FOR ALL WITH AN INTEREST IN THE HISTORY
OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE BRITISH RAJ
The British in India Historical Trust presents live and online lectures by authors of recently published books of interest to descendants of the British in South Asia between 1600 and 1947 and all who want to know more about the East India Company and the British Raj. The proceeds from lectures fund annual book prizes for excellence in non-fiction historical writing on British India.
Online lectures run from November to April and this year's programme is here. They are broadcast via Zoom and are available UK-wide and to an international audience. Lectures from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 series have been uploaded to YouTube as a free resource for all who are interested in the history of the British in South Asia. The playlist is available here.
The British in India's next live event will be an evening lecture, 'Zoffany in India' on Wednesday 28 October at the East India Club. A two-course meal will be available afterwards for those who would like to stay. Further details will be available soon.
If you would like to be informed when booking opens for live and online lectures, and are not already on our mailing list, please sign up for news of lectures at the foot of this page.
FEATURED LECTURE
WEDNESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2026 5.30pm -9.30pm (LIVE)
Zoffany in India
Charles Greig
East India Club, St James's Square, London SW1Y 4LH
Johan Zoffany spent five years in India during the 1780s, producing some of the greatest paintings of India ever conceived. A former court painter to King George, Zoffany rapidly established himself in Calcutta painting members of the European elite. He subsequently travelled to Lucknow, where he found a rich source of commissions at the nawab’s court and amongst the European community that surrounded it. He spent extensive periods there, producing works that reflect Lucknow’s distinctive fusion of European and Indian elite culture, notably Colonel Mordaunt’s Cock Match, arguably the masterpiece of Anglo-Indian painting.
This talk will look at Zoffany’s years in India and discuss both his greatest paintings and some previously unknown works identified by the speaker.
Charles Greig is a consultant and scholar specialising in Anglo-Indian and Company art. In the early 1990s he was appointed art historical advisor to the Calcutta Tercentenary Trust and surveyed the vast collection of the Victoria Memorial Hall. In 2010 and 2011 he undertook two journeys in India, retracing Zoffany’s footsteps, which he recorded in an essay in Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed, the catalogue accompanying the major Zoffany retrospective at Yale and the Royal Academy. He wrote most of the catalogue’s Indian entries and has contributed to numerous publications on European painters in India.
BOOK PRIZES
Proceeds from lectures fund annual prizes for non-fiction historical writing on British India: The British in India Book Prize and The British in India Military History Book Prize. The result of The British in India Book Prize 2025 is given here and the shortlist here.
