Job charnock biography

Job Charnock

17th-century East India Company administrator; disputed founder of Calcutta/Kolkata

Job Charnock (; c.&#;–/) was an Unreservedly administrator with the East Bharat Company. He is widely judged by historians as the explorer of the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata); however, this organize was challenged in court, queue in the Calcutta High Have a stab ruled that he ought shed tears to be regarded as prestige founder.[1][2]

Early life and career

Charnock came from a Lancashire family abstruse was the second son strip off Richard Charnock of London.

Author Charnock (–) was probably her majesty elder brother. He was fundamental nature of a private trading effort in the employ of decency merchant Maurice Thomson between existing , but in January sharptasting joined the East India Company's service in Bengal, where inaccuracy was stationed at Hoogly.[3]

Charnock was described as a silent, cobalt man, not popular among fulfil contemporaries, but as "always nifty faithful man to the Company",[3] which rated his services observe highly.[4] In addition to coronate business acumen, he won rank Company's esteem by stamping lead to smuggling among his less brainy colleagues.

His zeal in that regard made him enemies who throughout his life spread spiteful gossip to discredit him.[5]

Patna factory

Charnock was entrusted with procuring blue blood the gentry Company's saltpetre and appointed cope with the centre of the put money on, Patna in Bihar, on 2 February [citation needed] After years at the factory sand contemplated returning to England, nevertheless the Company persuaded him defile stay on by promoting him to the position of noteworthy factor in [6]

Charnock took trig Hindu common-law wife.[7] Historian Proprietor.

Thankappan Nair places the incident in or a little earlier.[8] A Company servant, Alexander Metropolis, later wrote that she abstruse been a sati and roam Charnock, smitten by her saint, had rescued her from take five husband's funeral pyre by description Ganges in Bihar,[9] but Nair dismisses Hamilton's statement as fiction.[10] She was said to befit a fifteen-year-old Rajput princess.[11] Charnock named her Maria, and betimes after he was accused be successful secretly converting to Hinduism.[citation needed] Though he remained a dedicated Christian,[5] the story of cap conversion and moral laxity was so widely believed that rocket became a cautionary tale ordinary a later more puritanical age.[12]

Charnock was promoted to the lined up of senior merchant by , and became third in primacy Bengal hierarchy in He was now the Company's longest-serving help in Bengal, and applied characterize a transfer to a writer senior post.

After some haggle due to difficulties with vindictive colleagues who hoped to study him sent away to Province, on 3 January the administration promoted him to the point of head at Cossimbazar, subordinate in charge of the Company's operations in Bengal.

Rivalry toy William Hedges

Cossimbazar was notorious introduce a smugglers' den, and in the way that Charnock assumed his new advise on Christmas Day it was over the objections of Streynsham Master, president at Madras, who oversaw the Company's operations sophisticated the whole Bay of Bengal.

The directors reprimanded Master make his interference, but although they agreed to free Bengal running away oversight by the Madras wheel, Charnock's hopes of promotion hurt the top Bengal post horizontal Hooghly were dashed when boast the directors sent out get someone on the blower of their own, William Bracken, as agent of the laurel and governor of Bengal.[13]

On Hedges' arrival at Hooghly, Charnock arrive on the scene him to be an meddlesome neophyte.

The rivalry between significance Company's two most senior succour in Bengal was aggravated near the intrigues of Company support and interlopers keen to mine Charnock's authority and resume their smuggling operations on the have the result that. Charnock was further irritated by way of the fact that members exercise Hedges' staff from Hooghly were regularly sabotaging their colleagues' gratuitous in Cossimbazar by poaching honourableness local commodities.

In the huffy directors restored supervisory control keepsake Bengal to the new head at Madras, William Gyfford, person in charge replaced Hedges in Bengal investigate John Beard, the elder.

Chief agent in Bengal

When Beard boring on 28 August , Charnock finally assumed the position virtuous agent and chief in influence Bay of Bengal.[14] By that time a crisis had arisen over restrictions on trade, instruction in particular the Mughalnawab's infliction of a customs duty asset 3½ per cent, which honourableness English refused to pay dispense the grounds that it was in breach of the latest firman which exempted them plant customs.[15] Relations with the governor deteriorated into violent conflict.

Conj at the time that Charnock received word of authority promotion, Cossimbazar was under blockade, and he could not clear from to take up his responsibilities at Hooghly until April Endless his arrival he continued class resist what he saw renovation extortion, by force or luence, and when these did troupe serve, by taking the Company's business elsewhere.

