About the Book
The Honourable East India Company was once described as “The Greatest Society of Merchants in the Universe”. In its heyday it controlled half the world’s trade and its armed forces exceeded those of most sovereign states. Accounts of its ships, the battles it fought, the conquests it made and the political shenanigans it was involved in have been the subject of many books. The operation of the Company at ground floor level is much less well known and this book fills an important gap.
Throughout the Company’s history, the island of St Helena, strategically placed within the south easterly trade winds in the mid Atlantic ocean, was a vital stopover point for the thousand ships that returned from the east each year. So important was the island to the Company that, at huge cost, its natural precipitous cliffs were fortified with batteries of artillery and permanently garrisoned with a regiment of soldiers.
In1834, the Company’s Charter was up for renewal. The loss of the Company’s monopolies had resulted in its financial position reaching a parlous state and one outcome of this was a decision to allow the sovereignty of St Helena to revert to the Crown. To this end the government sent out two Commissioners of Inquiry to investigate how the island was run under the Company rule and how costs could be reduced to make it self supporting - a task that has eluded governments up to the present time. This book is a transcription of the Commissioners report. Its value lies in the detail it reveals of how the island was administered – the Commissioners talked to all the department heads probing what they did, why they did it, how much it cost and how costs could be reduced. Although relating to St Helena, these inner workings of the Company would not have been unique to the island but typical of many of the Company’s outposts. The result is a fascinating study of life of those men who, at a practical level, lived and worked under the East India Company’s rule.
The transcription and editing has been a project undertaken on behalf of the Friends of St Helena – a Society founded in 1988 to provide information about St Helena, including its history, culture, environment and current affairs; and to provide practical support to the St Helenian community. For further details including membership see: http://sthelena.uk.net
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Andrew Gurr, Governor of St Helena 2007-2011, I; Note on Sources: iii
Obituary of Henry Rowland Brandreth: iv; Imperial units/Note on transcription: vi;
First page of the 1834 Act: vii; The two Commissioners Reports: viii; Sample page from the Report …a precarious livelihood…: ix; Map of St Helena: x
Covering letter to first report: St Helena 15 December 1834: 1.
First Report:
Civil Establishment, 7; Plantation, 8; Council, 9; Departmental Secretary, 10; Printing Dept., 11; Accountant, 11; Storekeeper, 12; Paymaster, 12, Civil etc not attached, 12; Chinese Est., 13; Emancipation Dept., 14; Marine Dept., 14; Register Master, 15; Silk manufactory, 15; School Est.., 15; Savings Bank, 16; Church Est., 17; Judicial, 18, Police, 19; Clerk of the Market, 21; Post Office, 21; Miscellaneous, 21.
Military establishment, 23; General Staff, 24; Town Major’s Dept., 24; Garrison QM, 25; Commissary Military Stores, 25; Medical Dept., 26; Hospital, 26; Public Works, 26; Observatory, 27; Military Inst., 27; Telegraph Dept., 27; Repairs, 27; Artillery, 28; Engineer Dept., 28; Infantry, 28; Military (pay), 29; Pensions, 31; Civil Pensions, 32.
General Description of the Island: 34.
Second Report: 47.
Revenue and Expenditure, 48; Schedule, 59; Licences, 60; Public Property, 61; Trade, 76.
Illustrations: 83-92 Jamestown from the sea, the wharf, The Dallas arms over the arch, Castle and wharf, St James’ Church, Lower Jamestown, Castle yard, Plantation House, Ladder Hill road, The Malabar, the Cannister and the Market, The Castle, St James’ Church, Jamestown prison, Ladder Hill corner, Mainstreet, Castle and Jacob’s Ladder, Top of Jacob’s Ladder.
Appendix 1: Court letter to the Governor and Council 1828, 93
Appendix 2: Questions submitted to the public functionaries of St Helena by the Commissioners of Enquiry with the answers thereto:
Governor and Council, 103; Grand juries, 108; Petit jury, 109; Summary court or Police court, 112; Sheriff, 114; Clerk of the Peace, 116; Coroners, 117; Police officers, 117; Bailiffs, 117; Existing establishment, 118; Departmental Secretary, 120; Clerk of the Treasury, 121; Superintendent of the Printing Press, 122; Accountant, 122; Storekeeper, 125; Form of Requisition, 126; Paymaster, 129; Chinese, 130; Emancipation, 132; Memorandum, 139; Marine Department, 140; Register Masters Department, 143; Silk Manufactory, 142; Reverend Mr Brooke, Church school and charitable establishments, 143; Thomas H Brooke Esq., 150; Head school, 151; Second school, 152; Town girls day school, 152; Plantation day school, 153; Plantation girls school, 153; Sandy Bay Sunday school, 153; Hutts Gate Sunday school, 154; High Peak Sunday school, 154; Evening school in town, 154; Hutts Gate girls school, 154; The Town School of Industry, 154; State of the schools 1 December 1834, 156; Salaries and allowances from the St Helena Benevolent Society to the masters, mistresses and assistants of the Lower schools, 157; Abstract of the school expenses from 1814 to 1834, 158; Charitable institutions TH Brooke, 158; Board's resolution, 162; Benevolent Society, 163; Savings Bank, 163; St Helena Benefit Society, 163; St Helena Annuity Fund, 164; Table A - Treasurer in a/c with the Widows and Orphans Fund, 167; Table C - Account current of the St Helena Benevolent Society, 168; Table E - Memo of St Helena Savings Bank, 169; Table F - The Benefit Society, 170; Table H - Memo of the St Helena Annuity Fund, 171.
