connection with the Anson family, its ‘Chinese House’ and its armorial porcelain might provide a useful comparison, against which the project team and associates can view the EIC merchants’ properties that are the more central focus of their research. My own particular interest in Shugborough lies in the Chinese and Chinese-style objects and structures that adorn the estate, and this case study is deliberately focussed on this single aspect of this fascinating property.

Read the Shugborough Estate Case Study >>>>>

Warfield Park, Berkshire

Kate Smith — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:54:09 +0000

Did the longings, which East India Company officials and their families bore for ‘home’, England and their country houses, mark the country house as an important component of a specifically ‘English’ landscape and thus precipitate its entry into the heritage consciousness?

This case study begins to answer these questions by exploring the biographies of different individuals within the Walsh family. Over at least three generations, the Walsh family were significantly involved with the East India Company (EIC). Consequently, different members spent considerable periods of their lives in India, an experience which led them to continually reassess their relationship to and understanding of ‘home’ and ‘England’. Earlier generations of the family imagined not necessarily a ‘home’ in England, but rather a space ‘England’ and used it to ground their Indian experiences. In contrast later generations focused upon a particular place, Warfield, which conjured up ideas of belonging. Once returned to England, they invested this domestic space with time, effort and money. As generations of the Walsh family moved into and out of Warfield they altered and improved it in different ways, creating it anew. By examining the Walsh’s relationship to Warfield, this case study also uncovers how the country house played an important role in EIC officials and their families’ conceptions of place and home.

Read the Warfield Park Case Study >>>>>

Englefield House, Berkshire

Kate Smith — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:47:00 +0000

The eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century history of Englefield House, particularly its connections with the East India Company in this period, remain largely hidden. There is no sign of the East India Company and its Indian ventures on the exterior of the building. There is no published record of individuals visiting Englefield and noting its East India Company connections. Nevertheless objects, people and wealth all linked Englefield House to the East India Company in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Using correspondence, wills, inventories and objects this case study reveals how such connections shaped Englefield in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Read the Englefield House Case Study >>>>>

Osterley Park and House Project Update

Kate Smith — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:02:09 +0000

On 21 March 2013, the Brew House Room in Osterley Park was the venue for an introductory meeting with community representatives from the Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Hounslow, the Tamil Community Centre, Hounslow and volunteers from the Hounslow area. The meeting was attended by Professor Margot Finn and Dr Kate Smith from the East India Company at Home project, Cultural Engagement Fellow Dr Yuthika Sharma, and Claire Reed and Kelly Wood from the National Trust. Professor Margot Finn gave the participants an overview of the EICAH project as well as the upcoming exhibition and oral history display at Osterley House scheduled from July to November, 2013. We invited the participants’ feedback and offered to further our outreach into the community through information meetings at community venues in the coming weeks. We are continuing our effort to engage with the local community in Osterley and in Hounslow and are expecting a meaningful response to the oral history recording sessions planned for early April at Osterley House.

‘Trappings of Trade: A Domestic Story of the East India Company’, will be on display at Osterley Park and House from 27 July to 3 November 2013.

Osterley Park and House Project

Kate Smith — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:52:32 +0000

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS LIVING IN HOUNSLOW

We are currently looking for volunteers who live in and around Hounslow, who might be interested in contributing to an exhibition at their local National Trust property – Osterley Park and House. If you know anyone who might be interested in such a project, please encourage them to get in touch. Details below!

Global Stories in Domestic Spaces

Part of “The Trappings of Trade’ a display taking place at Osterley Park and House in Hounslow, July-November 2013.

WHAT is Global Stories in Domestic Spaces?

‘Global Stories in Domestic Spaces’ is part of a larger University College London (UCL) research programme entitled The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857.

‘Global Stories in Domestic Spaces’ will see members of UCL, the Osterley Park and House team work with ten to fifteen members of the community local to Osterley Park to create videos and photographs that link the Park’s eighteenth- and nineteenth-century history to life in contemporary Britain for inclusion in Osterley Park’s upcoming display ‘The Trappings of Trade’.

VOLUNTEERS Needed!

We are looking to recruit representatives from the local community around Osterley Park to take part in creating a new display.

Each volunteer will need to attend one morning or evening session in April.

Volunteers will share stories about the cultural heritage of their ancestors or their own cross-cultural experience in the UK – for e.g. how their ancestors arrived in the UK, what their life would have been like, and how they remembered their homeland in South and Southeast Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma, China, Japan).

HIGHLIGHTS include:

An exciting behind-the-scenes tour of this glamorous House.
A personal photo portrait session with on site professional photographer and a brief audio interview.
The videos and photographs will appear in the exhibition space at Osterley Park on show between July and November 2013. They will also be published on our project website www.ucl.ac.uk/eicah.

Find Out MORE:

Find out more about how you, your family or members of your organisation can become involved by attending a no-obligation information meeting at 7pm on Thursday 21^st March at Osterley Park and House.

Please contact Dr. Yuthika Sharma or Dr. Kate Smith for more information or if you have any questions at: eicah@ucl.ac.uk or call us at 0207 6793621.

EICAH on Untold Lives blog

Kate Smith — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:35:10 +0000

The British Library’s latest post for their Untold Lives blog includes mention of a talk that Kate Smith gave as part of the British Library’s Readers’ Research event on 15 February. For those of you not familiar with the Untold Lives blog, its purpose is to bring to light some of the hidden stories contained within the collections of the British Library. Visit the blog now.

Unknown Object 3

Kate Smith — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:24:22 +0000

The chair is one of a pair in the collections of Kiplin Hall in Scorton, near Richmond, North Yorkshire. The chairs are listed in the 1882 inventory, which is the earliest surviving inventory for Kiplin Hall. They are listed as being situated in the Hall (now the Tea Room) and were described as ’2 very fine Indian arm chairs, richly inlaid with ivory, pearl and brass (1 knob damaged) More inlaid work. Slightly damaged in places’. The 1992 inventory describes them as: ‘one of two mid 18th century Goanese ebony and intarsia Savonarola chairs, the backs inlaid with diaperwork and figure of a 17th century lady and with slatted ogee supports and sledge feet’.

Learn more about the chair and how you can unravel its history, click here.