Name

East India Company

Description

The commercial monopoly whose interests drove Parliament to act against the Isle of Man. The Company held the exclusive right to import tea from Asia, protected by Parliamentary tariffs. The Manx running trade offered a route around those tariffs. Research into the 1768–1774 Parliament found 118 MPs held Company stock. Horace Walpole put the figure at a third of the Commons. Grey Cooper told Parliament in 1765 that the Revestment Act was 'principally intended' for the Company's benefit. The Whitehaven merchants' memorial explicitly named the Company's losses alongside Treasury revenue losses. In January 1771, the Keys were consulted about stationing an East India Company regiment on the Island — the Company's own private army garrisoned on Manx soil.

Active Period

1600–1874

Also Known As

EIC

The Company

Honourable East India Company

Place

London

Type

Trading Company

Monopoly

British Government

Book Chapter

Chapter 9

Chapter 10