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India for the Working Classes: The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of UsefulKnowledgeAuthor(s): Ian J. BarrowReviewed work(s):Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 38, No. 3 (Jul., 2004), pp. 677-702Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3876686 .

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ModernAsian Studies 38, 3 (2004), pp. 677-702. ? 2004 Cambridge University PressDOI: 10.1017/S0026749X03001112 Printed in the United Kingdom

India or the WorkingClasses:TheMapsof theSocietyor theDiffusionof UsefulKnowledgeIAN J. BARROWMiddlebury ollege

This paper examines the maps of India published under thesupervision of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge(SDUK) during the 183os and 1840s.1 The Societywas established inLondon in late 1826 to educate poor adults and the working classesin a variety of intellectual and practical subjects. It published anencyclopaedia, a magazine and a series of monographs, including abook on The Hindoos.But it also published, in instalments, an atlasthat featured India in twelve sheets together with a detailed mapof Calcutta. The maps were first issued in the 183os and reissued adecade later. The India maps of the SDUK are the first multi-sheetmaps that were sold explicitly for non-elite British audiences and,as such, are of great interest. Moreover, they were among the mostdetailed, well-drawn maps generally available, and were sometimeseagerly sought-after.A close examination of the maps- their symbols,names, regions and perspectives - reveals how the Company's Indianempire was depicted, described, taught and made 'useful' to theworking classes.The SDUK map project was more than a geography lesson. AsJ. B. Harley has reminded us, maps are not mirrors of topography,but cultural texts, or re-descriptions of the social and political world.Embedded in their signs are clues as to how the map makerviewed theworld-what he felt was important,what prioritieshe established,what

1I would like to thank Manu Goswami, Erik Bleich and Douglas Haynes forcomments on earlier drafts. Participants in the workshop 'South Asia: 1780-1840,'held at Dartmouth College, provided helpful suggestions. My thanks to them. Ialso thank Megan Battey for taking the photographs of the maps. The researchfor this paper was funded by a Faculty Professional and Development Fund grantfrom Middlebury College. Finally, I am grateful to the staff at the University College,LondonArchives for all their help.oo26-749X/04/$7.50+ $o. 1o

677


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678 IAN J. BARROWvalues he chose to insert into the map.2 The Society's maps representedIndia as a colonial possession and raise three questions regardingthe importance of the Indian empire for the British working classes.The first question focuses on how India was depicted as a colony.What indications, signs, references or illustrations in the maps explainIndia's political, military and economic subordination? Furthermore,what elements within the maps indicate that India was part of alarger British empire? An examination of the SDUK's cartographiccharacterization of colonial rule may provide insight into how theempire was understood within Britain and how the empire was thoughtto be significant.The second question asks whether the maps contributed to thecreation of a British national identity. Recent scholarship has argued,quite convincingly, that beginning at least in the mid-eighteenthcentury and lasting until the third quarter of the twentieth centuryBritish identity was fashioned, in part, from its colonial experiences.Empire helped to make or 'forge', to use Linda Colley's term, Britishnational identity.3 What role might the SDUK's maps of BritishIndia have played in the construction of a British (imperial) nationalidentity? Were the maps sufficiently well-made and well received tohave an influence in the making of such an identity?The third question examines whether the SDUK maps of theBritish Indian empire were successful in appealing to a workingclass readership. Who read the maps and why? British identity andBritain's relationship with its empire changed over the eighteenthand nineteenth centuries. One of the significant transformations thatoccurred in the nineteenth century was that Britain developed adistinct class consciousness. The Society targeted the working classesand was one of the first middle and upper class institutions to interestthem in the empire and suggest to them that national identity involvedpossessing an empire. By shedding light on popular conceptions ofIndia during the late Company period this paper proposes an eraduring which the mass popularisation of an Indian empire began. TheSDUK maps helped to make the empire visible to the working classes,who were invited to participate vicariously in its possession.

2 Many of Harley's best essays are collected in:J. B. Harley, The New Nature ofMaps:Essays in the History of Cartography(Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press,2001).

3 Linda Colley, Britons:Forging the nation, I707-183 7 (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1992)-


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 679The Aims of the SDUK

The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was establishedin November 1826 under the leadership of Henry Brougham (1778-1868), a prominent Whig politician and reformer. At a time whenthere was great social unease within Britain, the SDUK was organizedaround the central notion that the dissemination of useful knowledge,through the publication of cheap books and maps, would help fosterand organize a new working class community and awareness thatwould ultimately enhance moral behaviour and advance politicalpeace. As Brougham said regarding utilitarian education, 'the peaceof the country and the stability of the government, could not be moreeffectually secured than by the universal diffusion of this kind ofknowledge.'4 At its outset the Society stated that its object was toimpart 'useful information to all classes of the community,particularlyto such as are unable to avail themselves of experienced teachers,or may prefer learning by themselves.'" Many leading members ofthe Society were Utilitarians, Malthusians and Whigs, and theirphilosophy on the role of education and charity was reflected in theaims of the Society.From its inception the Society embarked upon an ambitiouspublication programthat would both engage and instruct on practicalmatters. In the words of the man in charge of the map project, theSociety wished to impart 'philosophy enough for the ignorant andamusement enough for the learned.'6 Brougham himself advocatedtreatises on scientific subjects that were both sufficiently detailed toprovideinstruction and sufficientlyabbreviatedso as not to discouragereaders whose time was otherwise occupied by wage labour.7 In his

4 H. Brougham, PracticalObservationsponthe education f thepeople,addressedo theworking lasses ndtheiremployersLondon:Richard Taylor, 1825), 5-5 Quoted in Harold Smith, TheSocietyor theDiffusionof UsefulKnowledge, 826-1846:A Social andBibliographicalvaluation London:The Vine Press, 1974), 56. Oneof Brougham's biographers suggests that Brougham thought that 'all knowledge'was useful. To a certain extent this may be true, but, judging from the works thatwere published, Brougham and the SDUK seemed to prefer to disseminate practical,factual and scientific information. Ronald K. Hutch, Henry,LordBrougham: heLaterYears, 83 o-i868 (Lewiston:The EdwinMellen Press, 1993), 27. Brougham'sinterestin practical information is suggested in other biographies. See, for example, GeorgeHarris,Memoir fLordBroughamLondon:Butterworths, 1868), 3.6 University College, London Archives: Society for the Diffusion of UsefulKnowledge (hereafter SDUK) Beaufort to Coates, March 23, 1829.7 Brougham,PracticalObservations,.


