In the 18th Century England, the term Nabob, a corruption of the Urdu / Hindi word nawab, meaning a governor or nobleman, quite prevalent in the Indian subcontinent was a fashionable term for men. It was mainly used to refer to men who had returned from colonial India with ample fortunes, and often a taste for lavish living and political advancement. They often made riches in a dishonest way involving cheating, conspiracy coercion while working for the East India company.
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| British Nabob .slideserve.com |
Back in England, they aped the manners and style of upper class snobbish English society and earned their fury.. Not only were they looked upon with contempt, but also severely satirized by Samuel Foote in a highly successful play, The Nabob, put on at the Haymarket in 1772. Well-known nabobs included Robert Clive, Sir Robert Fletcher, General Richard Smith, Sir Francis Sykes, and Paul Benfield and a host of others.
What is surprising is this word nabob (entered colloquial usage in England from 1612) in the early centuries travelled across the Atlantic and was used by rich Americans. In late 19th century San Francisco city had an exclusive enclave of the rich and famous on the west coast living in big mansions with many servants. The place was called Nob Hill that included famous tycoons such as Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University and other members of The Big Four who were known as nabobs, which was shortened to nob, giving the area its eventual name. The other Nabob was Ethilu Yale, Gov. of Madras, British India. His ill-gotten money was used to develop Yale College which later became Yale University,
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| Yale,Benefactor,Yale univ.fineartamerica.com |
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| VP Agnew and Prez.Nixon USA in.pinterest.com |
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| Agnew was the VP under President Nixon seattlepi.com |
William Safire in a speech written for the US Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1970, got the media attention. He described these opponents as "nattering nabobs of negativism" referring to the critics of the Nixon administration, Subsequently, ''Tricky Richard Nixon' almost faced impeachment after his clandestine role in the Water Gate Scandal. After Nixon's retirement in San Clemente, CA, he was not seen in public. The library in his name was, it is said, was almost empty. That phrase entered popular culture in the US and stuck like Gorilla Glue for the past 50 years.
The American term Natchez nabobs referred to the rich white male plantation owners, lawyers, and politicians who lived in and around the Natchez District of the lower Mississippi River valley of North America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Obviously the term was borrowed from the British. Historian say that there were 55 filthy rich nabobs of note in the 1850s in the south who had continued their legacy and kingship through intermarriage's and joint investments in slaves, lands banks, ships, and trains.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_nabobs
https://www.seattlepi.com/al-did-i-say-that/article/Did-I-Say-That-The-politics-of-nabobs-13860348.phphttps://www.navrangindia.in/2024/06/elihu-yaleslave-trader-in-india-and.html
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