Old Fort William in Bengal, a selection of official documents dealing with its history
[*X\ \f ^?<3e*3ie>i3fc<se*isu<*>i*>3a CJ 4J o B CJ to CJ ■■^<3fC<3' .......i.. ................ »....< ..........»......■■■ i. i, ..»»,... .I,.. i,.»., 1. 1..» i...n ii itl»»»H«M»»li».«n>«»»»«.nm«..«.iiiil >MHWmill* OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL INDIAN RECORDS SERIES OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL A SELECTION OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS DEALING WITH ITS HISTORY EDITED BY THE LATE C R. WILSON, MA., D.Litt. OFFICER IN CHARGE OF THE RECORDS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA AUTHOR OF 'THE EARLY ANNALS OF THE ENGLISH IN BENGAL,' ETC. VOL. I. PUBLISHED FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1906 //,-, LIST OF PLATES (at end of VOL. II.) I. View of Fort William. A reproduction of an engraving by Gerard Vandergucht, 1736, from a painting by George Lambert and Samuel Scott, now at the India Office, Westminster. II. Another View. Reproduced from an engraving by I. Van Ryne, published in 1754. III. Plan of Calcutta in 1742, showing the Seven Batteries. IV. Plan of Calcutta and the Adjacent Country, 1742. From a MS. drawing by Foresti and Ollifres in the British Museum (K cxv. 40). V. Bartholomew Plaisted's Projected Fortification in 1747. From the Orme MSS. (P. V. ii. 15) in the India Office Library. VI. Plan of Calcutta with the Palisades. From a MS. drawing by Foresti and Ollifres in the British Museum (K cxv. 41). VII. Plan of Fort William, Calcutta, 1753, with a Project for the Fortifying of the Fort. A portion of a MS. plan ' surveyed and drawn by William Wells, Lieutenant of the Artillery Company in Bengal,' now in the British Museum (K cxv. 42). The scale has been considerably reduced. VIII. Plan of Fort William and Part of the City of Calcutta. This reproduces on a reduced scale the whole of the plan described under No. VII., but with the omission of the projected fortification. IX. Calcutta in 1756. From the Orme MSS. (P.V. ii. 16) in the India Office Library. LIST OF PLATES X. Plan for the Intelligence of the Military Operations at Calcutta when attacked and taken by Seerajah Dowlet, 1756. From Orme's History of the Military Transactions oj the British Nation in Indostan. XI. Fort William, S.E. Angle, 1756. Showing the position of the Black Hole. XII. Scrafton's Plan of Calcutta. From the Orme MSS. (P.V. ii. 14) in the India Office Library. In Orme's list it is described as ' done for Scrafton : very imperfect.' XIII. Plan of Calcutta and its Environs, 1757. From Orme's History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan. XIV. Holwell's Monument as originally designed. XV. Fort William and Writers' Buildings in 1786. From a coloured engraving by Thomas Daniell. XVI. Fort William, East Face, in 1786. From a coloured engraving by Thomas Daniell. XVII. Fort William, River Face, in 1787. From a coloured engraving by Thomas Daniell. XVIII. Plan of the Custom House, 1S19. XIX. Roskell Bayne's Plan of the Old Fort and Neighbourhood. Reproduced from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. 52, part 1. XX. Plan showing Roskell Bayne's Excavations, 1882. Reproduced from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. 52, part 1. XXI, XXII. Remains of Old Fort William. Reproduced from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. 52, part 1. XXIII. Rough Sketch of the Remains of the N.E. Bastion, by Roskell Bayne. Reproduced from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. 52, part 1. LIST OF PLATES XXIV. Plan showing C. R. Wilson's Excavations, 1892. Reproduced from the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. 62, part 1. XXV. Razing the Old Fort in 1895. From a photograph. XXVI. Remains of the Wall and Gun Platforms, 1896. From a photograph. XXVII. Remains of the S.W. Bastion, 1896. From a photograph. XXVIII. Another View of the Same. From a photograph. XXIX. Plan showing C. R. Wilson's Excavations, 1896. XXX. Site of the Black Hole. From a photograph. XXXI. The Holwell Monument as re-erected by Lord Curzon. From a photograph. XXXII. Plan of the Old Fort with the Existing Buildings, 1903 XXXIII. Plan of Fort William, 1756. ERRATUM Page 32, line 3 note, for 1627 read 1697. PREFACE. Had Dr. C. R. Wilson lived to complete these volumes, his minute knowledge of the early history of Calcutta would have enabled him to give in the introduction an interesting picture, not only of the growth of Fort William, but also of the official and social life of the settlement which clustered round it. His untimely death has left his intentions in this respect uncertain, and his papers throw no light on the manner in which he would have treated the subject. In these circumstances it has been thought better to let Dr. Wilson speak for himself, in however fragmentary a fashion, than to prefix to his work a literary intro- duction by another hand. A few months before his death he prepared, at the instance of Lord Curzon, a note on Old Fort William and the Black Hole, which was intended to serve as a brief guide to the model of the fort executed under Dr. Wilson's supervision for the Victoria Memorial Hall and also to the few remains of the old fort which may now be traced in situ. In the following pages the greater part of this pamphlet has been re- printed without material alteration or addition. