The Vellore mutiny of July 1806 occupies a rather enigmatic position in the history of British rule in India. It was a brief but extremely bloody episode. For a short time it appeared to threaten the military predominance of the East India Company in Bouth India, yet the threat died away quickly. This thesis attempts to resolve some of the mysteries which have subsequently surrounded the mutiny. Chapter I deals with the event itself. A detailed description is given of the events of 10 July 1806, drawing on first-hand accounts from a wide range of sources. The recapture of the fort by the British dragoons and the bloodshed which ensued is also discussed. Chapter 2 deals with the military background to the mutiny, citing previous examples of breaches of allegiance to the Company army by its sepoys and dealing in detail with the rejection by thf' sepoys at Vellore of a new pattern of turban in May 1806, three months prior to the mutiny itself. Chapter 3 examines the proceedings and findings of the three enquiries into the mutiny which were held by the authorities in Ivladras. Possible explanations for the different conclusions reached by these enquiries are discussed. Chapter 4 analyses the strength of the arguments which sought to place the blame for the mutiny either on the sons of Tipu Sultan, imprisoned at Vellore, or on the introduction of new dress regulations into the army. Evidence is adduced to argue that the underlying cause of the mutiny lay in the overall conditions of service of the Indian troops. Chapters 5 and 6 study the effects of the Vellore mutiny on the hadras government. The bitter division between the civil and military authorities over the causes of the mutiny is examined, as is the personal confrontation between the Governor, Lord William Bentinck, and the Commander-in-Chief, Sir John Cradock. In Chapter 7 the wide ranging effects and consequences of the mutiny are highlighted. Not only did the mutiny cause tremendous friction within the Madras government, it also deeply divided the Court of Directors in London and brought the debate on the ethics of missionary activity in India to the forefront of public attention o Chapter 8 looks at the way in which the Vellore mutiny was interpreted by some of its contemporaries both in India and in Britain and traces the way in which much of the public conception of the mutiny came to be based on gossip and rumour rather than on fact. In Chapter 9, attention is given to the historiography of the mutiny and it is argued that gossip and rumour also became built in to historical accounts of the mutiny. The effect of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 on interpretation of the Vellore mutiny is examined, along with the most recent contributions to its historiography.

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This thesis explores, through fictional storytelling, the cultural duality of individuals inhabiting Singapore prior to World War II. The primary locale in many of these stories-an actual residence known as Eu Villa-interconnects each narrative and helps to uncover the hybridization of a Chinese family (and servants) living in a British colony. Many of the stories are imparted from different perspectives: wives, children and amahs, each of them pieced together to bridge the space between Chinese heritage overlaid and intermixed with British culture. In this way, the stories of this thesis reflect on the history that preceded the distinct multiculturalism of contemporary Singapore.

Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region under “one country, two systems”, is also one region that have been under two different rulers, which returned to China 1997 after 150 years of British colonial rule. The purpose of this study is to examine if the democracy in Hong Kong differs between British and Chinese rule. The empirical material about Hong Kong will be analysed through civil society, political society and through the rule of law under British and Chinese governance. With 23 years each, from the period 1974-2020, and with a theoretical framework of criteria needed to fulfill a democracy, this study will reach a conclusion. Although the British and the Chinese had different ways of governing Hong Kong, they both received the same level of democracy. / Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, Umeå Universitet

In 1878, Britain occupied Cyprus to protect imperial interests in the Near East and India, interests, both strategic and economic, that Russian expansion threatened and Ottoman weakness undermined. By 1912, Cyprus had become a pawn. The island had not been converted into the strategic, economic or political base to protect and extend British interests in the Near East. The policy of 1878 had failed because it was perceived rather than actual benefits that underlay the imposition of British rule. / The primary aim of this study is to present Cyprus as a failed case of imperialism. Historians have traditionally claimed that Cyprus was a strategic asset within the British imperial structure throughout British rule (1878-1960). That notion is challenged for the first phase of British rule – from the occupation of Cyprus in 1878 to when it was annexed in 1914 and then offered to Greece in October 1915. The approach is to situate the island within the British imperial imagination, which will help to understand why the island was occupied, and then to situate it within the British imperial structure after it was occupied to determine its place, value and viability. Understanding British politics and imperial policy is vital when trying to grasp the complexities of the imperial imagination(s) and the role of Cyprus within the imperial structure. This dissertation will show that perceptions generate reality and inform policy and that often these perceptions are imagined and exaggerated and thus, not based on evidence or reality. / This study will show that the British perceived Cyprus within two competing imaginaries that were at the heart of an imagined European spiritual identity: the Christian/Crusader/Holy Land tradition and that of Ancient Greece. The first tradition helps to explain why Cyprus was occupied; understanding the second provides one of the main reasons why the British failed in their imperial venture in Cyprus. Many British Conservative politicians and those that knew the Near East, through their imagined view of the Holy Land and their travels, diplomatic and military careers, situated Cyprus within the first tradition. They considered it strategically vital to the Levant and beyond to Armenia and Mesopotamia. Liberal leaders perceived Cyprus to be apart of Europe and, more significantly, within the unitary ideal of Modern Greece that the British had fashioned in continuum of the unitary ideal of Ancient Greece. Although the identity of the Cypriots was complex, the British imposed – unwittingly – modernity on the Cypriots. / Ultimately, it was the latter imagination that became dominant and with the failure of Cyprus to have a place within imperial strategy, it became a pawn to be parted to Greece with.

