Since millennia, India has been a magnet attracting those seeking fortune and name. The wave of foreigners coming in accelerated in the 16th century with the discovery and development of the all-sea route from Europe via the Cape of Good Hope.
In the anarchy following the collapse of the Mughal Empire in the first half of the 18th century, foreign powers saw an opportunity to upgrade themselves from traders to rulers. In the struggle over establishing hegemony, it was the British who came up trumps. By 1820, the East India Company had managed to subdue most of the local rulers too.
With vast parts of the country needing to be protected and governed, temporary1 immigrants from all classes of British society made their way to India. The gentry would find employment perhaps as an officer in the army or as a civil servant in the government. On the other hand, the lower classes would have to be content with less exalted positions like that of a soldier.
One such person of ordinary means was William Braithwaite.
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