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68o IANJ. BARROWinfluential pamphlet, Objects,Advantages,and Pleasuresof Science, whichwas published by the SDUK, Brougham explicitly stated that sciencemeans knowledge, 'and in its ordinary sense means Knowledgereducedto a system;that is, arranged in a regular order so as to be convenientlytaught, easily remembered, and readily applied.'8 The publicationof maps became a core project for the SDUK precisely becausetopography could be reduced to a system and taught as the science ofcartography. The cartographic depiction of the British empire alsoconformed to a system: British territories, for example were colouredred or numbered one. The Society's maps made the British Indianempire seem uniform and regular. For a Society primarily concernedwith the education and pacification of the working classes, thesupposed regularity of the empire made it a useful pedagogicalsubject.The Society's twenty-year publication record is impressive. The firstproject that the SDUK undertook was a Library of Useful Knowledge(1827-1846), consisting of volumes that 'were to be manuals for self-education - clear, accurate, but not to be mastered without diligenceand perseverance.'9 Although the Librarywas considered the flagshippublication project, it was quickly recognized that less technical andesoteric reading material was needed for those who had little time. TheSociety therefore began publishing the LibraryofEntertainingKnowledge(1829-1838), issued in half volumes at two shillings each, which wasto provide 'as much entertaining matter as can be given along withuseful knowledge, and as much knowledge as can be conveyed in anamusing form.'l" An example of entertaining knowledge wasJ. A. St.John's TheHindoos (1834/5). The SDUK also published The Quarterly

Journal of Education (1831-1835), and The Penny Magazine (1832-1845),11 which had an initial success, evidenced by its circulationof 200,000, which was three times that of the Society for PromotingChristian Knowledge's magazine and ten times that of the PoorMan'sGuardian." As with all of the Society's publications, the target audience8 Henry Brougham, Objects,Advantages,and PleasuresofScience, in TheAmericanLibraryof UsefulKnowledge (Boston: Stimpson and Clapp, 1831), 139-140.9 Charles Knight, Passages of a WorkingLife During Half a Century:With a Prelude of

Early Reminiscences,Vol. II, (London: Bradbury & Evans, 1864), 56.10 Arthur Aspinall, Lord Brougham and the Whig Party (Manchester: The UniversityPress, 1927), 233-" For a history of the PennyMagazine see Patricia Anderson, ThePrintedImage and theTransformation fPopular Culture, 1790- z86o (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991), 50-83.12Robert Stewart, Henry Brougham, 1778-1869: His Public Career (London: TheBodley Head, 1986), 193.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 681for the PennyMagazinewas the working man, and many of the themesof the articles in the early 183os focused on temperance, self-helpand industriousness.13In order to justify he non-technical nature ofmany of the pieces, the editor explained!that 'the popular mind iscomposed...of the busy and even of the" dle, who are anxious tostore their minds with facts, but at the least expense of study andresearch.'14Soon after the PennyMagazinewas first issued, the Societypublished ThePennyCyclopaedia1833-1846), which began well, with acirculation of 75,000, but the numbers droppedto 2o,ooo towards theend of its run.15 The final SDUK projectwas the ambitiousBiographicalDictionarywhich was soon abandoned after its launch in 1842, havingonly covered the letter 'A'. Its enormous expense bankrupted theSociety and forced it to cease operations.While a large number of works were written and disseminated atrelatively little cost to the purchaser, historians have noted that thevast range of publications also reveals a lack of thematic focus andan indeterminacy regarding the limits of the projects that proved tobe a recurrent source of irritation for subscribers and purchasers.Nevertheless, the founding of the SDUK came at a time when it waspossible to publish maps and books cheaply and in large quantitiesfor a 'workingclass' readership. The height of its success came in the1830s, preciselywhen the Indiamapswere published.During this timethe Society could print a little over 1500 maps per week and, usingnew steam powered presses, it could publish far more books than hadpreviouslybeen the case.16Moreover,this was a time when the workingclasses were active in their own self-education, through magazinepurchases or attending Mechanics Institutes.'7 With an increasingworkingclass readership and a new ability to disseminate informationcheaply, the SDUK entered the market at an opportune time.

The SDUK Map ProjectAmongst its many publications and projects, the SDUK did reveala general interest in India. As mentioned, the Society published

13 Anderson, ThePrinted mage,56-57-14 ThePenny Magazine (Monthly Supplement), December 31, 1836, 514-15 Stewart,HenryBrougham, 93.16 University College London, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge[SDUK], Baldwin to Coates, September 6, 1830.17 Jonathan Rose, TheIntellectualLife of theBritishWorkingClasses New Haven andLondon:Yale University Press, 2oo001),especially Chapter Two.


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682 IANJ. BARROWa book on Hindus, and they occasionally featured articles aboutIndia in the Penny Magazine, as well as long entries in the PennyCyclopaedia.'8 Moreover, James Mill was a leading figure on theSociety's Committee.19 However, except for the map project, theSociety's interest in India was never comprehensive or fully sustained.There were chances to publish several histories of India, but theywere never sanctioned by the Society.20 There were also half-heartedattempts to establish corresponding societies in Calcutta,21 and someof the Society's books were translated into Indian languages, notablyinto Gujarati and Marathi, but the Society's interests were, by andlarge, limited to the education of a domestic audience.22 It was only inthe map project that India featured prominently.

18 See, for example, an article on 'The East India Company' in the March 1, 1834edition of the Penny Magazine (pages 84-86). The October 11, 1834 edition (pages399-400) has a piece on Indian rivers that is extracted from the LibraryofEntertainingKnowledge'svolume on TheHindoos.19Although Mill was a prominent figure in the Society during its early years, itseems that Brougham was predominant. In his memoirs Charles Knight provides afascinating insight into the power of Brougham's vision and his charismatic demeanor.Mill would often listen to Brougham 'with marked attention.' 'It always appeared tome,' Knight wrote, 'a signal tribute to the intellectual eminence of the great orator,that the writer who, of all others, aimed most at terseness and perspicuity, shouldexhibit such deference to one whose reputation was built upon broader foundationsthan logical profundity or metaphysical subtlety. Yet so it was.' Knight, Passages,Vol. 2, 119.20 For example, in 1831 J. Fletcher of Lisson Grove proposed a 'Sketch of theHistory of British India' to be written in three Numbers. (SDUK, J. Fletcher toCoates, 28 (2) 1831). In 1834 Captain G. Proctor also suggested a 48o-page book,'History of the British Power in India'. In his letter Proctor mentions that he has 'beenreconnoitering the ground of this proposed subject, with the aid of old Dow, Orme,Mill, Malcolm and other standard writers, and have quite made up my mind that,within our limits and the Society's views of instruction for the many in a shape atonce useful and popular, it would be quite in vain to enter into the details of IndianHistory preceding the establishment of the English Company. For general readersthose details are most hopelessly void of all interest.'(SDUK, Proctor to Coates,July 20o, 1834.) The Publications Committee declined the proposal nine days later. Ayear later the Committee also declined to publish a manuscript submitted by a Mrs.Bush, entitled 'Peep into Calcutta'. (SDUK, Publications Committee,July 29, 1834;May 12, 1835.)