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. NO. PAGE 1. Extracts from the Letters wrote to the Company by their Agents in Bengal from August 1685 to January 1708, taken by me Rjobert] 0[rme] out of a Book in the India house, in which the Letters from all the presidencies in India are abstracted 1 2. The Court of Directors Sanction the Building of a Factory at Sutanutl 4 3. The Same ........ 4 4. The Superiority of the Position at Calcutta - - - - 5 5- Early Days in Calcutta ------- 6 6. Bengal not to be settled till the War is over - -7 7. The Business in Bengal to be concentrated at one Factory - - 8 8. The Unsettled Condition of the Sutanutl Settlement - - - 8 9. Four Victualling Houses allowed - - - - "9 10. Charnock continues at Sutanutl contrary to all Reason - - 10 11. The English at Calcutta have got their Farman - - - 12 12. Sir John Goldsborough and the Papists - - - 13 13. Sir John Goldsborough and the Buildings at Calcutta - - 13 14. Stones wanted to mend the River Bank - - - 14 15. The Advantages expected from Farming the  with Brick - - - - 16 18. Sutanutl to be the Chief Station in Bengal - - - - 16 19. Buildings at Sutanutl in the Early Part of 1695 - - 17 20. The Improvement of the Revenues - - - - 19 21. The Rebellion of S'obha Simha and the Company's Affairs in Bengal 19 22. During the Rebellion ; Building the Fort - - -' - 21 23. The Advantage of Hiring the Adjacent Land - -  Fortified Settlement with Frugality - - 28 28. The Same ._.-.... 29 29. Khwajah Sarhad sent again to Zabardast Khan - - 29 30. A New Cook-room built - - - • - - - 3° 30*. Reconsideration of the Fortifications - - - - 44 45. Taxation and Revenue based upon Protection and Security - - 47 46. Strengthen your Fortifications and Increase your Revenues without Delay --------- 48 47. Arrival of a new duvan. The Fort strong enough to prevent a Surprise -------- 49  refuse to give to every Little Rascal - 51 51. A Mud Wall built Round the Burying-g round - - - 52 52. The Flag hoisted at Fort William - - - - 52 53. Instructions for winding up the Old Company's Affairs - - 53 54. Petty  make Cables on the Company's Ropewalk 59  in 1706 - - 63 66. A Committee appointed to look after the Building of  in the Three  Account of Fortifications and Revenues in 1707 - - - 68 yi- Suggestions for the r urther Strengthening of  Fortifications and Buildings -  Buildings and Fortifications in 1709 - - - 77 80. Instructions from the  Draughts of Fort William - - 82 85. Clearing the Ground before the Fort - - - - 82 CONTENTS xiii  Fortifications, Buildings, and Revenues -------- 85 90. Fort William is Strong Enough, and will be made  Revenues in Bengal in 1712 -------- 88 93. The Same --------89 94. Instructions from the Court touching Fortifications, Buildings, and Revenues -------- go 95.  Buildings, and Revenues  Court about Buildings, Revenues, and a Hospital - ------95 102. The Long Row in the Fort to be Rebuilt - - - - 97 103. [30. 131- [32. 133- 134. 135- [36. 137- [38. [39- [40. [41. [42. 143- t44- 145- [46. [47- [48. U9- [50. [51. [52. ■S3- [54- :55- [56. t57- [58. [59- [60. [61. [62. 163. [64. t65. [66. 167. 170. [71. [72. 73- [74. 175- [76. 177- Repairs at Perrins ...-.-. Account of Buildings in 1725 ------ Some Repairs and a New Palanquin-house - - - - Account of the Dock in 1726 ------ Comments by the Court on recent Repairs and Buildings More Repairs and New Stairs along Shore - Account of Buildings in 1727 ------ Comments by the Court on Accounts, Buildings, and the Vice of  to be assessed -------- Account of Fortifications and Buildings - Observations by the Court touching Buildings Increased Accommodation ------ The Court sanction Repairs to the Buildings in the Fort, and the Establishment of the Charity School - Account of Buildings in 1729 ------ Buildings in 1730 ------- Slow Progress in 1730 ------- The Court approve of the New Veranda and the New Buildings for Chintz ---...-_ Buildings in 1731 --._... Observations by the Court touching Buildings and Revenues Account of the Buildings in 1731 - Report of the Ground between Perrin's Garden and SutanutI Account of Buildings in 1732 ------ Observations by the Court on the Buildings in 173 1 - Buildings in 1733 ------- Account of Buildings in 1733 ------ Observations by the Court on Calcutta Buildings in 1731, 1732 Account of the Buildings in 1734 - Buildings in 1735 ---.