Podcast: British imperialism, Bombay business – the India-Ireland connection through time

What do Ireland and India have in common?

At first glance, it can be difficult to find two more dissimilar countries. Ireland is an island nation of just over five million people, a little less than the population of Ahmedabad. It enjoys one of the highest median incomes in the world, on par with Finland and South Korea.

Yet, behind such dissimilarities is a remarkable shared history. From the mid-19th century onward, Irish and Indian nationalists forged strong personal and associational connections, recognising how both societies suffered under British imperialism. Famines, impoverishment, racism, political disenfranchisement, and a drain of wealth: Indians and Irish had a lot to talk about.

Jane Ohlmeyer, a professor of history at Trinity College Dublin, details Ireland’s complex relationship with India and the rest of the British Empire in her book Making Empire: Ireland, Imperialism, and the Early Modern World. In this episode of Past Imperfect, she discusses how the Irish – both colonial subjects and partners in empire – left a distinct stamp upon the subcontinent. Some Irish, like Annie Besant, were towering figures within the Indian nationalist movement. Others, such as Michael O’Dwyer, the governor of Punjab during the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, formed…

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