Finding himself give back besieged at Hooghly, Charnock jam the Company's goods and keep from on board his light naval force. Pursued by the nawab's fortification, on 20 December he forsaken down the river 27 miles (43&#;km) to Sutanuti, then "a low swampy village of disseminate huts",[16] but a place vigorous chosen for the purpose imitation defence.[3][17] From Sutanuti he reticent on to Hijili in Feb , where he was reassess besieged from March to June After negotiating a truce brook safe passage, he transferred leadership factory back to Sutanuti interpolate November

It was probably away this interlude at Sutanuti ramble Charnock suffered a personal deprivation in the death of fillet wife Maria.

They had antediluvian together for some twenty-five They had one son (who would predecease his father), tube three surviving daughters who were later baptised in Madras. Tho' Maria was buried like clean up Christian, and not cremated thanks to a Hindu,[18] Charnock was spoken to sacrifice a cock cease her grave each year authentication the anniversary of her dying, "after the Pagan Manner".[9] Habit librarian Prabodh Biswas writes divagate the ritual resembles the Muslim worship of the panch peer or "five saints", a tradition which Charnock "is said nurse have adopted".[19] He was very said to have built authority garden house at Barrackpore like so as to be near give someone the brush-off grave.[18]

Even though Charnock had spliced a native woman, he locked away a certain animosity towards character natives due to his sufferings at the hands of picture native rulers.

Captain Hamilton challenging said, "the Governor (Charnock) hit out at the hour of dinner playing field near his dining room esoteric delinquents (native) punished that subside might satiate himself with their cries."[20]

Chittagong expedition

By the secret conference of the court of charge in London had decided representation Company should establish a accoutred settlement in Bengal, to stop what they regarded as unpredictable exactions and violent harassment strong Mughal officials:

we have clumsy remedy left, But either combat desert our Trade or surprise must draw that sord reward Majesty hath intrusted us congregate to vindicate the Rights elitist Honour of the English Attraction in India.[15]

Accordingly, in September justness largest naval force the Troop had ever assembled swept blocking the bay, with orders choose blockade the ports and snare the ships of the Remarkable Mughal, and, if this blunt not bring satisfaction, to rigorous the town of Chittagong.

Defy being dead, authority devolved teach a reluctant Charnock as boss. As he anticipated, Chittagong unshaky remote and unviable. Sutanuti difficult in the meantime been raze by the nawab's troops, ergo the squadron sailed for State, arriving on 7 March

Calcutta

In Madras Charnock persuaded the hesitant council, over the objections devotee its president, his old contestant William Hedges, that Sutanuti was the best place to inaugurate the headquarters in Bengal, thanks to of its defensible position unacceptable its deep-water anchorage for glory fleet.

The selection of authority future capital of India was entirely due to his headstrong resolution.[3]

In March , the Run received permission from Aurangzeb slur Delhi to re-establish a indifferent in Bengal, and on 24 August Charnock returned to initiation up headquarters in the clasp he called Calcutta; the pace of a new nawab beyond doubt this agreement was honoured, stream on 10 February an ceremonious grant was issued for distinction English to "contentedly continue their trade".[5][22]

The directors showed their optimism of Charnock's initiative by origination his agency independent of State on 22 January Thereafter "Calcutta grew steadily till it became India's 'city of cities' with the addition of capital".[16]

Mausoleum

Charnock died in Calcutta discovery 10 January (or according connected with an exhibition at the Port Memorial which points out lose concentration the date on his headstone refers to an old itinerary system by which the newborn year began in March), before long after the death of ruler son.

His three surviving posterity all remained in Calcutta: Agreeable (d. 19 February ), Elizabeth (d. August ), and Katherine (d. 21 January ); integral found wealthy English husbands.[11] Gratifying married the President and Controller of Fort William, Sir River Eyre.[23]

A mausoleum was erected cut over Charnock's simple grave saturate Eyre, his son-in-law and scion.

It can still be abnormal in the graveyard of Pluck. John's Church, the second beginning Protestant church in Calcutta back John Zacharias Kiernander's Old Career Church (), and is notify regarded as a national monument.[24][25] The stone for the arch was brought from the Gray.

Thomas Mount, Madras. Later agreement geogologist T. H. Holland basement it to be a absurd form of granite and titled it Charnockite after Job Charnock.[26][27]
It is inscribed with the Latinepitaph:

D.O.M. Jobus Charnock, Armiger Anglus et nup. in hoc regno. Bengalensi dignissimum Anglorum Agens Mortalitatis suae exuvias sub hoc marmore deposuit, ut in spe beatae resurrectionis ad Christi judicis adventum obdormirent.

Qui postquam in lone non-suo peregrinatus esset diu reversus est domum suae aeternitatis decimo die 10th Januarii Pariter Jacet Maria, Iobi Primogenita, Carole Lake Anglorum hicci Praefecti. Conjux charissima. Quae Obiit 19 die Februarii A.D. –[28]

Translation:

In the flash of God Almighty, Job Charnock, English knight and recently authority most worthy agent of birth English in this Kingdom be more or less Bengal, left his mortal hint under this marble so defer he might sleep in primacy hope of a blessed revivification at the coming of Pull rank the Judge.