-.. Account of Buildings in 1735 ------ The Court consider that the Repairs to the Factory House should have been finished, Last Year - Repairs in 1736-37 ------- Explanations from Calcutta The Factory House finished ' - Company's Small Pinnace to be sunk - The Great Storm of 1737 ------ Sad Consequences from the Great Storm - The Court ask for a Description and Plan of the Factory House The President's House bought for Warehouses - Observations by the Court on the Great Storm Further Account of the Sad Effects of the Great Storm Buildings in 1739 ------- Charity School and Hospital used as Warehouses Further Observations by the Court on the Consequences of the Great Storm -------- New Godowns to be begun ------ Instructions from the Court touching Fortifications in 1741 - Account of Buildings in 1741 ------ Instructions from the Court touching Fortifications in 1742 - Orme's Account of the Maratha Ditch .... PAGE Il8 Il8 119 119 I20 122 123 124 126 127 128 128 130 131 131 132 133 134 134 135 I36 137 138 138 139 I40 140 141 141 142 143 143 144 145 145 145 147 148 148 149 I50 151 152 153 154 154 155 155 I56 CONTENTS xv NO. 178. Measures taken for the Security of Calcutta in 1742 - 179. Brief Accounts of the Measures taken for securing Calcutta in 1742 - 180. Proposals for fortifying Calcutta - 181. Further Account of the Measures taken for securing Calcutta in 1742 182. Cost of the several Flans of Fortification proposed 183. Major Knipe on the Defences of Calcutta - 184. The Plans of Fortification referred to the Court for Decision 185. Repairs in February and March, 1743 - 186. Measures taken for the Security of Calcutta in March, 1743 - 187. Observations by the Court on the Defences of Calcutta 188. Account of the Measures taken for securing Calcutta in 1743 189. Ground to be measured - 190. Observations by the Court on the Precautions taken against the Marathas -------- 191. Batterys ordered to be repaired and Soldiers allowed for the Defence of the Ditch -------- 192. The Moors prevented from passing through the English Bounds in their Pursuit of the Ostenders - 193. The Court reiterate their Approval of the Precautions taken against the Marathas ....... 194. The Council at Calcutta consider that New Works would cost too much ._...--. 195. Proceedings at Calcutta in 1745 - 196. Bartholomew Plaisted to survey Calcutta - 197. Account of the Proceedings in Calcutta in 1745 198. Additional Fortifications to be made if necessary 199. Plaisted's Plan for strengthening the Fort 200. Report of Mr. Plaisted's Proposals - 201. Fascine Patteries to be made to strengthen the New Godowns 202. Plaisted's Opinion about the Proposed Palisades 202. Part of the Barracks to be made Bomb-proof 203. Observations by the Court on the Loss of Madras 204. The Palisades - - - 205. Rear-Admiral Boscawen sent out 206. Buzars to be repaired - 207. Captain Fenwick's Views on the Defences of Calcutta 208. Accounts of the Fortifications and Revenues in 1747 - 209. Plaisted complains that he has been suspended for doing his Duty • 210. The Town of Calcutta to be put in Order 211. Establishment of the Artillery Company and Appointment of a Chief Engineer - ...... 212. Mr. Hampton appointed Surveyor. Prison to be repaired 213. Boscawen and the Defences of Fort William - 214. Fresh Plans not to be executed till Further Orders 215. Plaisted represents his Case to Harwell 216. The Council ordered to wait for Major Mosman 217. Major Mosman in Calcutta 218. Minor Works - 219. Plaisted requests Permission to return to Europe 220. Cost of Municipal Repairs - 221. Benjamin Robins is sent out as Fmgineer General 222. Resolutions on the Nabob's Coming on this Side of the River 223. The Court consider that the Inhabitants should pay Part of the Expence of the Fortifications 224. Account of Minor Works and Repairs in 1749 ■ac;k [66 [66 [68 "O 1 / 2 [73 ■ 7 3 76 [78 [78 (So [Hi [81 i8s 186 '$7 [87 [90 km 191 193 [93 1 94 95 [96 [96 201 202 ?o4 xvi CONTENTS NO. PAGE 225. Lawrence Witherington on the Defence of Calcutta - - - 228 226. Drains to be opened - ..... 229 227. Account of Works in the First Half of 1750 - 229 228. Past Proceedings approved. Further Proceedings to await the Arrival of Mr. Robins ...... 230 229. Purchase of Timber - - .... 231 230. Mr. Robins in Calcutta ...... 231 231. Death of Mr. Robins at Fort St. David .... 234 232. Account of the Proceedings of Mr. Robins in Calcutta - 235 233. A Committee of Works to be  Death of Mr. Robins and the return of the Timber ...... 237 236. Suitable Provision to be made for Bartholomew Plaisted - - 238 237. Instructions from the  not necessary at present. Plaisted reap- pointed in his Former Posts ..... 242 240. The Council report the Condition of the Marine Yard to the Court - 243 241. Perrin's Garden sold at Outcry ..... 243 242. Caroline Frederick Scott appointed Engineer-General in Place of Mr. Robins deceased ..... 