Many histories have been written about the conflicts the British army was involved in between the Battle of Waterloo and the First World War. There are detailed studies of campaigns and battles and general accounts of the experiences of the soldiers. But this book by Anthony Dawson is the first to concentrate in depth, in graphic detail, on the experiences of the British cavalry during a century of warfare. That is why it is of such value. It is also compelling reading because it describes, using the words of the cavalrymen of the time, the organization, routines, training and social life of the cavalry as well as the fear and exhilaration of cavalry actions. Perhaps the most memorable passages record the drama and excitement of cavalry charges and the brutal, confused, often lethal experience of close-quarter combat in a melee of men and horses. Few books give such a direct inside view of what it was like to serve in the British cavalry during the nineteenth century.

This fascinating volume reproduces the letters and journal of Lady Susan Ramsay (1837-1898), the elder daughter of the Marquess of Dalhousie, Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856. The correspondence was written over a two-year period: commencing with Susan’s positive response to her father’s request that she join him in Calcutta, following the death of her mother; and concluding with Susan’s arrival with her father at Southampton. Lady Susan was still only 17 when she arrived in India, and was therefore the youngest person to take up the role of vicereine of India. Her letters and journal represent the unique viewpoint of a highly intelligent, witty, articulate and unprejudiced young woman expressed from locations that range from Osborne on the Isle of Wight to Seringapatam in Mysore. The detail, maturity and inventive quality of her writing invites comparison with that of Emily Eden, Emily Metcalfe, Charlotte Canning and other prominent early Victorian women. Accompanied by extensive introductions and annotations by Ross Nelson, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of Imperial History.

It began as a small, slow, and unadorned sailing vessel—in a word, ordinary. Later, it was a weary workhorse in the age of steam. But the story of the Edwin Fox reveals how an everyday merchant ship drew together a changing world and its people in an extraordinary age of rising empires, sweeping economic transformation, and social change. This fascinating work of global history offers a vividly detailed and engaging narrative of globalization writ small, viewed from the decks and holds of a single vessel. The Edwin Fox connected the lives and histories of millions, though most never even saw it. Built in Calcutta in 1853, the Edwin Fox was chartered by the British navy as a troop transport during the Crimean War. In the following decades, it was sold, recommissioned, and refitted by an increasingly far-flung constellation of militaries and merchants. It sailed to exotic ports carrying luxury goods, mundane wares, and all kinds of people: not just soldiers and officials but indentured laborers brought from China to Cuba, convicts and settlers being transported from the British Empire to western Australia and New Zealand—with dire consequences for local Indigenous peoples—and others. But the power of this story rests in the everyday ways people, nations, economies, and ideas were knitted together in this foundational era of our modern world.

Chandernagore, a former French possession near Kolkata, has experienced several changes in fortune, moving from being the hub of revolutionary activities against British imperialists to being subjugated by the French. Utilizing diverse original sources from India and France, as well as the private papers of Debendra Nath Dash, a key figure in Chandernagore politics, this book examines the unfolding events in the struggle of the people of Chandernagore against French colonial rule. It situates the events within the broader context of other French settlements--Pondicherry, Karaikal, Mahe, and Yanam--with Pondicherry being pivotal to French imperialism in India. The struggle against French tutelage was fought in a non-violent manner through a process of negotiations that led to a peaceful referendum in 1949, the first of its kind in India. This book is a ground-breaking research work on Chandernagore--a town on which there is still little published material available--and provides important scholarship in the field of the history of West Bengal.