Overseas Violence and the Seven Years' War: Alleged Atrocities Committed by Non-Europeans as a Subject for Public Discussion in British News Commentary, 1754-1764

Abstract

This study re-examines British press coverage of violent overseas episodes that took place in North America and India during the Seven Years' War, 1754-1764. Focussing on news commentary relating to alleged atrocities committed by non-European forces, this research explores the complex public dialogue that emerged in the immediate aftermath of those circumstances. Acts of perceived savagery instigated by native populations against Britons living or stationed overseas, became a prominent and lucrative source of material for the mid-eighteenth century news industry.

Press attention afforded to events such as the British defeat at Monongahela in 1755, the Black Hole of Calcutta in 1756, or the massacre at Patna in 1763, satisfied a growing appetite for macabre tales of suffering inflicted upon Britons on the world stage. They also served, however, as discursive platforms for commentators to promote their own, often critical, views concerning issues associated with territorial expansion overseas. Whereas existing studies have mainly approached this area from a post-Seven Years' War perspective, by focussing on the dynamic and distinctive news polemic produced during the conflict itself, this research shows the period 1754-1764 to be more than just a precursor for a later culture of public engagement.