After the Battle of Plassey

After Siraj ud-Daulah (1729 – July 2, 1757), Mir Jafar became Nawab of Bengal. He was an English servant in the disguise of a nawab.

Nawab Siraj’s defeat in the Battle of Plassey (June 1757) gave the company a wonderful opportunity to earn a lot of money. A huge amount of money was distributed among the soldiers and officers of the company. Clive got a jaagir as a reward of his services. The subalterns (junior officers) of the army also received money. Mir Jafar was with the company and giving these huge rewards could become possible only because of his contribution and corporation.

After this beneficial experience, the British realised the advantage of having an agent (nawab) who could fulfil their requirements while remaining in the government.

Later on, when Mir Jafar failed to fulfil the demands of the company, the authorities dismissed him and made Mir Qasim the new nawab. And similarly, when Mir Qasim failed to satisfy the company, he too was dethroned. During this process of the replacements of the nawabs, the company made a lot of money for itself and its servants received thousands of pounds in the form of gifts and bribe.

Battle of Buxar (1764)

When Mir Qasim got fed up of the company’s exploitation, he decided to fight the British with the help of Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II and Shuja-ud-Daula, Nawab of Awadh. In 1764, two armies met at Buxar in which the company defeated the combined forces of these three rulers.

It was the battle of Buxar that finally decided the political domination of the company and, according to the treaty of 1765, the company also got the right to collect revenue on behalf of the nawab’s administration. But this system was complicated because the administration was in the hand of the nawab so the company became a shareholder of the nawabi system and the nawab lost his control on the financial matters of the state. As a result, the company’s army got a hold on Bengal’s resources and the profit made from trade was sent to England.

Nobab (nawab)

The servants of the company, who returned to England after accumulating wealth from India, bought land and built splendid palaces in England. They decorated their houses from Indian furniture and put Indian antiquities on display. By showing off such stuff, the British wanted to prove their relations with India. To get included in the Britain’s elite class, they purchased high-value properties; and to become the Member of Parliament, they purchased constituencies where they could easily win the election. The old elite class of England began to hate the ‘newly-rich’ class and sarcastically called them ‘nobab’ (nawab).

One of the nobles also commented on the newly-formed elite class of England that they didn’t belong to the classic elite of England, they could never be included in the elite English society and also that the positions they had obtained after becoming the Member of Parliament was due to the wealth they had accumulated by deceiving Indian rulers and government — they had brought money which they earned through wrong means and therefore they could not compete with the elegant British people. Despite old aristocracy’s criticism, the social climbers became an influential class in English politics and business.