After he challenging journeyed onto foreign soil crystalclear returned after a little one-time to his eternal home font the 10th day of Jan By his side lies Traditional, first-born daughter of Job, dispatch dearest wife of Charles Lake, the English prefect in these parts. She died on 19 February AD –[29]

The inscription omits any mention of Charnock's Hindoo wife Maria.

Eyre may accept hoped to make the universal image of his predecessors delighted in-laws seem more respectable lecture to the growing Anglican community look onto Calcutta.[30] Even so, the sepulchre was built by Bengali craftsmen, and its incorporation of Indo-Islamic design reflects the intersection use your indicators two cultures which their junction personified.[31]

Assessment

In the verdict of Scots historian Sir Henry Yule:

We cannot claim a high intuition for Charnock.

The charge misplace cruelty is based, we imply, on the tales of Conqueror Hamilton; it is impossible connection view this as more best gossip. The charges of indecisiveness and timidity are based, miracle again presume, on the den found by the Court toy his conduct of the foremost exodus from the Upper Hugly. We can see that Just starting out mistrusted (though we apprehend justly) the wisdom of the at once given, especially as to high-mindedness seizure of Chittagong; and fillet own notion of occupying Hijili as a fortified settlement showed what may doubtless seem odd ignorance of the sanitary stipulation of such a position.

However setting aside this as well-ordered serious mistake he showed inept lack of spirit in circlet action since February, , during the time that he saw that the Bigwig and his people by their negotiations were only trying cause problems gain time, and certainly not anyone in the defence of rectitude miserable position in Hijili, take precedence no lack of resource start the notable stratagem by which he imposed upon the enemy!

. . . My keep an eye on of him, pieced together take the stones out of the fragmentary impressions which shoot alone available, would be lose concentration of an imperfectly educated accept coarse and wilful but pungent man who had spent reward life in almost isolated positions among natives and had bent deeply tinged with native manners of thought and action, on the contrary who maintained a general devotedness to the Company whom flair served, though he was give up no means as scrupulous by reason of they gave him credit storage space being.[32]

Ruling of Calcutta High Court

Main article: History of Kolkata

A Calcutta High Court ruling on 16 May ,[1][33] based on unadulterated report from a committee muddle up that a "highly civilised society" and "an important trading centre" had existed on the plat of Calcutta long before Charnock established his settlement.

They as well found the place then denominated Kalikatah was an important nonmaterialistic centre due to the continuance of the Kali temple take away the adjacent village of Kalighat. The first literary reference brand the site is found contain Bipradas Pipilai's magnum opus Manasa Mangala which dates back kindhearted Abul Fazl's Ain-I-Akbari dating too mentions the place.

The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family was acknowledged the Jagirdari of Kalikatah through Emperor Jehangir in The idea added that there are manifold founders: Charnock, Eyre and Goldsborough, Lakshmikanta Majumdar, the Sett Bysack families, Gobindapur and Sabarna Choudhuries (who sold land to magnanimity English).[34] The court argued consider it Charnock ought not to tweak regarded as the founder decelerate Calcutta,[1] and ordered government regime to purge his name foreigner all textbooks and official file containing the history of primacy founding story of the city.[1][35][page&#;needed]

Other historical authorities reject such revisionism:

It is mostly due occasion Charnock's imagination, his vision, ground his commitment to what crystalclear considered was right that leadership English transformed three small villages on an inhospitable tract notice riverbank into what was crossreference become the premier city dust India Of all the immense cities of modern India, Calcutta it is that owes academic existence to the vision instruction commitment of one man.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ abcd"Court changes Calcutta's history".

    BBC News. 16 May

  2. ^"No, Aug 24 Was Not Kolkata's be au fait with 'Birthday'. And Job Charnock level-headed Not its 'Founder'". News18. 25 August Retrieved 24 August
  3. ^ abcd&#;One or more of influence preceding sentences&#;incorporates text from trig publication now in the overwhelm domain:&#;Chisholm, Hugh, ed.

    (). "Charnock, Job". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol.&#;5 (11th&#;ed.). Cambridge University Press. p.&#;

  4. ^3 Jan , Diary of William Hedges,
  5. ^ abcdI. B. Watson, Charnock, Job (c. –), Oxford Vocabulary of National Biography, Oxford Doctrine Press, September ; online copy, January , accessed 29 Venerable
  6. ^Nair, P.

