India In Edinburgh

Roger Jeffery in this book has brought together 10 original, well-researched and well-written essays which bring to life the presence of India in the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh. On the surface Edinburgh is a purely Scottish city: its 'India' past is not easily visible. Yet, from the late 17th century onwards, many of Edinburgh's young men and women were drawn to India. The city received back money and knowledge, sculpture and paintings, botanical specimens and even skulls! Colonel James Skinner, well-known for establishing Skinner's Horse, brought his sons to Edinburgh for their schooling. Though Sir Walter Scott visited India only in his imagination (and tried to stop his own sons going there) he crafted a dashing India tale involving Tipu Sultan. The money from India helped create Edinburgh's New Town, Edinburgh's internationally-renowned schools (whose former pupils careers ranged from tea-planters to Viceroys) and people who came to Edinburgh from India established Edinburgh's second women's medical college. There are many such hidden stories of Edinburgh's India connections. In this path-breaking book they are brought to life, using novel approaches to look at Edinburgh's past, to see it as an imperial city, a city for which India held a special place. Focusing on the interactions between individual lives, social networks and financial, material, cultural and social flows, leading experts from Edinburgh's history provide fascinating detail on how Edinburgh's links to India were formed and transformed. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

Roger Jeffery is Professor of Sociology of South Asia at the University of Edinburgh.

1. Introduction - India in Edinburgh: 1750s to the Present 2. The Benefits to Edinburgh and Leith from East India Company Connections: c. 1725-c. 1834 3. Orientalist collecting of Indian Sculpture 4. India associations in Scotland's National Galleries: From Tipu to the Trenches and Simla to Surrealism 5. A History of Indian collections at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh: In 22 Objects 6. The Skull Room: Craniological past of Edinburgh and India 7. Edinburgh Schools: Suppliers of Men for Imperial India in the long 19th century 8. Edinburgh University, the Indian Civil Service and the 'Competition-Wallahs' 9. Medical Education for Women in Edinburgh: The India Connection, 1869-1914 10. Afterword: An Indian in Edinburgh