In response, the European and Anglo-Indian Defence Association held its first meeting on 29 March 1883, at the Town Hall of Calcutta.
[5] Nevertheless, the Association claimed that its formation was necessitated "by the introduction into the Supreme Legislative Council, without reference to them, of a Bill to deprive them of one of their most cherished rights".
"[6] In the end, the Association's efforts succeeded in winning British and European subjects the right to trial by a jury of their own countrymen.
Sir Hugh Rahere Panckridge, barrister-at-law and later judge of the Calcutta High Court observed some decades later: "No unofficial European has ever enjoyed the unquestioning confidence of his community to the same degree as "King" Keswick.
[8] According to Sir Henry Cotton, the Association was campaigning to defend British planters accused of physically assaulting Indian workers, leading to ill-feeling between races.