‘Beastial Communications’: Race, Friendship and Factionalism in the Madras Army, 1832–1837
Journal: Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
Year: 2025

Abstract Historians of empire have long been interested in how interpersonal relationships between coloniser and colonised did or did not conform to imperial ideologies. Yet, the relationships that developed between European and Indian officers in the East India Company’s armies remain underexplored. This is an important omission, because the armies employed thousands of people and represented a significant point of cross-cultural contact, while also being governed by a distinct set of rules and