244 243. Instructions to Colonel Scott ------ 245 244. Further Instructions to Colonel Scott ----- 248 245. The first Fort William in Bengal has to-day almost completely vanished from the sight and the memory of the citizens of Calcutta. Few persons know what the fort was like or where it stood. Fewer still, I believe, know that a fragment of one of its arcades is still standing within the compound of the General Post Office. In India frequent changes make short memories. Yet there are reasons of special force why the first Fort William in Bengal should not be forgotten. The old fort claims regard and com- memoration from our filial piety. Modern Calcutta is its child and heir. It was the nucleus round which the city grew, and was the main guarantee of the permanence, safety, and prosperity of the early settlement. The old fort further claims regard and com- memoration from our natural compassion with the suffering of a great human tragedy, for within its walls was situated the Black Hole prison, in which, on the stifling night of June 20, 1756, 123 brave souls were needlessly and cruelly done to death through the stupidity of those in charge of them. Of late, however, much has been done to discharge our long neglected duty of regard and commemoration to the old fort. Its principal lines and features have been marked out, the site of the prison has been covered with polished black marble and a tablet placed on the wall above, and a white marble replica of the obelisk erected by Governor Holwell over the grave of the sufferers has been re-erected on the original site by His Excellency Lord Curzon. The models, which have been prepared for the Victoria Memorial Hall, of the first Fort William in Bengal and the Church of St. Anne represent efforts of another sort to enable modern Calcutta to realize more clearly the vanished past. xviii OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL The first Fort William was not built in a day nor yet in a year, neither was it the work of a single man. The idea of establishing a fortified post somewhere near the mouth of the Hugh, as the best means of protecting the English trade from the oppressive exactions of the Nawab of Bengal and his officials, seems to have been first suggested by William Hedges, who was Agent and Governor of the East India Company's affairs in the Bay of Bengal during the years 1682-1684. The choice of Chutanuttee, or Calcutta, to be the site of the fort must be ascribed to Job Charnock, who actually began hostilities with the Nawab. Under Charnock's direction the English withdrew from Hugli, and after occupying Chutanuttee temporarily in December 1686, and again in November 1687, at last permanently settled there, on the 24th August, 1690. In 1693, after Job Charnock's death, Sir John Goldesborough visited Chutanuttee and found it in great disorder. No permission had been received from the Mogul, or the Nawab, definitely allowing the settlement, and no sort of fort had been begun. Accordingly, Sir John ordered a spot to be enclosed with a mud wall whereon to build a factory, when permission should be granted, and bought a house for the Company, which he intended to enlarge and use for offices. In 1696, when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Charles Eyre was Agent at Calcutta, the long delayed permission to build a fort was virtually conceded by the Nawab, owing to the dangerous insurrection of Rajah Subah Sing, and a little later a nishdn1 was received from Prince Azim-ush-shan for a settlement of the Company's rights at Chutanuttee, on the basis of which they rented the three adjoining towns, expecting that the revenue arising from them would defray the charges of the small garrison required for the protection of the factory. But there were still many difficulties in the way of building the fort. The Company wished to have one sufficient to protect their servants and property, but they feared to attempt fortifications on a large scale lest their appearance might excite jealousy in the native government. For military reasons the Directors recommended that the fort should be in the form of a pentagon ; but the Council in Calcutta thought 1 Nishdn, literally a 'sign' in the form of a sealed document, or flag, or other emblem from the local authority of a district or province. Hunter, History of British India, Vol. II., p. 51, note. OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL xix it safer to adhere to a rectangular shape. There was also the difficulty of finding trustworthy officers to carry out any scheme. In 1699 the Company determined to make a great effort. Bengal was declared a separate presidency, and its fort was to be called Fort William in honour of the King. Sir Charles Eyre, who had returned to Europe, was sent out again with ample instructions, means, and powers. But he returned hastily after seven months' stay in India and left the work of building Fort William to his successor, John Beard. At the beginning of 1704 John Beard was succeeded by the Rotation Government,1 which added the two western bastions and the greater portion of the river wall. Under the three succeeding Governors, Anthony Weltden, John Russell, and Robert Hedges, the fort was completed, the latest additions being made in 1716 or 1717. The earliest portion of the fort was the south-east bastion and the adjacent walls. The north-east bastion was built by Governor Beard about 1701. He also in 1702 began the Factory or Govern- ment House in the middle of the fort. This ' piece of architecture ' was completed by the Rotation Government in 1706. The north- west and south-west bastions were put together hastily at the death of Aurangzeb in 1707. The church of St. Anne, which stood immediately outside the fort before the east curtain wall, was built in the days of the Rotation Government, and