Families in British India Society Open Meeting Sat 26th Oct 2026

The Families in British India Society Open Meeting will be held at the Union Jack Club near Waterloo Station on Saturday 26th October 2026. Intersting talks and a chance to get together with like minded people!

ALL WELCOME ADMISSION FREE

Programme for the Day

1000 – 1100 hrs: FIBIS BiteSize Presentations

• The Indian Police Service – Xandra Sherman

• British Library archival shelf-marks – Hedley Sutton.

• William Hickey’s Diary – Dr Richard Morgan

1100 – 1200 hrs: From Bengal to Balgonie: the girl from Calcutta who became a mill owner in late Georgian Scotland. Shankara Angadi. University of Warwick.

Hidden amongst the letters of Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras 1819-27 is the extraordinary story of Mary, his niece, born in 1786. Mary was illegitimate and mixed race, yet she married an aspiring engineer who established a flax spinning mill on the River Leven. This opened in 1807 as model workplace run on Owenist lines. It was a much tougher proposition than she expected, but her survival in business demonstrates what enterprising women could sometimes achieve at this time.

Shankara Angadi is a teacher, writer, musician and he established a not-for-profit community organisation with his wife. He is taking time out of a PhD at Warwick to complete a book about Mary which is due to be published by The History Press in Autumn 2027.

1200 – 1300 hrs: Lunch.

1300 – 1400 hrs: ‘Inhabitants of the Universe’: The Racialisation of English Families in the World of Asian Trade, 1600 – 1800. Dr David Veevers. Bangor University.

The story of the British Empire is a familiar one: Britain came, it saw, it conquered, forging a glorious world empire upon which the sun never set. In fact, far from being the tale of a single nation imposing its will upon the world, the British Empire found itself reshaped by the tenacious resistance of the powerful Indigenous and non-European people it encountered.

David Veevers is lecturer at Bangor University. His research is widely published and he has appeared on radio and television. His second book, ‘The Great Defiance: How the World Took on the British Empire’, became a Waterstone’s Best History Book in 2024.

1400 – 1500 hrs: Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Major (Retd) Paul Whittle TD.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway climbs 55 miles and 7,000ft into the foothills of the eastern Himalayas. Opened in 1881, it transformed the economy of the region and opened-up formerly remote part of North-East India. Its construction had used innovative engineering principles and continues to operate despite the changing climate, political unrest and at times inadequate commitment from those entrusted with running it.

Paul Whittle is the Vice Chairman of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society. In late 2018 he was a contributor in the Quest TV documentary series ‘How Trains Changed the World’.

*** Click HERE to register your intention to attend the meeting on the FIBIS website.***

[Names are required in advance by the Union Jack Club for security purposes ]

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