What can little-known stories tell us about British India?

1. What can little-known stories tell us about British India? L/O – To examine and illustrate in a graph how the British relationship with India changed between 1800-1897 Starter – Do you think that Indians enjoyed being ruled by British people?

2. The Story of Thomas Coryate • This is Thomas Coryate. You have probably never heard of him. He is not very famous and he did little to change history (except that he was the man who introduced the fork to Britain’s dining tables!) • He is typical of many people or events from the past whose little-known stories often remain hidden from history books.

3. The Story of Thomas Coryate • But Coryate did live a fascinating life. He was the son of a Somerset vicar and served for a while as a jester at the court of King James I. • He then surprised everyone by setting off on long walking tours of Europe and beyond. In 1612 he set off on his final and longest journey – to India.

4. The Story of Thomas Coryate • When Coryate reached India in 1615, he visited the court of the mighty Mughal emperor, Jahangir. • The emperor had recently allowed Englishmen to trade in his lands and so Coryate’s arrival was not entirely surprising.

5. The Story of Thomas Coryate • The emperor was rather puzzled by his strange visitor but gave him a few minutes of his time, lent him some money and then ignored him. • Even when Coryate preached Christianity from the MINARET of a mosque, the emperor did nothing! He – and many others – thought Coryate was slightly mad but harmless.

6. The Story of Thomas Coryate • No one could pretend that Thomas Coryate was of great importance in history, but historians still love to find out about people like him. • His story is fascinating in itself but it can also be used to sum up just how insignificant and harmless the British were to life in India at the start of the 17th century. • As time went by, the Indians discovered that the British were to be anything but insignificant in the history of their country!

7. Your Enquiry In each case you will need to make a ‘summary sheet’ which tells the main points of the story very simply and makes clear what is shows about the bigger picture: At the end of the enquiry you will take all your summaries and use them to make a display that tells the bigger story of a century of change. In the next two lessons you will use little-known stories to sum up changes in the relationship between the British and the Indians between 1800 and 1897.

8. The Story of the Prime Minister’s Granny Lord Liverpool

12. The Story of the Prime Minister’s Granny

13. The Statue’s Story Rammohan Roy

17. The Statue’s Story

18. The Great Hedge of India Story The Great Hedge

20. The Great Hedge of India Story

21. The Memsahib’s Story Miss Williams

25. The Memsahib’s Story

26. The MP’s Story Dadabhai Naoroji

29. The MP’s Story

30. Analysing the Changing Relationship • Create a large graph based on the one shown here. Place each summary sheet where you think it belongs on the graph. You will need to find the right date and then decide how good or bad the relationship between the British and the Indians was at that time. 2. Write an extended paragraph explaining how the relationship between the Indians and the British changed during this period.

31. Plenary • In which story was the relationship the best between Indians and the British? Why? • In which story was the relationship the worst between Indians and the British? Why? • What happened to the relationship over time? • Overall, did the Indians like being ruled by the British? Did we meet our learning objective? L/O – To examine and illustrate in a graph how the British relationship with India changed between 1800-1897