For decades, the British Empire in India has been reduced to a simple moral claim: that it was an extractive, exploitative system which left only damage behind.
But is that really the full story?
In this episode of Thinking Class, John Gillam is joined by Lord Nigel Biggar and Professor Tirthankar Roy to examine what the British Empire — and the East India Company before it — actually did in India, and how that history continues to shape the present.
One of India's leading economic historians, Professor Tirthankar Roy challenges the dominant narrative from within — and his conclusions may surprise you.
Together, they discuss the main charges levelled against British rule in India, including famine, violence, extraction, and the denial of self-government. They also explore why some of those claims may be justified, why others may be overstated, and how both British and Indian historians are rethinking the role of empire, markets, law, trade, migration, and state power.
This conversation goes beyond the usual moral shorthand. It asks how Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras became engines of commerce; how British rule helped create the conditions for law, investment, and global integration; how liberal and constitutional ideas were transmitted; and why India’s rise today makes this history newly relevant.
India is now one of the world’s most important rising powers. Its capital, people, and influence increasingly shape life in Britain and across the West. So the question is not simply what happened in the past — but what we think happened, and how that shapes the future relationship between Britain and India.
In this episode we think out loud about:
The main charges against the British Empire in India
Famine, violence, and the question of callousness
Was British rule really just extractive?
The East India Company as firm, state, and empire-builder
Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras as commercial safe havens
Markets, migration, law, and India’s integration into the world economy
British liberalism, Indian nationalism, and constitutional development
How modern India’s rise changes the meaning of this history
Guests:
Lord Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford and the author of major works on empire, ethics, and public life.
Links
Follow Lord Biggar on X: https://x.com/NigelBiggar
The New Dark Age: https://amzn.to/4kT9NWC
Lord Biggar’s books: https://amzn.to/4cfUPaZ
Substack: The Biggar Picture
Professor Tirthankar Roy is one of India’s leading economic historians and the author of The East India Company: The World’s Most Powerful Corporation.
Links
Professor Roy’s books: https://amzn.to/41tWCCF
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About Thinking Class:
Thinking Class is an independent forum for long-form inquiry examining the political, cultural and civilisational questions shaping England, Britain and the West.
Hosted by John Gillam, the show features serious conversations with historians, legal scholars, economists, theologians, politicians, and public intellectuals.
Thinking Class is concerned with discovering long-term patterns over headlines and hot-takes. Expect historically-grounded analysis on matters of national character, institutions, demography, democracy, identity, inheritance, institutional continuity and social change.
New episodes every week.
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