Hevia explores how these practices incentivized soldiering, constrained unregulated plunder and fuelled tensions between officers, soldiers and colonial authorities.
Through detailed case studies, including the Banda and Kirwee affair, the book examines the legal, political and social conflicts surrounding prize distribution, revealing how these disputes reflected broader struggles over imperial sovereignty and military discipline.
By situating looting and prize within the broader context of empire building, the book offers fresh insights into the dynamics of colonial warfare, the professionalisation of the British army and the transformation of martial customs in India and beyond.
Content:
- Chapter 1 – Introduction
- Chapter 2 – Prize Procedures and Prize Laws
- Chapter 3 – The British Crown and the East India Company
- Chapter 4 – The Fog of Prize, 1817-1850
- Chapter 5 — An Orgy of Plunder and Prize Reform
- Chapter 6 – The Banda and Kirwee Booty Case
- Chapter 7 — The Engine of Litigation: The Promissory Notes of the Raos of Kirwee
- Chapter 8 – The Demise of Prize
- Chapter 9 – Conclusion
James Hevia’s research has focused on empire and imperialism in eastern and central Asia. Primarily dealing with the British Empire in India and southeast Asia and the Qing empire in China, the specific concerns have been with the causes and justifications for conflict; how empire in Asia became normalized within Europe through markets, exhibitions, and various forms of public media; and how the events of the nineteenth century are remembered in contemporary China.
