Online – Officers, scholars and nabobs: the clan Macpherson in India

This talk will explore the long-lasting connection between the clan Macpherson and the British empire in India (18th-19th centuries). From the mid-eighteenth century onwards, the Macphersons enjoyed a long and significant association with India, most notably as civil and military servants within the English East India Company. The list of Macphersons serving in the Indian subcontinent is particularly impressive, including several army colonels, interpreters, scholars, legal practitioners, brokering agents and even one governor-general of India.

The talk will uncover the stories of men (and more rarely, women) from Badenoch, Skye and the north-east of Scotland who left home to seek better lives and build careers while amassing a vast fortune repatriated in their own country – very often at the cost of Indian populations.

While highlighting the participation of a ‘global clan’ to the colonial expansion, this talk will also offer a chance to reflect on the impact of cultural exchanges, colonial conquests and army recruitments on the landscape of Badenoch and its inhabitants.