The forests of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus, famous for their extent in antiquity, were described as severely damaged by misuse over the preceding centuries at the time of the British arrival on the island in 1878. The British colonial authorities sought to remedy this "degradation", and their success in doing so before their departure in 1960 has seldom been questioned. This dissertation examines this accepted history of the colonial period by utilizing archival, ethnographic, and physical data and focusing upon the British impact on the landscape as well as the relationship between the British authorities and the Cypriot people. This reappraisal suggests several points. The British approached the Cypriot forests with certain misunderstandings and misconceptions in 1878. They believed that the majority of the forested areas on the island were unregulated commons, which they were not. They further misread the landscape by assuming that its appearance, quite different from that of a humid and temperate biome, indicated degradation. Within these concerns of degradation, they misinterpreted the Cypriot rural economy by holding that shepherds and agriculturalists did not and could not mix. These misunderstandings of Mediterranean ecology, combined with prevailing ideas for good forest management and agricultural intensification, and hampered by inadequate budgets, resulted in policies that did not initially "return" the forests to any imagined state of past verdure, and may instead have been harmful in certain aspects. Yet the British officials did not behave according to traditional stereotypes of colonial rulers either. The actions of many of the colonial foresters were not solely driven by a desire for instant profit; instead the majority consistently attempted to maintain and ameliorate the forests both for indirect ecosystem benefits (which they recognized would be remunerative to the island as a whole, even if not immediately to the department) and direct benefits of timber production. The meticulous records in the archives display a concern with doing what was best for the forests and for the people, which inevitably led to conflicts as to what was "fair" for the forest and "fair" for the inhabitants, however defined. / text

In 1878, Britain occupied Cyprus to protect imperial interests in the Near East and India, interests, both strategic and economic, that Russian expansion threatened and Ottoman weakness undermined. By 1912, Cyprus had become a pawn. The island had not been converted into the strategic, economic or political base to protect and extend British interests in the Near East. The policy of 1878 had failed because it was perceived rather than actual benefits that underlay the imposition of British rule. / The primary aim of this study is to present Cyprus as a failed case of imperialism. Historians have traditionally claimed that Cyprus was a strategic asset within the British imperial structure throughout British rule (1878-1960). That notion is challenged for the first phase of British rule – from the occupation of Cyprus in 1878 to when it was annexed in 1914 and then offered to Greece in October 1915. The approach is to situate the island within the British imperial imagination, which will help to understand why the island was occupied, and then to situate it within the British imperial structure after it was occupied to determine its place, value and viability. Understanding British politics and imperial policy is vital when trying to grasp the complexities of the imperial imagination(s) and the role of Cyprus within the imperial structure. This dissertation will show that perceptions generate reality and inform policy and that often these perceptions are imagined and exaggerated and thus, not based on evidence or reality. / This study will show that the British perceived Cyprus within two competing imaginaries that were at the heart of an imagined European spiritual identity: the Christian/Crusader/Holy Land tradition and that of Ancient Greece. The first tradition helps to explain why Cyprus was occupied; understanding the second provides one of the main reasons why the British failed in their imperial venture in Cyprus. Many British Conservative politicians and those that knew the Near East, through their imagined view of the Holy Land and their travels, diplomatic and military careers, situated Cyprus within the first tradition. They considered it strategically vital to the Levant and beyond to Armenia and Mesopotamia. Liberal leaders perceived Cyprus to be apart of Europe and, more significantly, within the unitary ideal of Modern Greece that the British had fashioned in continuum of the unitary ideal of Ancient Greece. Although the identity of the Cypriots was complex, the British imposed – unwittingly – modernity on the Cypriots. / Ultimately, it was the latter imagination that became dominant and with the failure of Cyprus to have a place within imperial strategy, it became a pawn to be parted to Greece with.