How an Englishman captured vibrant hues of a colonial Calcutta transforming into a commercial hub

Between the late 18th century and early 19th century, Calcutta transitioned dramatically from a monopoly under the English East India Company to a flourishing hub of private enterprise. The Charter Act of 1813 marked a turning point that broke the Company’s stranglehold on trade, except for opium and tea.

William Prinsep, 23, entered this newly opened market to work as an agent for the silk trade of his brother-in-law George Haldimand in Calcutta in 1817. It was a departure from the restricted trade environment his father, John Prinsep, had experienced in the late 18th century.

John Prinsep was among the select few agents who had been permitted to engage in trade that did not directly compete with Company interests. He had a legacy of advocating for free trade, as evidenced by his influential pamphlet “A Review of the Trade of the East India Company”, which laid the groundwork for this newfound economic freedom.

His son, however, arrived in a vastly different Calcutta where agency houses proliferated, offering opportunities for private traders and merchants, unheard of in his father’s time. William Prinsep, alongside contemporaries, especially the likes of Economist Adam Smith, championed “fair and open competition”, embracing the ethos of economic liberalism – and what...

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