On Tuesday 30th October the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland celebrated the life and work of the late Professor Sir Christopher Bayly FBA, with the award of the inaugural Bayly Prize and the posthumous launch of Sir Christopher’s book, Remaking the Modern World 1900-2015: Global Connections and Comparisons.

The Bayly Prize is for an outstanding doctoral thesis on an Asian topic completed at a British university in the year prior to the award. In this inaugural year the prize was presented to Dr Johannes Lotze for his thesis, Translation of Empire: Mongol Legacy, Language Policy, and the Early Ming World Order, 1368-1453. The shortlist of five for the prize included Dr Kyle Jackson, former PhD student at the University of Warwick History Department, and Dr Callie Wilkinson, former PhD student at the University of Cambridge and now Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Warwick History Department.

Kyle Jackson (University of Warwick) for Colonial Conquest and Religious Entanglement: A Mizo History from Northeast India (c. 1890-1920). The judges said: “This high-quality piece of historical research draws on indigenous language sources and deploys indigenous terminology to re-centre the history of North-eastern India. Dr Jackson has an eye for a good story, and the thesis is written in elegant and fluid prose, making it a pleasure to read.”

Callie Wilkinson (University of Cambridge) for The Residents of the British East India Company at Indian Royal Courts, c. 1798-1818. The judges said: “This work is distinctive because it refreshes the study of Residents and indirect rule in India by applying new historical methods to the subject. Dr Wilkinson provides us with a rich and nuanced picture of East India Company rule in the subcontinent that moves us away from the main centres of EIC power and beyond traditional subjects of historical study.​”

For more details, please see the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland announcement.