Your review of India and its independence (Harrow Times advertising feature, August 14) began in 1757, when the East India Company began to control India.

But there was an earlier, happier period of history, which involved a resident of Stanmore, John Wolstenholme.

In the early 1600s he was a member of the East India Company, which established trading relations between England and India, a trading relationship between equal partners.

Harrow’s Indian population and the harmonious relations we now enjoy have their roots in the efforts of John Wolstenholme and his fellows long ago.

John Wolstenholme’s tomb is in the ruined brick church of St John the Evangelist in Stanmore, which is open to the public on Saturday afternoons during the summer, and his effigy is in the present church.

Mick Oliver

Woodcroft Ave, Stanmore