21 SDUK, Genl. Committee Minutes, Thursday 8July 1830 (p. 39 of Book II). TheMinutes also mention that the Society permitted Sir Edward Ryan to publish SDUKmaterials in India 'in such a way as he shall think most beneficial to the natives ofIndia.'22 See, for example, George Jervis' Marathi translation of Henry Brougham's TheObjects,Advantages,and Pleasuresof Science (Bombay, 1829). He also translated the bookinto Gujarati.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 683The map publication program began as a way to supplementits Libraryof UsefulKnowledge,23ut it rapidly became a large-scaleendeavor in its own right.24It was an integral part of Brougham'sefforts 'to slake that thirst of knowledgewhich forms the most gloriouscharacteristic of the age.'25The Societywanted to attractworkingclassreaders to the subject of geography by providing them with relativelyinexpensive, high quality, detailed multi-sheet maps.The Society's maps of India filled a void. Important maps of Indiahad been published, such as James Rennell's A BengalAtlas (1780and 1781) and his map of Hindoostan (1782), but these and otherdetailed maps were generally intended for a limited readership,including Company servants or those interested in the parliamentaryinquiries into the Company'saffairs.Evenby the 1830s there were fewoptions for poor readers to purchase up-to-date maps of India. AaronArrowsmithhad published in 1816 a map on the scale of 16 miles to aninch. It was praisedby some surveyors n India,but criticized byothers.William Lambton, for example, the leading trigonometrical surveyorin India maintained that it was 'replete' with 'unpardonableerrors.'26Arrowsmith also provided a map for Valentine Blacker'sMemoir fthe

Operationsf theBritishArmy .. during heMahrattaWar(182 1). Othermaps that were published in the 182os included G. and J. Cary'sANewMap ofHindostan 1824) in six sheets and on a scale of 25 miles toan inch, and Cary's MapoftheCountries etweenndia andEurope 1824)on the smaller scale of 120 miles to an inch. In 1825 the publishersKingsbury, Parbury, & Allen also issued a map in four sheets andwith the scale of 32 miles to an inch.27With so few medium to largescale maps available the SDUK was entering the cartographicmarketalmost unchallenged. The only possible competitorwas the Company'sAtlas of India project. 28

23 As one SDUK Committee member wrote to another, 'Maps appear to me asnecessary to the student of historyas diagramsto the student of mathematics.' SDUK,G. B. Greenough to Coates, 1843-24For a valuable overview of the SDUK's map publication history, see Mead T.Cain, 'The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge:A PublishingHistory', ImagoMundi,46, (1994), 151-67.25 H. Brougham,PracticalObservations,1.26 Phillimore, HistoricalRecords f theSurveyofIndia, (Dehra Dun: Surveyof India,1954), Vol. III, 287.27 Phillimore, HistoricalRecordsftheSurvey fIndia, 289.28 The information on the Company'sAtlasofIndiacomes from Matthew H. Edney,'The Atlas of India 1823-1947: The Natural History of a Topographic Map Series,'in Cartographica,ol. 28, No. 4, (Winter 1991), 59-91; Matthew H. Edney, Mapping n


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684 IANJ. BARROWThe Company's atlas found its origin in Aaron Arrowsmith's Atlasof South India in Eighteen Sheets (1822), at four miles to an inch, and

especially in his Sketchof the Outline andPrincipal Rivers ofIndia (1822),which provided the possible sheet-lines for a future Atlas of India.29Arrowsmith suggested an atlas comprising lo2 sheets, with the firstsixteen having already been published as his Atlas of South India (theeighteen sheets of the Atlas of South India included a title sheet andan index). When he died in 1823 the work was transferred toJohnWalker who amended Arrowsmith's proposal.Although Walker's Atlas oflndia might have stolen the thunder fromthe SDUK, the sheets were neither published immediately nor quickly.

By 1851 only 41 sheets had been published. The last new sheets werenot published until 1906. One reason for the delay is that Walkerrelied heavily on the accurate results of the Trigonometrical Survey,which was slowly covering India with triangles.In addition to their slow appearance, the Company's Atlas of Indiasheets were hard to buy. In 1827, for example, Walker printed only125 copies of one sheet, of which 90 were sent to India. Moreover,the sheets were expensive, running at 4 shillings each.30 Thus, insanctioning the Atlas of India, the Company created its own multi-sheet and large-scale map of India, although it could hardly besaid that the Company was satisfying the cartographic needs of thepublic.It is clear, then, that the Company's Atlas oflndia was unsuitable forwide distribution: it was on too large a scale; it was too expensive; itwas too slow in its publication; and there were too few copies generallyavailable. By contrast the SDUK maps were on a smaller scale(11 plates, an index map and a plan of Calcutta were sufficient);they were relatively inexpensive (each number cost only a shilling ora shilling and ninepence if coloured); and the maps were all publishedwithin four years of each other (the plan of Calcutta was published adecade later). The maps were all a uniform size ( 11inches by 14) andall were of a high quality, being steel-engraved.There is no clear evidence as to how the SDUK mapswere constructed. The project was headed Francis Beaufort, the

