The College provided general and vocational education for youths of sixteen to eighteen nominated by EIC Directors to writerships in the EIC overseas civil service. Attendance was generally for four 6-month terms.
It first opened in Hertford Castle, then moved in 1809 to a purpose-built site at Hertford Heath, near Hertford, now used by Haileybury College. Its architect, William Wilkins, later went on to design the National Gallery in London, which bears some similarities.
In 1856 an open competitive examination replaced the system of appointment by patronage. In the wake of the Indian Mutiny, in January 1858, the British government took over the administration of India, and the college closed.
Famous professors
Thomas Malthus taught there from 1805. In 1809 he moved into the east side of a house, which he then bought (it remains today) in 1815. Bewick Bridge (1767-1833) was Professor of Mathematics at some time, Charles Babbage applied for a job in 1816, James Mackintosh was professor of law and general politics from 1818 to 1824. At some time before 1837, The Revd. Joseph Hallett Batten, D.D., of Penzance was principal of the College. Between 1826 and 1844, a Persian educator, Mirza Muhammed Ibrahim, held a permanent appointment as a professor of Persian, then Monier Monier-Williams - whose sanskritdictionary is still in print - taught Asian languages (1844-58).
Death record of Joseph Batten (http://users.synflux.com.au/~sylcec/dod37.htm#B)
Persian Professor in Britain: Mirza Muhammed Ibrahim at the East India Company's College, 1826-1844 by Michael H. Fisher (http://www.cssaame.ilstu.edu/issues/V21/fisher.pdf)
EastIndiaCompany, any of a number of commercial enterprises formed in western Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries to further trade with the East Indies.
The most important of the companies were given charters by their respective governments, authorizing them to acquire territory wherever they could and to exercise in the acquired territory various functions of government, including legislation, the issuance of currency, the negotiation of treaties, the waging of war, and the administration of justice.
The EastIndiaCompany, however, bought control of this new company, and in 1702 an act of Parliament amalgamated the two as “The United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies.” The charter was renewed several times in the 18th century, each time with financial concessions to the Crown.
The EastIndiaCompanyCollege was from 1805 to 1858 the college of the British EastIndiaCompany (EIC).
The College provided general and vocational education for youths of sixteen to eighteen nominated by EIC Directors to writerships in the EIC overseas civil service.
Joseph Hallett Batten, D.D., of Penzance was principal of the College.
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