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1 year ago in Colonial History , Quantitative History By Divya
I’m analyzing colonial administration and need a reliable figure: what was the total number of overseas (i.e., European) officials serving in British India during the 1890s?
My dissertation chapter examines the scale of the colonial state. I've seen vague references to a "thin white line" of administrators, but I need a concrete statistical range for the 1890s. Does this number include only the Indian Civil Service (ICS), or also other services like police, railway, and public works? Were officials in the princely states counted separately? I'm looking for reputable secondary sources or contemporary official returns that provide this specific demographic data.My dissertation chapter examines the scale of the colonial state. I've seen vague references to a "thin white line" of administrators, but I need a concrete statistical range for the 1890s. Does this number include only the Indian Civil Service (ICS), or also other services like police, railway, and public works? Were officials in the princely states counted separately? I'm looking for reputable secondary sources or contemporary official returns that provide this specific demographic data.
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By Govind Answered 1 year ago
Based on official returns and the work of historians like David C. Potter and B. B. Misra, the Indian Civil Service (ICS)—the senior administrative cadre—numbered roughly 1,000 to 1,200 Europeans in the 1890s. However, if you include the wider "officer class" (European police officers, railway officials, engineers, forest officers, and medical service personnel), the total number of salaried European officials was likely between 4,000 and 6,000. A key source is the "Report of the Public Service Commission" (1886-87), which provides a detailed snapshot. It's crucial to note this excludes military personnel and the much larger subordinate Indian bureaucracy. This "thin white line" statistic underscores the reliance on indirect rule and local intermediaries.
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