Empire: The GeographicalConstructionof British India, 1765-1843 (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1997), 224-235; and R. H. Phillimore, Historical Recordsof the Surveyoflndia, (Dehra Dun: Survey of India, 1954), Volume III, 282-86.29 Edney, 'The Atlas of India', 64.30 Edney, 'The Atlas of India', 71.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 685hydrographerto the Admiralty.31Under his 'special superintendence,'it was said, the Society's map project 'attained a perfection neverbefore realised in this country. His design of producing the mosttrustworthy maps at the cheapest rate, would have conferred anhonourable distinction upon this Association, if it had accomplishednothing else.'32 Although Beaufort was involved in the maps'preparation,33 the bulk of their engraving and perhaps much oftheir construction seems to have been assigned to John Walker.34All the SDUK maps were published by Baldwin and Cradock untilthe firm went bankrupt in 1837. The Society then published itsown maps until 1842 when Chapman and Hall assumed thoseresponsibilities.The maps seem to have been modelled after the East IndiaCompany'sAtlasoflndia.One hint that suggests that the Society'sIndiamaps were based on a priorproject comes from Beaufort himself. In aletter to the Society's Secretary, he explained the sources he used inconstructing the Society's maps. He provided, he said, 'such versionsof the best maps that were extant as would adapt them to the sizeand price on which the Committee had determined. The early mapswere therefore mere copies of such materials as were accessible to uswithout any dangerous breach of copyright. Afterwards... I exertedmyself in acquiring new matter - but from such a variety of sources,and, from the nature of my public duties in so desultory a manner,from libraries, manuscripts and travellers that I could keep no notesof the where, the how, or the when.'35 Since the India maps werepublished in the early years of the project, it is quite plausible thattheywere derived frompublishedor manuscriptsources.An additionalindication that they were at least inspired by the Company's schemefor its ownatlas is that the SDUK mapswere engravedbyJohnWalker,the same man in charge of the Company's series.

31 For a short biography see L. S. Dawson, Memoirsof Hydrography, art II,(Eastbourne, Henry. W. Keay, 1885), 1-5.32 Knight, Passages fa Working ife, II, 12o.33 From a letter to the SDUK written by Charles Walker, it appears that Beaufort

drew the map of the Punjab. SDUK, Charles Walker, August 13, 1839-34In a letter to Thomas Coates, the Society's Secretary, Robert Baldwin, thepublisher, noted that the drawing of maps 'has in general been left by us to ourengravers, who have usually got the drawings made by competent individuals ..SDUK Baldwin to Coates, November 28, 1829.35 Cited in M. C. Grobel, 'The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge',unpublished LondonUniversity thesis, (1932), 546.


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686 IAN J. BARROWThe Maps of India: India as a Colonial Possession

Following the Atlas ofIndia pattern, the SDUK maps were arrangedand numbered according to a grid established by lines of latitude andlongitude. There were, in total, eleven large scale maps, almost all ofthem drawn to the same scale. The mapswere numbered, from Romannumeral I to XI, and the sequence was from South to North and fromWest to East. The were also slight overlaps on maps of contiguousareas. In addition, the Society publishedan index map (IndiaXII), on asmaller scale, that showedthe sheet lines of the eleven maps.The mapscould be bought uncoloured or coloured, with the coloured ink onlyindicating territorial boundaries.All of the India mapswere publishedbetween 1831 and 1835, except for a detailed plan of Calcutta thatwas not issued until 1842. Although this may have seemed a slowpublication schedule, it was positively fast when compared with theseemingly glacial publication pace of the Company'sAtlasoflndia. Thetable below gives the listing of the maps of India with their titles andpublication dates:India I and CeylonIndia II Madras PresidencyIndia III Bombay PresidencyIndia IVIndia VIndia VIIndia VIIIndia (VIII) Bengal PresidencyIndia IXIndia XIndia XIIndia XIICalcutta

September 1, 1831August 1, 1831March 15, 1832June 1, 1832December 1, 1833September 1, 1833August 1, 1832June 1, 1831November 1, 1833August 1, 1834April 1, 1834March 1, 1835November, 1842

The publication order of the maps is clearly uneven. Although thereis a rough correlation between the Roman numeral and the publicationdate, the Bengal Presidency map was published first, followed by IndiaII and then India I. The lack of a Roman numeral for the Bengal map (itwas only identified as number VIII in the index map of 1835), suggeststhat a decision on the total number of maps that would be necessary toshow India may only have been made after the engraving of the Bengalmap. Alternatively, it might have been the case that it was only decided


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 687to attach numerals to all the maps after the Bengal map's publication.It would seem likely that the Bengal Presidency map was issued firstbecause of its political significance. Indeed, because of its prominenceBengal had had a long history of surveying, dating back to JamesRennell's surveys in the 176os and 177os, and so sufficient materialwould have been readily available to John Walker. The publishingsequence also reveals that the southern portion of India was engravedbefore the central and northern regions. This also may have been aconsequence of both the availability of materials and the location ofBritish power in India. As a result of Colin Mackenzie's turn-of-the-century surveysin the Mysoreregion, together with the expensive andmeticulous trigonometrical operations that had begun in southernIndia, Walker would have been able to draw upon the same mapsand information that were also being used for the Company'sAtlasof India. Thus, the sequence of publication - beginning with Bengaland then moving on to southern India - reflects contemporaryBritishperspectives on the centres of power in India.The maps of India were not published by themselves or as a set.They were part of a larger atlas of the ancient and modern world.TheSociety published all its maps in 'Numbers', or pairs, sewn togetherwithin a wrapper. For example, the first Number that ever appearedcontained two maps of Greece. However the sequence of subsequentpublications rarely conformed to any definite pattern. The order ofpublication was largely determined by the availability of cartographicinformation and the speed with which the maps could be constructed.The reason for publishing in Numbers was that for readers it would becheaper than purchasing the full atlas. The Society hoped that whenreaders had bought a couple of Numbers, they might be induced topurchase more.36The Society also decided to sell the Numbers as theywere engraved, which meant that there was a delay - sometimes asignificant delay - between Numbers. Moreover, because the Societydecided not to publish maps of a certain country or area enmasse,andbecause no index to the maps was provided before the completion ofthe atlas, readers never knew the order of publication or the pairingwithin the Numbers. In other words, a map of Germany might be

36 The publisher, Robert Baldwin argued that there was no necessity in sellingmaps singly'as two together are cheaper than one such map can be got elsewhere ... Ifpersons are obliged in several cases, where they want a single map, to buy the two,a small collection of numbers may eventually induce them to complete the work.'SDUK, Baldwin to Coates, August 17, 1831. In 1844 the subsequent publishers,Chapman and Hall, re-issued all the maps in a two-volume atlas.