con- secrated on the Sunday after Ascension Day, June 5, 1709. In 1709, too, the great tank in the green before the fort, the modern Dalhousie Square, was extended and deepened, and the earth taken out was used to fill up the space between the two new bastions, the bank being faced with rubble and ballast. The river wall was begun in February, 1710, forming a wharf before the fort faced with brick and protected by a breast-work and line of guns. The western curtain, begun by Governor Weltden in 1710 or 171 1, was completed in 1712. A letter from Bengal, dated December 10, 1712, states that ' the wharf is finished but not the breast-work on it. The strong landing-stage and the crane at the end of it, which will work at all times of the tide, are nearly done. Within the fort all that remains is a little work 1 The Rotation Government was conducted by a Council of eight, of which the two chairmen presided in alternate weeks. xx OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL on one of the curtains with the construction of a broad walk round the walls and the reconstruction of the long row or central range of lodgings, running from the east to the west curtain, which are now decayed and ready to fall.' Another letter from Bengal in 1716 states that ' the long row of lodgings for the writers is finished and commodious, and that the breast-work will be finished.' Here, practically, the building of the fort ended. No ditch was ever made round it. It was, therefore, of very little real use as a fortification, especially as it was commanded by the church and several houses outside it. The Court of Directors not unjustly criticised Fort William in 1713 as making ' a very pompous show to the waterside by high turrets of lofty buildings,' but having ' no real strength or power of defence.' The subsequent additions to the fort were made not to strengthen its defences but to increase its warehouse accommodation. The import and export warehouses were situated in the arcades built within the south curtain. In March, 1729, the warehouses were further enlarged by building a verandah before them in the south- east corner of the fort, which undoubtedly obstructed in some degree the way to the south-east bastion. In 1741, there being still a want of storage-room, Governor Braddyll built a very large warehouse against the south end of the fort. It extended from the south-east to the south-west bastion and projected 100 or 120 feet beyond them enclosing a large area. ' By these means the two bastions were rendered of very little use for defending the south end of the fort, for the curtain between them was now become the inner wall of a warehouse and a large passage broke through it into the fort, by way of a door to this new warehouse.' From this time onwards the fort remained practically unchanged in shape till it was taken by Siraj-ud-Daula in 1756. In order to picture Fort William as it then was, we must remember that in those days the river Hugh flowed much further east than it does now, and where the present Strand Road is was then deep under water. The actual site of the fort was the ground now occupied by the General Post Office, the New Government Offices, the Custom House, and the East Indian Railway House. The warehouses built along the south side of the fort skirted Koila Ghat Street. The north side was in Fairlie OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL xxi Place. The east front looked out on Clive Street and Dalhousie Square, which in those days was known as the Lai Bagh, or the Park.1 The fort was in shape an irregular tetragon. Its north side was 340 feet long ; its south side 485 feet ; its east and west sides each 710 feet. At the four corners were small square bastions, which were connected by curtain walls about four feet thick and eighteen feet high. They were built of thin tile-bricks strongly cemented together. Each of the four bastions mounted ten guns, and the main east gate, which projected, carried five. The bank of the river was armed with heavy cannon mounted in embrasures on a wall of solid masonry, and the space between this river wall and the west curtain was closed at each end by small cross walls with palisaded gates. There were, however, as has been said, no proper ditches or military out-works of any kind to protect the other three sides of the fort, Within, the fort was cut into two sections by a block of low buildings running east and west, and chambers and arcades were built all round against the curtain walls, their roofs serving as ramparts. The two sections were connected by a narrow passage. The northern and smaller section of the fort contained the magazine for arms, the military stores, the shop for medicine, the smith's shop, and the like. It had one small river gate near which stood the flag-staff. In the centre were the armoury and laboratory. The block of buildings, which separated the north section from the south, known as the Long Row, contained the damp, unhealthy lodgings of the young gentlemen in the Company's service. These were the Writers' Buildings of the first half of the eighteenth century. The south