Elihu Yale and his Wicked Wife

Elihu Yale is a major figure in our history, though now mostly forgotten. One of the first nabobs, (a Muslim official or governor under the Mogul empire) Yale bequeathed his name to one of the world’s most famous universities. At the same time, he left nothing to poor Catherine except the slur of branding her a “wicked wife.” But Catherine’s own background is fascinating – daughter to one of the Levant Company’s merchant adventurers who helped introduce Alicante wines to the world. Her husband’s reputation is tarnished, however, by his involvement, through the East India Company, in the Indian slave trade but the true story of Catherine and Elihu Yale is still “stranger than fiction” – as author of the Yale Trilogy, David Ebsworth, explains in this one-hour session.