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688 IAN J. BARROWpaired with a map of India, as indeed was the case. In all, the Societypublished io6 Numbers between 1829 and 1844.37

Despite the fact that the India maps were neither published atthe same time nor in pairs with each other, the maps may be saidto be among the most remarkable in the Society's atlas. In terms ofthe number of sheets devoted to individual countries, the SDUK onlypublished more maps for the United States. Since no other countrywas as fully depicted, the India sheets may be regarded as a crucialcomponent of the Society's map publication project.Important questions arisewhen examining the meaning of the mapsto the working classes. How were the working classes to read themaps?How were the maps constructed in order to educate the workingclasses about the British Indian empire? Clues are provided by theSDUK itself in an article published in the Society'sPennyMagazine.38The anonymous author describes the concept of 'map-travelling,' andnotes that the experienced reader, when viewing a map, is able tobring to mind not only the geographical features, but also the politicaland economic conditions of the countries depicted. The map 'becomesa species of travelling from which, as in all other modes, the travellerwill derive benefit, and draw just conclusions.' In order to 'know' aforeign country, the author suggests that the map-traveller use mapsof his own region and become familiar with the 'bones and arteries',as he calls it, of the land, its river and road systems, together with thelocations of cities and towns.A knowledge of the skeleton of a countryenables a savvyviewer to judge its economic condition, its advantagesordisadvantages as a terrain for a military campaign, and the probable'character'of its inhabitants. Once the meaning of the map for his owncountry has been ascertained, the map-travellercan then understand,'at a glance,' the meaning of maps of previously unknown lands: 'tobe fitted to understand all we must knowone.' The author thereforeconcludes that 'a kind of travelling might be practised with pleasureand profitover a map.'The Society's article raises two points. The firstis that the working class reader is advised to understand Britain first,before moving on to an examination of the maps of other countries.The advice is both practical (establishing a method of viewing usingwhat is most familiar) and Britain-centric. The second point is thatusing the SDUK technique, aworkingclass viewerwho had never been

37Mead T. Cain, 'The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge:A Publishing History', ImagoMundi,46, (1994), 153-38 ThePennyMagazine,August 2, 1845, 298-99.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 689to India could still know it from afar. Knowing how to read a map, aviewer could learn about the economy, the military advantages andthe 'character' of the people of the areas depicted in the India maps.Thus, map readers were encouraged to view the world from a homeperspective, to see and understand India with reference to Britain.Although this perspective does not necessarily suggest British controlover India, it nevertheless prompts a viewer to interpret the map insuch a way that Britain becomes the standard for comparison. If weturn to the maps themselves, we find that there are indeed symbolsindicating Britain's colonial presence in India.The mapsdepict India as a national colonial possession throughtheiruse of colour, number coding, and conception, through the depictionof non-British-controlledterritory and through the elision of the EastIndia Company. The public could buy the India maps coloured oruncoloured, but in both cases the presence of British power wasmarked,a practice that hadbecome conventionalbythe 1830s. On thecoloured maps, the limits of British-controlled territory were shownin red ink.For those who did not buy the coloured maps, British territorywasoften also identified bymeans of numbercoding (see Fig. 1). In all suchcases, a hierarchy of power was established with Britain's territoriesbeing assigned the number 1. The prominence given to British-controlled lands and the significance attached to political divisionsare indications that the SDUK maps were part of a process wherebypolitical territorywas increasingly defined in proprietorialand hierar-chical terms. By the beginning of the nineteenth century maps andatlases were regularly associating territorywith the ownership of dis-crete and delimited lands. Sovereignty was defined as 'political terri-toriality' rather than as the control over people.39Because the extentand embeddedness of British power in the Indian political landscapeis so prominent in the SDUK maps - whether one bought a colouredor uncoloured map, British territories were usually identified - theSDUK and its engravers were alerting the working classes to the factthat British powerwas being exercised in India.The manner of the maps' construction was also a sign that concep-tual control was exercised over India. The maps' precise delineationof territory is one of the most evident features of the maps. There isno embellishment to the maps and little commentary within them.

39The phrase is James Akerman's. See 'The Structuring of Political Territory inEarlyPrinted Atlases', ImagoMundi,Vol. 47, (1995), 138-54-


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Figure 1. Detail of 'India III" (1832) showing the Bombay Presidency and containingDiffusion of Useful Knowledge.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 691Occasionally, as in the India V map, there are explanations regardinggeographical subjects, such as the course of rivers or the translationof terms, but there is almost no extraneous information. The map-maker was also scrupulous in excluding speculative information. Themaps of northern India (India IX and X), for example, show areas inthe Himalayas that have clearly not been extensively surveyed by theCompany and about which there is little information. In another map,India I, a large tract in Ceylon is labelled 'Unknown MountainousRegion', again reinforcing the idea that whatever information isinserted has been verified and is accurate. The insistence on adistanced, scientific approach helps to establish the notion of India asa terrain that can be knownthrough a rational and scientific approachto the acquisition of knowledge.40Moreover, those territories thatare not under direct British control, such as those areas in IndiaIV that are marked 'Unexplored Country', not only excite a desirefor exploration, but might also imply that were those territories tobecome British, one advantage would be the eventual completion ofgeographical knowledge.The message is that British control improvesknowledge.

The final way India was depicted as a national territory is that theCompany was elided from the maps. The use of 'British' in the maps'references helps to transform India into a national territory. ThatIndia should be shown as a national colony rather than as Companyterritoryon maps published in the 1830s was not a new development.James Rennell, for instance, diminished the role and visibility of theCompany inA BengalAtlas (1780 and 1781) in order to make it seemas if it were the British nation, and not an improvident Company,that was benefiting from colonial rule. But what is new in the SDUKmaps is that the reference to the nation was part of an effort to appealto and educate the working classes. As an organization dedicated tousing education as a means of ensuring social and political stabilitywithin Britain, the SDUK might have hoped to instill pride in Britainthrough the scientific depiction of a colonized India.

40 Matthew Edney has argued convincingly that the Atlas ofIndia project and theTrigonometrical Survey represented attempts to create an image of India that wasan imperial one, with India being bounded and enclosed by superior British scientificknowledge and practices. (Matthew Edney, 'Mathematical Cosmography and theSocial Ideology of British Cartography, 1780-1820' in ImagoMundi,46, (1994), 101-16; and Matthew H. Edney, 'The Patronage of Science and the Creation of ImperialSpace:The British Mappingof India, 1799-1843,' in 'IntroducingCultural and SocialCartography,'edited by RobertA. Rundstrom,61-67, Cartographica,0, No. 1, (1993):Monograph44.)