section of the fort had two gates, one leading to the river, the steps, and the landing-stage, with the Company's crane ' to work at all times of the tide ' at the end ; the other opening out upon the great avenue to the eastward, the road which we now variously call Dalhousie Square North, Lai Bazaar, Bow Bazaar, and Baita- khana. The buildings on the south side of the fort were used for storing the Company's goods. The export and import warehouses, built on outside the south curtain in 1741, followed the line of Koila Ghat Street. Of the arcades within the south curtain a 1 The tank is still called Lai Dighi, and this has passed into common usage as the vernacular designation of the entire square. xxii OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL portion is still standing in the yard of the General Post Office, being used as a shed for the wagons. West of the warehouse was the carpenter's yard. In the middle of the south section of the fort was the Governor's House, which Hamilton describes as ' the best and most regular piece of architecture that I ever saw in India.' This building formed three sides of a rectangle. Its west and principal face was 245 feet long. In the centre of this face was the great gate, and from it a colonnade ran down to the water-gate and the landing-stage.1 Entering the great gate and turning to your left, you ascended the grand staircase which led to the hall and the principal rooms of the factory. The south- east wing contained the apartments of the Governor. A raised cloister ran round the three sides of the court enclosed within the building. On either side of the east gate of the fort there extended a double row of arches parallel to the east curtain wall. The first row of arches served to contain the range of rooms built against the wall, the second row of arches formed a verandah, or piazza, west of the rooms. The Black Hole tragedy occurred in the rooms to the south of the gate, which were formed by dividing off the space between the curtain wall and the first row of arches by a number of cross walls. Each of these arches measured 8 feet 9 inches. The first four arches formed the court of guard and were left open to the piazza before them. The next nine arches formed three rooms, communicating with each other, used for the soldiers' barracks. They were separated from the piazza before them by a small dwarf wall or parapet wall, built between the arches. The fourteenth and fifteenth arches were completely walled in and used as the Black Hole or military prison. This room was the most southern of the series. Its east side was the curtain wall. On its south side was a blank cross wall built between the curtain and the south pier of the fifteenth arch. Its north side was a similar wall having a door opening inwards giving entrance to the prison from the barracks. OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL xxiii the centre of each. Along the east wall of the barracks and the Black Hole was a wooden platform about six feet broad, raised three or four feet from the ground and open underneath. South of the Black Hole there were no more rooms, the remaining space being taken up by a straight staircase fifty feet long, built against the east curtain wall, leading to the south-east bastion. The verandah, or piazza, which ran all along the west of the rooms, was low and clumsy, but it protected them from the sun and the rain. Its arches were wider than those which formed the west side of the rooms, and measured n feet 3 inches. Such was the old fort as it stood by the river side in the first half of the eighteenth century, and such it remained till the year 1756, when Siraj-ud-Daula, Nawab of Bengal, attacked and took the settle- ment. The settlers were quite unprepared. At first they vainly tried to defend the whole of the English quarter, but they were soon forced to abandon positions which were easily turned by the over- whelming numbers of the enemy, and to withdraw to the fort. There all was confusion. It seemed almost impossible to hold the fort, but no one could decide what should now be done. Governor Drake and the majority of the English residents hurriedly made their escape to the ships in the river, leaving Holwell and some 170 others to their fate.' After a brief but gallant struggle the place was taken. On the evening of the 20th June, the Nawab entered the fort in his litter by the north river gate. Holwell had three interviews with him. After much useless discussion the Nawab retired to rest, giving orders that the prisoners should be secured for the night, but that no harm should happen to them. What followed may best be told in Holwell's own words : * As soon as it was dark, we were all, without distinction, directed by the guard over us to collect ourselves into one body and sit down quietly under the arched verandah, or piazza, to the west of the Black Hole prison, and the barracks to the left of the court of guard, and just over against the windows of the Governor's easterly apartments. Besides the guard over us, another was placed at the foot of the stairs at the south end of this