Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the lives and status of domestic servants in the Danish trading post Serampore in early nineteenth-century Bengal. Based on cases from the colonial criminal court, it examines relations and conflicts between domestics and employers within a selection of different households.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the status and lives of domestic servants in Serampore in Bengal during the early nineteenth century, when the town was administered by Denmark. During the Danish period wealthy inhabitants from nearby Calcutta and Chandernagore were attracted by Serampore's opportunities and with them followed an increasing demand for domestics. By analysing previously overlooked and unusually rich records generated by the Danish administration, the study explores servant-employer relationships and further considers internal hierarchies and relations between servants. Unlike in mainland Denmark, the Danish colonial laws forbade employers to physically punish their servants, which caused even minor instances to be brought to the court room. In most of the court cases servants were charged with theft and fraud, and the sources tend to paint an overall picture of a highly dishonest class. The paper, however, suggests that while theft was sometimes simply a means of supplementing a low salary, the act was also closely related to servants' resistance against their employers' authority. In situations where servants felt unjustly treated, they would steal or brake things in the house, or even leave their duty without notice, bringing with them something of value. In the subsequent court cases servants repeatedly argued that any offence had been provoked by the employer's cruel behaviour. As it was difficult to prove what happened in the private sphere, these counter-allegations questioned the employer's integrity and contribute to an understanding of domestics as active agents in the creation of early colonial relations.