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692 IANJ. BARROWEmpireand British National Identity

In addition to portraying India as a colonial possession, the SDUKmaps may have participated in the long-term processes by whichBritish national identity was made. Until relatively recently scholarshave tended to view British national identity as the product of eventsand processes that were internal to Europe. They have been reluctantto incorporate the empire into their studies of Britain or England.41Recent histories, however, such as those written by H. V. Bowenand Kathleen Wilson, have addressed the question of the significanceof empire in making British and English identity.42 But, perhaps themost comprehensive study of the effect of empire on national identityis Linda Colley's Britons: Forging the Nation.43In it she argues that aBritish sense of self was 'forged' as a result of the wars with France, there-affirmation of Protestantism and the creation of an empire.44 Alongwith other factors, such as the extension of free trade throughoutBritain and rapid urbanization, Britain's wars and imperial ventureschanged the composition of the aristocracy and allowed previouslymarginal groups, the Scots and Irish in particular, to participate inthe creation of an empire and strengthen their bonds as Britons.45 Inthe nineteenth century, it may be argued, empire allowed the workingclasses to feel that they also belonged to a wider national community,despite the barriers of class. As an organization dedicated to educatingthe working classes, the SDUK may have had an influence on how itsreaders understood the role of empire in the expression of nationalidentity.The SDUK maps provide several answers to the question of whatmeaning the empire might have for a British working class man. Thedepiction of India as a national colonial possession invited readers

41 See, for example, Gerald Newman, The Rise of EnglishNationalism:A CulturalHistory, 1740-i83o (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997). For a discussion of thelack of writing on the ways empire has helped to build British national identity, seeDavid Armitage, The Ideological Origins of the British Empire (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2000).

42 H. V. Bowen, Elites,Enterprisend theMakingof theBritish Overseasmpire,1688-1775 (New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1996). Kathleen Wilson, The Sense of thePeople:Politics, Culture and Imperialismin England, 1 715- 1785 (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1998).

13 Linda Colley, Britons:Forging the nation, I 707-I83O (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1992).44 Colley, Britons, 6-7.45 Colley, Britons, 369.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 693to regard themselves as part of the colonial power and to derivesatisfaction and pride from that position. The further suggestionin the maps that colonialism has advanced knowledge and wouldcomplete geographical knowledge were British power to be extendedinto 'unexplored' regions indicates the benefits of empire to Science.The order exhibited by the establishment of colonial rule, includingthe ability to gather and present information in a systematic andcomprehensible manner, was one of the principal goals of the Societywhen it decided to publish 'useful' information. Lastly, the value ofunderstanding the practical use of science - as exemplified in theSociety's atlas project - was that working class men would improvethemselves and no longer pose a threat to social and political stabilityand order.

Of all the maps, however, the 1842 plan of Calcutta perhaps bestexpresses the power of the maps to make a working class viewerderive a sense of pride and satisfaction in being British (see Fig. 2).46Four elements in the plan suggest how British national identity wasreinforced: the plan makes Calcutta a recognizably British city; ittransforms Indians into the working class; it shows the serenity thatcomes with political control; and it depicts the advantages to Britainof colonial trade.

One of the most noticeable features of the plan is that it containsa lengthy key or reference to the public buildings and to churchesand chapels. Twelve churches or chapels are located, as are banks,courthouses, hospitals, schools and treasuries. There are also post,police and stamp offices. A couple of theatres are identified, as are theSupreme Court and the Town Hall. Even an orphan school is shown.However, no Hindu temples are mentioned; no mosques are drawn.The only Indian buildings mentioned in the reference are a 'NativeHospital' and three colleges, Old Hindoo College, New Hindoo Collegeand Hindoostanee College. But, within the context of the referencethese buildings are probably meant to be seen as colonial institutionserected for the benefit of Indians. The map itself is dominated by FortWilliam and the Esplanade, contains the Race Ground the New Mintand Government House and, although the Bengali names of streetsare inserted, the overall impression is of a British town set in a slightlyexotic location. A British viewer might well have recognized his city

46 Although there is no indication on the map, it is possible that W. B. Clarkeengraved the Calcutta map, since he was responsible for engraving most of the townplans.


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Figure 2. Plan of Calcutta (1842), published by the Society for the Di


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 695in this plan of Calcutta, and thereby have understood that Britishcolonialism enabled the diffusion of a British way of living.The Calcutta plan also features three inset illustrations orcartouches, all placed below the plan of the city (see Fig. 3). Thefirst is of the Writers Building and shows, in the far background,a church. In the foreground, however, are Indian peasants, eithercarrying loads on their backs or attending to a cow and its cart. Theimposing dignity of the bureaucratic and religious buildings, theirsolidity and monumentality, both complement and dwarf the languidIndian figures seen in the foreground.Indians also feature in the othertwo illustrations, and are seen resting on the ground, lolling aroundor leaning against a palanquin. They are clearly no threat to thecolonial government, but are, instead, shown as either its servants orits carriers. The illustrations present a city where servants are avai-lable to pull or carry, and where the recognizable features of thebest of British life are firmly established. Moreover, the fact that theIndian servants, palanquin bearers and peasants are drawn outside ofthe gates of the European buildings indicates their complete subordi-nation and exclusion from power. However, perhaps of even greaterinterest to a British working class viewer is that no British man isshown. This would allow a viewer to insert himself in the buildings,rather than as a porter, servant or working class menial. Therefore,the illustration might be interpreted as a suggestion to the workingclasses to think of themselves as imperialists, insert themselves intothe British colonial city and see themselves in the buildings ratherthan as its servants. The benefits of being an imperialist would be self-improvement (at least in the colonies they would not be the servants)and a deeper attachment to Britain. Empire was one way the workingclasses might feel included in the British nation.The Writers Building illustration also shows what appears to bethe Holwell Monument. The Monument was erected byJ. Z. Holwellin memory to those who had died in the Black Hole prison in June1756. Even though the incident of the Black Hole may have beenhis own fiction, for many in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesBritish power in India derived its fundamental legitimacy from thesupposed fact that Robert Clive had waged war against the Nawabof Bengal in order to avenge those who had suffocated in the prison.The significance of its appearance in the illustration may be that itwas an emblem, reminding the knowing viewer that British power inIndia was neither without reason nor without justification. For thosewho understood its meaning, the Monument might well have both


