ABSTRACT
A Company servant noted that 'Europeans who have long resided in India are often called East Indians'. In Bengal the issue remained unresolved, and when John William Ricketts presented his petition to Parliament in 1829 he was to do on behalf of the 'East Indians'. Ricketts' petition marked a culminating moment in the politics of petition, of identity, and of representation. Ricketts' testimony is illustrative of how differing legal statuses created such 'odious distinctions'. Ricketts was very familiar with the class divisions of Company rule, having attended the 'Military Upper Orphan School' in Calcutta, which was for the children of army officers, whilst a separate Lower Orphan School catered for the offspring of private soldiers. Ricketts argued that it had 'settled down into a fixed habit from long usage, in consequence of our exclusion from the service; and hence a feeling of illiberal prejudice has taken possession of the minds of some Europeans upon this subject'.
