Dupleix and Clive: The Beginning of Empire (Routledge Revivals)

Recognised on its first publication in 1920 as a valuable and illuminating study of the beginnings of colonial rule in India, this work gives a comprehensive account of Dupleix’s rise to power in Southern India and his consequent rivalry with Clive. The author was for many years’ keeper of the records at Madras and delved deeply into the sources there, and in England and France to write what was, and is still, an indispensable contribution to the study of the French and British struggle for predominance in India.

Henry Herbert Dodwell M.A. (1879- 1946) was Professor of History and Culture of the British Dominions in Asia at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) from 1922-1946. He was the first holder of that chair.

Dodwell was educated at Thame Grammar School, then at St. John's College, University of Oxford. In 1908 he married Lily May, daughter of Henry Mason. They had four children. Dodwell entered the Indian Education Service in 1908 and was there until 1922, just before the service began to be dismantled. After his return to Britain, Dodwell edited two volumes of The Cambridge History of India. He died in Dover, 30 October 1946.