verandah, leading up to the south-east bastion, to prevent any of us escaping that way. On the parade (where you will remember the two twenty-four pounders stood) were also drawn b xxiv OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL up about four or five hundred gunmen with lighted matches. At this time the factory was in flames to the right and left of us, to the right the armoury and laboratory, to the left the carpenter's yard, though at this time we imagined it was the cotta warehouses.1 ' They ordered us all to rise up and go into the barracks to the left of the court of guard. The barracks have a large wooden platform for the soldiers to sleep on, and are open to the west by arches and a small parapet-wall, corresponding to the arches of the verandah without. In we went most readily, and were pleasing ourselves with the prospect of passing a comfortable night on the platform, little dreaming of the infernal apartments in reserve for us, for we were no sooner all within the barracks than the guards advanced to the inner arches and parapet-wall, and, with their muskets presented, ordered us to go into the room at the southernmost end of the barracks, commonly called the Black Hole prison, whilst others from the court of guard, with clubs and drawn scimitars, pressed upon those of us next to them. This stroke was so sudden, so unexpected, and the throng and pressure so great upon us next the door of the Black Hole prison, that there was no resisting it, but, like one agitated wave impelling another, we were obliged to give way and enter ; the rest followed like a torrent, few amongst us, the soldiers excepted, having the least idea of the dimensions of a place we had never seen, for if we had, we should at all events have rushed upon the guard and been, as the lesser evil, by our own choice, cut to pieces. ' Figure to yourself, if possible, the situation of 146 wretches, exhausted by continual fatigue and action, thus crammed together in a cube of about eighteen feet, in a close sultry night in Bengal, shut up to the eastward and southward (the only quarters from whence air could reach us) by dead walls and by a wall and door to the north, open only to the westward by two windows strongly barred with iron, from which we could receive scarce any the least circulation of fresh air.' At six o'clock the next morning, when the door of the prison was opened, only twenty-three persons were found still alive. The 1 Here Holwell tells the affecting story of how Leach, the Company's smith, who had made his escape, returned to show Holwell the way to escape, too, and how in the end they both preferred to stay and share the fate of their fellow-prisoners. OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL xxv bodies of the dead were promiscuously thrown into the ditch of an unfinished ravelin in front of the east gate, and covered with earth. On this spot Holwell subsequently erected an obelisk. The remaining history of the fort is soon told. While in the possession of the Nawab some of the inner buildings were demolished and a mosque erected, but after the recovery of Calcutta the place returned to its original uses. In June, 1758, the Company's goods were all removed and the place was entirely given up to the Military for barracks. Towards the end of 1759, orders were given to build slight apartments on ' the Cotta Godowns and the Long Row ' for the reception of the officers of Colonel Coote's battalion, and in 1760 the space between the East Gate and the Black Hole prison was made into a temporary church. By the beginning of 1767, all the military were withdrawn from the place, in order that it might be converted into a Custom House, and various buildings were erected to adapt it to its new uses. From this time onwards its fortunes steadily declined. The river gradually receded, and the tide of life left it to flow in other channels. It was part of the older and humbler order of things, and the new and victorious generation disdained its poor sad walls of thin brick. It at length disappeared during the reforming administration of the Marquess of Hastings. The foundation-stone of the new Custom House was laid on Friday, February 19, 1819, with imposing Masonic ceremonies, and all Calcutta congratulated itself upon the vast improvement thus effected in the appearance of the city. At the beginning of 182 1 a further improvement was effected by pulling down the old obelisk erected by Holwell to mark the spot where those who perished in the Black Hole had been buried. The Calcutta Journal for April 6, 1821, informs its readers of this last improvement with evident satisfaction, but on April 11, a writer signing himself ' Britannus ' is rightly indignant at this ' act of sacrilege ' and hopes that the tombs of Job Charnock and Surgeon Hamilton ' will not undergo a similar process of conservancy.' From this time onward for some eighty years, Calcutta remained without even a sculptured tablet to the memory of those 123 of her citizens who perished faithful to their duty. Well-informed 62 xxvi OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL writers made