Location
University of Worcester
The trial of Warren Hastings was one of the seminal moments in late 18th-century politics. The former governor general of Bengal, Hastings, was accused of a variety of crimes relating to abuse of the local population and peculation. Attitudes to him varied widely, with him attracting high profile supporters, while the case against him was driven forward by stars of the Whig party, such as Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox. In raw political terms it helped precipitate the collapse of any sense of unity within the former governing Whigs and helped William Pitt the Younger cement his hold on power. Quite as importantly, the trial is vital in understanding how British society viewed the government of colonial India and how Indian society responded to the process of colonization.
The trial is crucial in understanding late Georgian society and attitudes to law and governance, to Empire and colonization. The impeachment was a key event in the changing governance of British India as well as casting a spotlight on the role of Parliament and its ability to hold to account senior officials accused of misdemeanours. The subject cuts across several disciplines: law, political history, history of print satire, literary history and imperial history. The conference will bring together scholars from a range of disciplines and at all levels of experience, with colleagues from across the world, with scholars based in Canada, the EU, India, New Zealand, the UK and US participating. A book involving many of those presenting at the conference has been commissioned to be published with Bloomsbury, adding to the impact of the event.
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