Irish Raj: Names and figures

Rajah Thomas. George Thomas, author of Maharaja of Tipperary.
Set himself up as a Rajah in his own territory, eventually defeated by the British army. Fell in love with Begum Somru.

William Henry Tone, brotehr of Wolfe Tone, who left the East India company's army to serve Indian rulers. Eventually killed during the storming of a fort.

Lord and Lady Dufferin from County Down, Northern Ireland. Viceroy of India at the time Kipling was there -- they knew each other in Simla, and Lord Dufferin's son twice proposed marriage to Alice Kipling (Rudyard's sister). "I've always liked Irishmen, but I draw the line at marrying them!"

Lord Dufferin himself: "Unless some definite line is taken in these matters, we shall soon have something like a Home Rule organization established in India, on Irish lines under the patronage of Irish and Radical members of Parliament." (Irish Raj, 14)

Sister Nivedita, born Margaret Noble in Northern Ireland in 1867. Recruited by Swami Vivekananda, who wanted her in part because of the "Celtic blood". She converted to Hinduism after moving to India in 1898.

Swami Vivekananda: "Let me tell you frankly that I am now convinced that you have a great future in work for India. What is wanted is not a man, but a woman; a real lioness, to work for the Indians, women especially. India cannot yet produce great women, she must borrow them from other nations. Your education, sincerity, purity, immense love, determination and above all the Celtic blood, makes you just the woman wanted."

On the other hand, Vivekananda again: "You cannot form any idea of the misery the superstition, and the slavery that are there. You will be in the midst of a mass of half-naked men and women with quaint ideas of caste...shunning the white skin through fear or hatred and hated by them intensely...you will be looked by the white as a crank and your movements will be watched with suspicion."

Annie Besant.

First came to India in 1893. Associated with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophist movement, unfortunately. Still, she met Gandhi through it, in London in 1915 (Gandhi had joined the Theosophical Society).

[James Cousins, editor of "New India" a literary journal in the model of the Irish literary revival].

She founded in 1892, a college at Benaras, called the Central Hindu College. In 1916, it became Benaras Hindu University. According to Narinder Kapur:" At the time of its inauguration, she and Mahatma Gandhi both spoke from the same platform. She was actively involved in the Indian freedom movement. She was one of the originators of the Home Rule Movement in India, and she started this in 1916, soon after the Easter Rebellion in Ireland. In 1917 she was elected President of the Indian National Congress, the major political movement that was clamoring for Indian fredom." (Narinder Kapur, The Irish Raj, 23)

Amy Carmichael, worked with Devadasis in southern India. Founded a community with rescued girls, called Dohnavur.

Margaret Cousins. Founder of the All-India Women's confeence. Came to India partly inspired by Annie Besant, at a Theosophical Society meeting in London.

A Cricketing Prince Comes to Ireland: "Ranjitsinhji Vighaji, Maharajah Jam Saheb of Nawanagar." 1872-1933. From Sarodar, in the western Indian province of Kathiwar. Trinity College, Cambridge. Apparently a famous cricketer.

Eventually bought Ballynahinch Castle. (Today Ballynahinch Castle Hotel, on the road between Galway and Clifden). Did a lot of fishing at Ballynahinch.... Alan Ross's book about him: Ranji: Prince of Cricketers (1983)