contributions from time to time to the local journals and periodicals about the early history of the city, but they failed to attract much popular attention. In 1882, a determined attempt to fix the site of the Black Hole prison was made by Mr. R. R. Bayne, C.E., of the East Indian Railway Company, who, in the course of erecting the railway offices in Fairlie Place, came across the foundations of the whole of the north end of the fort. He carefully traced out the walls, the slopes of the north-east and north-west bastions, the little river gate, and the central building used as the armoury. He thus settled the topography of the north end of the fort, and from this he attempted to infer the topography of the south end. His views were adopted by Mr. H. E. Busteed in his charming ' Echoes from Old Calcutta,' and have in consequence become familiar to the public. But they were, however, altogether in- correct with regard to the south end of the fort and the site of the Black Hole. The excavations of Mr. Bayne and the writings of Mr. Busteed aroused considerable interest in the old fort, and during the next few years a number of attempts were made to clear up the doubtful points in topography, particularly the position of the east or main gate of the fort, and the Holwell monument which stood in front of it. No real progress, however, was made till the year 1889, when Mr. T. R. Munro discovered in the King's Library in the British Museum a large map of old Calcutta, dated 1753, on the scale of 100 feet to the inch. This map was drawn by Lieutenant Wells of the Company's Artillery, and was designed to show a project of a new fort by Colonel Scott, the Engineer at the time. But it also shows the old fort in great detail. Mr. Munro, at once recognising the importance of this plan, had a tracing of it prepared which he deposited with the Public Works Department,, and at the same time presented a photograph of it to the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The writer of this note first began to study the topography of the old fort in 1891. In that year a portion of the Custom House was pulled down, and the ground opened up for laying down the foundations of the new offices of the Calcutta Collectorate. These: excavations brought to light the foundations of the east gate,. OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL xxvii and the portions of the fort south and west of it. With the copy of the large plan of the fort made by Wells in 1753, it was easy for me to trace out all the walls. After determining the topography of the east gate and the structures south of it, including the Black Hole, I investigated and fixed the true positions of the Long Row, where the writers had their lodgings, which cut the fort into two, the Factory or Government House in the centre, where the Governor had his apartments or offices, also the curtain walls, especially the south curtain wall with old arcades within it, which are still standing. In 1895-1896, when the old house, which was used to store the Post Office records, was pulled down to make room for the new building, I was able to test the accuracy of my previous conclusions and trace out clearly the lines of the south- west bastion of the fort. The excavations were this time made with great care. None of the walls were cut away, and the lines of the curtains, the slopes of the bastion, the ramp of the staircase, the river wall and gun platforms could be seen in clear unbroken continuity. My conclusions were placed before Government and the public. It was perceived that at last sufficient evidence was now forth- coming to fix beyond all doubt the sites of the Black Hole and the Holwell monument, and to determine the rest of the topography of the fort. On February 28, 1900, a special meeting, at which Lord Curzon was present, was convened in the yard of the General Post Office by His Excellency's order to consider the whole question. His Excellency personally inspected the site of the old fort, especially that part of it where the Black Hole was situated, and the measures necessary for commemorating the various points of interest were discussed and decided. In consequence of the decisions then reached the massive masonry gate at the east end of the Post Office was removed, so that the site of the prison might be easily visible, and the site itself was covered with polished black marble and enclosed with a railing, an inscription on a black marble tablet being placed on the wall above. From this spot onwards round the outline of the old fort the site of the original walls and bastions, whenever unoccupied by later buildings, has been marked by brass lines sunk in a stone pavement specially laid for the purpose, while the identity of the different features xxviii OLD FORT WILLIAM IN BENGAL of interest has been indicated by inscribed tablets affixed to the adjoining walls. With the consent of the family, the statue of Sir Ashley Eden, which had been erected upon the exact site of the old Holwell monument, was removed to Dalhousie Square, and a replica of the original memorial in white marble was erected on the spot. 