SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This is a study of the social policies of the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, as Commissioner in the Deccan (1817 - 1819) and as Governor of Bombay (1819 - 1827), and of the social changes connected with them. By way of epilogue there is a short survey of the ways in which Elphinstone's policies were continued under his successor, Sir John Malcolm (1827 1830). Some of Elphinstone's policies were devised in response to social changes resulting from the overthrow of the Peshwa's Government and the establishment of the British in its place. Others were devised to serve ends which British administrators elsewhere in India also had in mind. Both are studied in this thesis. Throughout, special attention is paid to the ideas by which Elphinstone was moved. Extensive use has been made Loth of the Company's records and of the private papers of Mountstuart Elphinstone. A short analysis of the contents of this latter collection is attached as an Appendix and may be of use to future students. The private papers of Sir John Malcolm and of Lord William Bentinck and the records of the Church Missionary Society have also been used.