Appendix 3: An account of the expenditure of the civil, ecclesiastical, judicial and military departments on the St Helena establishment for the year ending 22nd April 1834; prepared from the books of the Accountant and Auditor. Together with the future establishment as proposed by the Commissioners of Enquiry, 188
Appendix 4: Abstract of the white inhabitants employed in the Honourable Company’s Service following fixed occupations with their families, 182.
Appendix 5: Abstract of free men of colour on the Island of St Helena showing their trades or occupations with their families, 189.
Appendix 6: Abstract of population on the Island St Helena from the year 1804 to 1834, 190.
Appendix 7: General abstract of the population of St Helena 1834, 191.
Appendix 8: Return of a number of paupers receiving telief from the parish of St Helena for the years ending 22 April, 192.
Appendix 9: A return of all persons holding one or more civil, judicial or ecclesiastical Offices in the Island of St Helena distinguishing each office, the age and length of service of the holder, the amount of salary, fees, emoluments or other allowances, whether entitled, to retired allowance and to what amount, under the Company’s regulations, whether provided with an official residence, furniture or unfurnished, 193.
Appendix 10: Chinese establishment, 203.
Appendix 11: Statement of Chinese free settlers in the Island St Helena February 1835, 209.
Appendix 12: Return of civil trials at the St Helena Quarter Sessions during the last five years - commencing October 1829 and ending October 1834, 212.
Appendix 13: Return of number and nature of offences brought before the police magistrates during the last five years - commencing October 1829 and ending October 1834, 213.
Appendix 14: General return of schools, 214.
Appendix 15: Salaries and allowances from the St Helena Benevolent Society to the masters, mistresses and assistants of the lower schools, 216.
About the Author :
Henry Rowland Brandreth was born in Southampton in 1794. He went to the Academies of Marlow and Woolwich, at both of which he passed early and brilliant examinations. On receiving his commission, he served for the usual period at Chatham, and subsequently on the Survey in England, and was then sent on service to North America and to the West Indies. He then became Military Secretary to Sir Charles Maxwell, Governor of the Leeward Islands, where he was remembered for the energy, tact, and benevolence, with which he fulfilled the duties of that office.
In 1825 he was sent to Antigua, to erect iron barracks for resisting the hurricanes; but when, on arrival, he discovered that the plans furnished him were not suited to the locality, and were not calculated for the precise service, he ventured to construct buildings from his own plans, which obtained the approbation of the authorities, and completely answered the purpose for which they were intended.
In 1829 he was employed at the Island of Ascension, to report to the Admiralty on the defence of the island, the means of accommodation for troops, the facilities for procuring water from the mountain districts, the actual state of the cultivation, the encouragement necessary to raise stock and vegetables for the ships of war touching there, and on the general prospects of the islands as a colony.
His reports were so satisfactory, that they induced, in a great degree, his subsequent appointment as Civil Engineer and Architect to the Admiralty. He also embraced the opportunity of contributing to the Transactions of the Geographical Society a paper upon the formation of Ascension Island.
Between the years 1831 and 1836 he was employed as a Commissioner under the Boundary Act; was present at the siege of Antwerp, of which he wrote an account; and by command of H. M. William IV, read the notes to him at a private audience; revised the boundary of the borough of Hertford; was the Commissioner for reforming the establishment of St. Helena; was a Commissioner under the Municipal Corporation Act, for settling the boundaries of towns in England and in Ireland, and was finally engaged in an inquiry into the mode of providing prisons for convicts in Ireland, and in remodelling the mode of transportation.
In the beginning of 1837 he commenced the duties of Director of Works to the Admiralty, which post soon became very arduous and important, as new works of magnitude were demanded by the exigencies of the service; and the zeal and talent he displayed in rendering available every improvement in science, and in obtaining the best advice and assistance of eminent men in every profession, are attested by the works at all the Royal Dockyards and Naval Arsenals, and the satisfactory reports from the Commissions of which he formed part.
In 1838-9 he was offered, by Lord Glenelg, the Government of South Australia which however he declined.
In 1846 he resigned his position under the Admiralty, when their Lordships, in according their last testimony of approbation, stated they could not use more fitting terms, than those employed by the two previous Boards of Admiralty, under which he had served, namely, 'that the public never had a more useful or a more meritorious servant.'
In 1847 he received his promotion as Lieutenant-Colonel, having been previously named one of the Commissioners of the Railway Board.
In this position, as at the Admiralty, he was continually in communication with Civil Engineers, and the urbanity and unruffled temper with which he performed his duties induced the esteem and respect of every one.
He was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1838, and was always ready to contribute in any way to its success.
In private life his benevolence and ready sympathy for distress endeared him to all his friends, who admired him for his cultivated literary taste and acquirements; his mind was filled and regulated by Christian faith and principle, and his decease, which occurred suddenly from the rupture of a blood-vessel on the brain, on the 20th of February, 1848, created a vacancy which will not soon be adequately filled.
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Rowland_Brandreth
Little is to be discovered about Edward Walpole other than that he was a Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and received an additional stipend for making out the East India Company accounts. He retired in 1843 through ill health and died, fourteen years later, aged sixty six on 31 October 1857.
