Many members would continue to pay the membership fee even when they were away for longer than a decade, so that they could continue to preserve this connection to England and use it when in England on visits to family and friends. A portion of British society also often saw these men as no longer being British enough to socialize with. Those returning from India often struggled with not being treated with the same amount of importance and luxury as in India, so they enjoyed being around others who were going through the same experience. They would use the East India United Service Club to reconnect with old acquaintances and to find a place of refuge from British society. Many men who returned from India felt out of place in England, just as Jos Sedley does. Jos Sedley, who loved frequenting clubs after his return from India, would likely be found here. Kitton provides an etching of the East India United Service Club, a place where those returning from India, also called Nabobs, could readjust to British society. Kitton, 'The East India United Service, Wyndham, and Salisbury Clubs, St. Thackeray uses the illustrations of the portrait of Jos Sedley on an elephant and its movement in the novel to convey the connection between these two quests for excessive luxury and wealth by depicting Becky as a woman ready to capture a man in her web, and Jos as a colonizer as well as a large prize himself that Becky wishes to attain.į. His gluttony and corruption of India for wealth mirrors Becky Sharp’s quest to capture a man for his wealth. In this way, he embodies the consumer culture of his time. Jos Sedley in William Thackeray’s Vanity Fair works as a collector for the East India Trading Company. There were so many men going to India to seek their fortune that they soon made up a large portion of British society, emphasizing the importance of consumer culture during this time. Many people were able to become wealthy by going to India, attaining wealth by trading and amassing goods that could be purchased inexpensively and sold at a high price back in Britain.

Description: From the early 15th century to the late 19th century, the East India Trading Company played a large role in Britain’s economy and society.

Vanity fair 1848