British Indian Association - British India Society

British India Society

The British India Society was set up in 1839 in England primarily as a result of the efforts of William Adam, who had come to India and befriended Ram Mohan Roy. On his return to England he took up India’s cause. Others involved were George Thompson, William Ednis, and Major General Briggs. They organised meetings and enlightened people about conditions in India. In 1841, it started publishing a newspaper named British Indian Advocate, edited by William Adam

In 1842, Dwarkanath Tagore went to England, accompanied by Chandramohan Chatterjee and Paramananda Maitra,. It was the second visit abroad by educated Indians and the first since that of Ram Mohan Roy. Dwarkanath Tagore returned from England with George Thomson. His oratory charmed everybody and drew in Young Bengal members such as Ramgopal Ghosh, Tarachand Chakrabarti and Peary Chand Mitra.

As a result of the efforts of George Thompson the Bengal British India Society was founded on 20 April 1843. The object of the society was to secure the welfare, and advance the interests of all classes, but it would “adopt and recommend such measures only as are consistent with pure loyalty to the person and government of the reigning sovereign of the British dominions.”

Its first executive committee consisted of four Europeans and eleven Indians with George Thompson as President, GF Remfry and Ramgopal Ghosh as Vice-Presidents, Peary Chand Mitra as Secretary. The members on the committee were Tarachand Chakrabarti, Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, Brojonath Dhar, Krishna Mohan Banerjee, Hari Mohan, Govind Chandra Sen, Chandra Sekhar Deb, Shyama Charan Sen and Satkari Datta. There were people like Ramtanu Lahiri, also associated in some way.

In 1849, John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune prepared drafts of certain legislative efforts aimed at bringing the British-born subjects of the crown under the jurisdiction of the British East India Company, but the Europeans named these bills the Black Acts and opposed them tooth and nail. This opposition led Indians to think that their fortunes were not linked to those of the Europeans and that they needed associations of Indians to take care of their interests. Moreover, some changes were anticipated with the possible termination of the Company’s charter. Ramgopal Ghosh and Digamber Mitra played a particularly significant role in the formation of the British Indian Society.