No. 24 East India Company

Description

The East India Company was an English joint-stock company founded in 1600  formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong after the First Opium War, and maintained trading posts and colonies in the Persian Gulf Residencies. It was headquartered in a large imposing building in Leadenhall Street in the heart of the City of London (see image attached). The company rose to account for half of the world’s trade during the mid-1700’s and early 1800’s, particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions.   There were both London based employees and retirees from India and the other outposts of the Company who had returned to England who provided the manpower for this Volunteer Association. Given that the Company had its own Army and Navy there would have been no shortage of suitable trained soldiers to join the ranks of the Volunteers.