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I?8I - rd otad/:,,'c ,ilc, ih' Ii,/ I,/,,r 0 ,ha, c"hoo

Writer s Buildings

Figure 3. One of the three illustrations at the bottom of the Pl


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 697heightened pride in being British and reinforced the contrast betweenthe chaos and brutality of the past and the order and stability of thepresent.The second illustration is of Government House. The mood of thisillustration is of untroubled authority. Again, Indians are outside thewalls, and present no danger. They are joined by a bird, perhapsa crane, which adds to the sense that British power in India wasnatural, accepted and long-lasting. The classical architecture mightalso have reassured a nineteenth-century viewer that the principles ofgood government were being enacted. It is evident that colonial powerhas been asserted, and that a certain amount of satisfaction may befelt by a British viewer. The emphasis on stability also reflects theSociety's aim to pacify the working classes and integrate them into aharmonious social order. Their involvement as vicarious imperialistsmight aid in their articulation of nationalist sentiment. Even if theworking classes were alienated from power in Britain, they might feelafrissonof excitement knowing that by being British they possessed anempire.The final illustration provides a panorama view of Esplanade Row.The inclusion of ships at dock in the background conveys an imageof active and peaceful commerce. The palanquin in the foregroundreinforces the theme of travel and trade. It is almost as if thepalanquin were waiting for the viewer, about to take him to the docks.The message seems to be that empire generates wealth, and thatenrichment were possible for the viewer.The map and all three cartouches reflect a calm and quiescentatmosphere. The viewer is invited into Calcutta by the suggestionthat the city is familiar, with churches and post offices and theatres,that it is safe and wealthy, and that it offers natural beauty, familiaraesthetic appeal, and pliant Indian labour. It was only by virtue ofbeing British that the working classes might transform a desire forpower into a vicarious participation. Being an imperialist required acelebration of British nationality; being British increasingly meanthaving an empire, even, perhaps, for the working classes.

Success or Failure?How successful were the SDUK maps of India?Did they attracta working class audience? Did they help reinforce for the workingclasses the co-constitutive nature of empire and British national


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698 IANJ. BARROWidentity? There was certainly a potential readership. E. P. Thompsonhas noted that during the 182os and 1830s there was an increasedinterest in the use of the press and that that 'the working-class ideologywhich matured in the Thirties ... put an exceptionally high value uponthe rights of the press.'47 However, Jonathan Rose has argued thatfew working class people 'were imperialists; many of them were onlyvaguely aware that the Empire existed; most of them would have beenhard put to name a couple of British colonies.'48 One of the reasons, hesuggests, was lack of investment in imperialism: 'After all, how muchof the Empire did they own?'49 Although most of his evidence comesfrom the period between the end of the nineteenth century and themid-twentieth century might his argument be valid for the 1830s and1840s?The Society certainly hoped that the maps would be attractive tothe working classes as the epitome of scientific application and asexemplars of what could be achieved with education and knowledge.As Beaufort wrote to a fellow Committee member in 1828 about themapping project, 'would not a Copy find its way into every house inthe Empire & would not this be diffusing real tangible knowledge?'50A year later he noted with satisfaction that the maps 'go offrapidly.'51Some of the India maps were in great demand. Readers found themap of the Punjab (India XI) especially useful when following newsof Company military campaigns in the region.52 In fact, all the Indiamaps, except the last (India XII), were published during the Society'speak sales years for maps. The Society produced 379,000 maps in1833, but that figure declined sharply after 1834, when only 189,000maps were printed. By 1844 the Society had sold over three millionmaps.53 It would have no doubt helped subscribers had the SDUKpublished the index map first. This would have shown both the extentof the India project and the expected sheet lines for the eleven detailedmaps.

47 E. P. Thompson, TheMaking ofthe English WorkingClass (New York: Vintage Books,1966), 732-48Jonathan Rose, TheIntellectualLifeof theBritishWorkingClasses New Haven andLondon: Yale University Press), 335-49Rose, The ntellectualLife, 364-5o Cain, 'The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,' 151.5 SDUK, Beaufort to Coates, October 1829.52 SDUK, Chapman and Hall to Coates, May 9, 1843-53 Cain, 'The Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge,' 161.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 699However, there was also criticism of the slow and unsystematicnature of the publication schedule.54 One subscriber, for example,

informed the Society in 1833 that he and his friends were 'mostanxious for the remaining maps of India - the important questionof the Company'sCharter etc. makes the want of these maps severelyfelt.'55 The Society's seeming obliviousness to the Charter and itsdesire, in general, not to become embroiled in party political debateswounded its efficacy. It was perceived to be out of touch, an ironicdevelopment since it regarded itself as disseminating the very latestinformation and the most useful scientific principles.Some of the suggestions given to the Society were well-intentioned.One man suggested in 1838 that 'it would be as useful as desirablethat one or two of the Society's maps should contain these routes -from Europe to the East Indies... '56 However, some of the sharpercriticism of the maps was, at times, a source of exasperation forBeaufort, who wrote to the Secretary that 'it cannot be expectedthat the Society should enter into a defense of its mode of makingbooks and maps to every Ramsgate blockhead.'57Nevertheless, thedifficulties with the publication schedule, the lack of an index, theseemingly indefinite nature of the atlas project, and the generaldissatisfaction with the plans of the cities, all contributed to thepublic's lack of sustained interest. If the SDUK had included a mapof the routes to India, for example, it might have been well-received(and indeed such a mapwas included in a later atlas published byJohnTallis).58Unfortunately, the Society's maladroit production of middleclass knowledge for a working class viewer did not result in anythingmore than a lukewarm response. This was especially true for the cityplans.The decision to distribute plans of cities was poorly received.The Society's publisher was so cowed by the criticism that he evensuggested that the SDUK 'insinuate he plans gradually among the

54The Society's problem of not publishing in a regular order was not confined toIndia. In 1833 Walker provided Coates with a list of maps that were either beingdrawn or engraved. The list provides an example of both the breadth of the atlasand the lack of systemization. The maps include five of India, five of America, oneof China, Russia, South America, Ireland, ancient Germany, ancient Spain, northernAfrica and the West Indies. SDUK, Walker to Coates, May 28, 1833.

