Monthly Archives: April 2025

Programme and Registration for “The Impeachment of Warren Hastings: The First Governor General of India”

received from Dr. Robin Eagles (The History of Parliament) and Dr. Chris Monaghan (University of Worcester) Dates: 3 – 4 July 2025 Location: University of Worcester School of Law, Jenny Lind Building, Farrier St, Worcester, WR1 3BZ Event Overview A conference jointly hosted by: The Constitutions, Rights and Justice Research Group, University of Worcester and The History of Parliament Trust, Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th July 2025. 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 […]