The East India Company – Guided by a Distinguished Diplomat
Monument Tube, Fish Street Hill exit
Guided by Lisa
Walk Times
| Day | Walk Type | Start Time | End Time | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 October 2024 | Special | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Summer | Reserve Online |
| 2 November 2024 | Special | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 28 December 2024 | Special | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 1 January 2025 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 19 January 2025 | Special | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
| 7 February 2025 | Tour du Jour | 10.45 am | 12.45 pm | Winter | Reserve Online |
“The craving for power and wealth is an atavistic instinct. The lust for conquest is part of the human condition. The spirit of imperialism is not dead: it haunts the modern world and its manifestations are legion” Piers Brendon
“London Walks puts you into the hands of an expert on the particular area and topic of a tour” The New York Times
Your guide: the distinguished former diplomat Lisa Honan CBE. The walk: Lisa’s tour of the East India Company.
A former Governor of St Helena – a British Overseas Territory governed by the East India Company for 200 years – Lisa has a unique insight into the East India Company. Indeed she lived in the mansion – pictured below – that was built for East India Company Governors on St Helena in 1792. That’s Jonathan, the world’s oldest land animal, in Lisa’s front garden. She used to feed him. Jonathan pitched up not long after Napoleon checked out.
For the record, Lisa was the first woman Governor in its 500 years of history and so far the only one.
Having fed Jonathan, it’s time to stroll out to the palisades of St Helena to take a look out across the bay to Lisa’s (the Governor’s) ship, the RMS St Helena. It carried Governor Lisa and other passengers to and from St Helena. A six-day journey from Cape Town.
Ok, Governor Lisa having presented her diplomatic credentials, let’s get down to business with the walk. The former diplomat takes us to sites (sights and insights aplenty) associated with the East India Company. She lays bare its history, from 1600 to the present day.
She takes us to the courtyard where the Company first began in the 17th century. From there it’s a journey through East India Company history. How it changed what the world ate, drank, and wore through its trade with India, Indonesia, China and points beyond.
How it ruled over 300 million people in India. The battles it fought – some of them – with its private army. How it caused the Boston Tea party and sparked the desire for American independence. And there’s the file past of its people, its employees, variously called merchants, adventurers, pirates, traders, drug smugglers, and imperialists.
You go on this walk, matters of world-historical importance brush you with their wings. The East India Company wasn’t just the largest and most powerful multinational corporation in the world – it was history’s fulcrum.
And in the interests of making sure that nobody gets the wrong end of the stick: our view of the East India Company – and indeed Lisa’s view – is trenchantly summed up by John O’Farrell’s observation that it was “a sustained protection racket that went on for nearly 300 years and needed military brutality to enforce it.” And that generally British colonialism and imperialism “required and therefore cultivated a level of racism from which we have still not recovered.”
Ok, that marker put down, let’s go back, momentarily to St Helena. Happily, St Helena is an important reverb in the walk. Not least, the Napoleon connection.
Lisa’s early 19th-century forerunner Hudson Lowe was the Governor who had to guard Napoleon. (Lisa did an exhibition with the French consul at the house about their time together.) Napoleon loathed St Helena and Hudson Lowe. The only thing he liked was the coffee. He and Hudson Lowe only met six times in the six years he was there. Hudson Lowe was a Company man but approved by the Crown given who the prisoner was. There is a chandelier in the house and a wine cooler that was in Napoleon’s place never to be returned.
Also Wellington and Napoleon slept in same bed 10 years apart on St Helena. Wellington nearly drowned getting to shore. Wellington was also fighting for the Company and called into St Helena on his way back to London, having amassed a fortune from India.
You are cordially invited to meet the Governor. She’ll show you around – drawing on her distinguished diplomatic career and a year’s research on the white-hot core, here in London, of the East India Company. You’re in for a special couple of hours.
Bennett Brooks –
Friends and I just did the East India Company walking tour this morning with Lisa, and it was fantastic. Lisa has done such fascinating research into the company, and she spooled out the stories in such a compelling and thoughtful way. It was also great to be shown the historic out-of-the-way alleys and sites that are seemingly everywhere downtown and yet so hard to find if you don’t know where to look. Such a treat!! Highly recommend!
Anna –
The East India Company tour has been one of the most interesting and memorable walks I have been on over the years and Lisa was a very entertaining and knowledgeable guide. Thank you Lisa I really learnt a lot today !
Karen –
Absolutely fascinating to hear how the EIC became so powerful and basically laid the foundations of the British Empire. Lisa really knows her stuff and relays the narrative in a non-judgemental way. It’s amazing that so little is widely known about the EIC given it’s importance in British and world history – it may just as well have been running the country for 200 years. Never thought I would ever want to visit St Helena – but now I do!
Stephane Bosshart –
The English East India Company played such an important role in shaping London, the United Kingdom, and even the world that this tour is a must when visiting London.
No other guide is better suited for this tour than Lisa. From her governorship of St Helena, she possesses insider information on the trade that transited through this island. After her retirement, she spent a year and a half researching the history of the company.
During the tour, Lisa shares her knowledge with great enthusiasm and welcomes questions from the group. She ends the tour in an old pepper storage cellar which has been converted into a very nice bar and restaurant. Take the tour to find out where it is.
stephen –
Lisa was a delightful guide with a personal passion on the subject that’s enhanced by her background as Governor of St. Helena. I was awed by the power and influence of the East India Company, essentially a direct competitor for power and influence with the Crown. A fascinating tale of history brought to life by Lisa. Highly recommended.
Karyn Walker –
We joined this tour a week ago and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. It’s a very interesting topic and Lisa was a great guide. It was a real walk of discovery, visiting parts of London we hadn’t been to before, and learning how the formation of the East India Company had shaped parts of the city, and the impact on trade, commerce and significant parts of history.
Tim Gifford –
We very much enjoyed the East India Company Walk on Tuesday 22nd August and learned a great deal about the history, influence and activities of the EIC. Lisa was a charming guide who has an obvious passion for the subject and her own background with St. Helena provides a link to the power and reach of the ‘adventurer merchants’ who drove the expansion of the organisation. A fascinating true story, brought to life. Highly recommended.
Nadeem Khan –
Lisa wears her diplomatic credentials modestly. The sweep of 200+ years of history was expertly captured in the narrative built during an excellent walk, full of insights and information. The Company’s considerable legacy was well researched, and both senstivitely and honestly described. For what is perhaps a relatively ‘niche’ subject matter, you may well be surprised by how much you take away with you. Much food for thought. Would highly recommend. There is a gem of a hidden monument that also awaits..
Gary Johnston –
I did this East India walk in early May. Lisa was very knowledgable and gave us an excellent overall history of the East India Company mixed with engaging anecdotes and amusing stories. Since that time I have noticed all kinds of connections to the East India Company from pairings in Tate ritain and the Courtauld institute to the founding of the Museum of the Home by a former East India Investir. Thanks Lisa
Greg Gangi –
Lisa did a private tour for my group of 21 students from the University of North Carolina. She is an outstanding tour guide with a deep knowledge of the subject. Her former role as Governor of St. Helena gave her the time and access to explore the archives of the East India Company. St. Helena was at one point a property of the East India Company. The East India company was a fundamental pillar in the creation of the British Empire and had a profoundly negative impact on South Asia. Lisa does a great job explaining the important role of the East India Company in the growth of the British Empire while taking us to places that were utilized by the company within London. I highly recommend this tour.