5 SDUK, R. Henry to Thomas Coates,July 2o, 1833.56 Cited in Grobel, 'The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge', 535-57 SDUK, Beaufort to Coates, October 7, 1833-58 John Tallis and Company, The IllustratedAtlas, andModernHistoryof the World,edited by R. Montgomery Martin, (London:John Tallis and Company), 1851.


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700 IANJ. BARROWpublic: for were the English subscribers aware of such a numbercoming forward, they would decidedly stop.'59Plans for a Calcutta mapwere already in place in 1836, but its drawing and engraving weredelayed until 1842.60 After 1832 city plans and country maps werenot included in the same wrapper, as they had been, but were soldseparately.61 This measure was clearly designed to lessen criticismthat purchasers of maps were forced to buy the city plans.There were also a number of inconsistencies and problems withthe India maps themselves. Although the series contained maps thatindicated the owner of territory by number codes, many of the mapscontaining those number codes are difficult to read since the peck-lines showing the boundaries are hard to spot and follow. Furthermore,some of the maps, most notably India I and II, have no number systemat all, resulting in a map without political meaning. The SDUK alsosold the same maps with colour added, but in no map, except theindex map (India XII), is the use of colour explained. It was indeeda convention to colour British possessions red, but the colouring ofothers' territory is not clarified with a key. On one occasion, too,the Society failed to insert some of the numbers into the map. IndiaXI has a key identifying six territories, but the numbers 5 and 6,representing the Dominion of Runjeet Sing and the Dominion ofChina, are omitted.62 Other, more minor inconsistencies include adifference in scale (India X is at a scale of 68.9 miles to one degreewhile all the other maps, from I to XI, are at a scale of 68.8 miles to thedegree), and a mistake in the final atlas table of contents (where IndiaXI is written as India IX).63 Occasionally, too, there are inconsistenciesin spelling, despite concerted attempts by the engravers to ensurecorrect orthography.64 The India I map and the index map (India XII)have different spellings for a town in Sri Lanka: one is Kattregam whilethe other is Kattregan. On the India IX map Sekundra is written whileon the index map the town appears as Secundra. Although relatively

59 Cited in Grobel, 545-60 SDUK, Special Topics No. 55: Maps, Schemes, Tenders, etc., 1836-1842.61 SDUK, Map Committee,June 21, 1832.62 See the later edition by Charles Knight, also engraved byJ. & C. Walker.63 Mapsof theSocietyor theDifusion of UsefulKnowledge, ol. i, (London: Chapmanand Hall, 1844), Table of Contents.64John Walker refused to provide the publisher with the Indian maps until theorthography had been 'corrected'. The map of India was to have been paired with oneof Spain, but a map of another country had to be found to replace it. SDUK, Baldwinto Coates, May 4, 1831.


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INDIA FOR THE WORKING CLASSES 701minor, these inconsistencies might have exacerbated the frustrationfelt by many subscribers who were unhappy with both the pace andchoice of publication.The broader educational efforts of the SDUK and the zeal withwhich Brougham pursued his goals were ridiculed by the Tory press.The press was particularly concerned that the education of theworking classes would not create the necessary conditions for socialand political stability, but would, instead, foster unrest. One paper,John Bull, called him a 'squalid hypocrite,' and warned that 'to seeSquire Brougham active, is to know that mischief is busy; to see himassociated, as he is, in the dirty work of inflaming the minds of thelower orders, under false pretensions, is quite enough to proclaim thetruth.'65

Opposition to the SDUK educational endeavour was particularlyfierce from some Radicals, who were frustrated by the patronizingnature of the Society. In her biographical sketch of Henry BroughamHarriet Martineau commented on the reasons for the ultimate failureof the SDUK. She noted that Brougham and the Society did not havesufficient faith in the working classes 'to entrust them with politicalknowledge, but preferred putting out, in the most critical period of thenation's history, treatises on physical science, as a tub to the whale.'66Many old Radicals distrusted Brougham for, among other things, hissupport of the spy system in 1817,67 but also his belief in middle classproperty and stability. 'If there is a mob,' Brougham said in 1832,'there is the people also. I speak now of the middle classes - of thosehundreds of thousands of respectable persons - the most numerousand by far the most wealthy order in the community... who are alsothe genuine depositories of sober, rational, intelligent, and honestEnglish feeling.'68 Brougham was criticized by the QuarterlyReview forhis 'measureless superiority,'69 while a mordant critic wrote that lackof education was not the problem for laborers who suffered becauseof their employers: 'Education!Despicable cant and nonsense! Whateducation, what moral precepts, can quiet the gnawings and ragingsof hunger?70

65 Aspinall, LordBrougham, 234-66 Harriet Martineau, Biographical Sketches, (New York: John B. Alden, n.d.), 398.67 Thompson, TheMakingoftheEnglishWorkingClass,744."68Thompson, TheMakingoftheEnglish WorkingClass,819.69 Stewart, HenryBrougham, 2oo0.70 William Cobbett, Rural Rides (London: Macdonald, 1958), 260.


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702 IANJ. BARROWIn reading such general hostility towards the SDUK and the variousspecific criticisms of the map project, it cannot be said that the India

maps were an unqualified success. Nevertheless, the maps were a boldattempt to reach out to new audiences and explain both the geographyand politics of India. The maps sold well, and were recognized tobe of high quality. However, it would perhaps be fair to say thattheir significance was not so much in that they elevated the workingclasses in the 183os, but that they helped to pioneer middle classand elite efforts to interest and involve the working classes in Indiaand in the British empire. The SDUK's maps, magazines, and bookscirculated widely, were priced for a poor reader's budget, and were atthe vanguard of an emerging working class reading culture. Later inthe century, this readership would be targeted by the peddlers of highor New Imperialism. While there has been a debate as to how far theworking classes were involved in late nineteenth century imperialismor how receptive they were to imperialist propaganda,71 there canbe no doubt that, following the work of John MacKenzie, images ofempire were made to be popular and designed to be distributed aswidely as possible.72 The SDUK India maps were significant in thatthey suggest a period during which the British working classes werefirst shown detailed maps of India that emphasized imperial control. Inusing techniques such as illustrations or by colouring British territoryin red, these maps are among the first attempts to court the workingclasses as potential consumers of imperial products and ideology.

71 Rose, TheIntellectual Life of the British WorkingClasses.72 John MacKenzie, Propagandaand Empire: TheManipulation ofBritish Public Opinion,

I88o- 96o (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 1984, andJohn MacKenzie,ed., Imperialismand Popular Culture (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 1986.

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