FOR ALL WITH AN INTEREST IN THE HISTORY
OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY AND THE BRITISH RAJ
LIVE LECTURES
The British in India's first live event for 2026 will be a lunchtime lecture on Tuesday 26 May at the University Women's Club, Mayfair.​​
How to book
TUESDAY 26 MAY 2026 11.30am-1.00pm (LIVE)
Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia
Sam Dalrymple
University Women's Club, 2 Audley Square, Mayfair, London W1K 1DB
As recently as 1928 India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait were bound together as the Indian Empire. It was the British Empire’s crown jewel: a vast dominion stretching from the Red Sea to the jungles of Southeast Asia, home to a quarter of the world’s population.​
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And then, in the space of just fifty years, the Indian Empire shattered. Five partitions tore it apart: carving out new nations, redrawing maps, and leaving behind a legacy of war, exile and division.
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Shattered Lands presents the story of how the Indian Empire was unmade. How a single, sprawling dominion became twelve modern nations. How maps were redrawn in boardrooms and on battlefields, by politicians in London and revolutionaries in Delhi, by kings in remote palaces and soldiers in trenches.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Sam Dalrymple is a Scottish historian, author, film-maker and activist. He is the son of historian William Dalrymple and grew up in Delhi. He graduated from the University of Oxford as a Persian and Sanskrit scholar. His work has been published in the New York Times, TIME, New Yorker and Economist. His debut book, Shattered Lands, was an international bestseller, and a ‘Best Book of 2025’ for the Financial Times, The Week, Spectator, BBC History Magazine, History Today and Daunts.​
​This lecture is presented in association with the Indian Civil Service Society.
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Tea and coffee (self-serve and included in the ticket price) will be available upstairs on arrival. At 11.45 am there will be a short meeting in the Library for members of the Indian Civil Service Society (and anyone interested in joining).
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The lecture will be presented in the Library at 12 noon. For those who would like to stay, an optional two-course meal (main course, dessert and coffee) from 1pm to 2.30pm will follow in the Drawing Room, offering an opportunity to mix and meet. Drinks can be purchased separately from the pay bar in the Drawing Room after the lecture. Dietary requirements accommodated where notified. Dress code: smart casual. All welcome.
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Tickets for the lecture cost £15. Tickets for the lecture and meal cost £65.
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Bookings for the meal close on 21 May.
Bookings for the lecture close on 23 May.
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HOW TO BOOK
Tickets may be booked online by card (fees apply), by bank transfer or by cheque.
* Price includes platform and payment processing fees
* Price includes platform and payment processing fees
Governor-General Lord Moira and his party enjoy a fireworks display in the grounds of the palace of Farhat Baksh in Lucknow (detail). Watercolour from Views by Seeta Ram from Cawnpore to Mohumdy vol. IV produced for Lord Moira, afterwards the Marquess of Hastings, by Sita Ram between 1814 and 1815. British Library, public domain. Farhat Baksh, originally named the Château de Lyon, was designed and built in 1781 on the banks of the Gomti river by Frenchman Claude Martin as his city residence in Lucknow. After Martin’s death it was acquired by Saadat Ali Khan, Nawab of Avadh, who renamed it Farhat Baksh and transformed it into a palace.