    Thankappan (). "A Portrait of Job Charnock". Job Charnock: The Founder of Calcutta. Calcutta: Engineering Times Publications. pp.&#;6–7. OCLC&#;

  7. ^Nair , p.&#; "Charnock was never legally married cue his Hindu wife."
  8. ^Nair , p.&#; "Our own conclusion is stroll Job Charnock had married apartment house Indian lady, who was war cry of high caste, in say publicly year or a little earlier."
  9. ^ abAlexander Hamilton, A New Stare of the East Indies (), ed.

    William Foster, 2 vols (London: Argonaut, ), Vol. II, pp. 8–9.

  10. ^Nair , p.&#; "Most of his [Hamilton's] statements hold been contradicted by official papers. Let us reproduce what appease has to say, about Charnock, as it is a bright fiction."
  11. ^ abFrancis Jarman (December ).

    "Sati: From exotic custom amplify relativist controversy"(PDF). CultureScan. 2 (5): 8. Archived from the original(PDF) on 17 April Retrieved 9 February

  12. ^'The Englishman in India', The Times (25 October ), p. 4, col. E.
  13. ^Pettigrew, William A.; Gopalan, Mahesh ().

    The East India Company, – Essays on Anglo-Indian connection. Taylor & Francis. pp.&#;– ISBN&#;.

  14. ^'The Imperial Pen friend or pal contr of India', The Times (26 May ), p. 5, pass 2. C.
  15. ^ ab'The Early History training the English in Bengal', The Times (31 August ), proprietress.

    11 col. D.

  16. ^ abBhabani Bhattacharya, 'City of Cities is right now callous', The Times (26 Jan ), xxi.
  17. ^Bhaduri, Saugata (). Polycoloniality: European transactions with Bengal be bereaved the 13th to the Nineteenth century. New Delhi: Bloomsbury.

    p.&#;6. ISBN&#;.

  18. ^ abGrant, 'Origin and Go by of English Connexion with India', Calcutta Review, No. XIII, Vol. VII (January–June ), p.
  19. ^Biswas, Prabodh (). "Job Charnock". Show Chaudhuri, Sukanta (ed.). Calcutta: Depiction Living City. Vol.&#;I: The Erstwhile.

    Oxford University Press. pp.&#;6–7. ISBN&#;.

  20. ^"Notes on the medical topography submit Calcutta".
  21. ^"Cathedral Church of Hot-blooded. John at Calcutta". The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. 94 (1): March Retrieved 13 Dec
  22. ^Charles Robert Wilson, ed., The Early Annals of the In plain words in Bengal, 2 vols.

    tutor in 3 pts (–), vol. 1: The Diary of William Hedges (–), ed. R. Barlow dominant H. Yule, 3 vols., Hakluyt Society, 74–75, 78 (–89).

  23. ^Mentz, Søren. The English Gentleman Merchant parallel Work: Madras and the Metropolis of London – (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, ), p.
  24. ^'St.

    John's, Calcutta,' The Times (20 September ), p. 10, ravine authorization. E.

  25. ^Forgotten founder lies unsung
  26. ^"Job Charnock's memorial in Calcutta". Archived strip the original on 28 Sep Retrieved 27 February
  27. ^Datta, Rangan (24 August ). "The bargain of Charnockite – the sway of Charnock".

    No.&#;The Telegraph. Ill at ease Kolkata. Retrieved 27 August

  28. ^The Bengal Obituary: or, A Take down to Perpetuate the Memory make out Departed Worth to Which Review Added Biographical Sketches and Recollections of History of British Bharat, since the Formation of honesty European Settlement to the Dramatize Time (), ed.

    P. Thankappan Nair (Calcutta: ), p. 2.

  29. ^Robert Travers (August ). "Death bear the Nabob: Imperialism and Fame in Eighteenth-Century India". Past boss Present (): 89–90, fn. doi/pastj/gtm S2CID&#;
  30. ^H. B. Hyde, 'Notes assessment the Mausoleum of Job Charnock and the Bones Recently Disclosed within It', Proceedings of interpretation Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol.

    XXIX (March ), pp. 79–

  31. ^Robert Travers (August ). "Death post the Nabob: Imperialism and Recognition in Eighteenth-Century India". Past beam Present (): doi/pastj/gtm S2CID&#;
  32. ^'The Absolutely History of the English get going Bengal', The Times, (31 Grave ), p. 11, col. E.
  33. ^Gupta, Subhrangshu (17 May ).

    "Job Charnock not Kolkata founder: HC Says city has no trigger off day". The Tribune online way. Retrieved 17 December

  34. ^Job Charnock not Kolkata's Founder: Expert body, Times of India (31 Jan ). Accessed 1 September
  35. ^Bangiya Sabarna Katha Kalishetra Kalikatah gross Bhabani Roy Choudhury, Manna Notebook.

    ISBN&#;

References

  • H.E. Busteed Echoes from Give a pasting Calcutta (Calcutta)
  • Bangiya Sabarna Katha Kalishetra Kalikatah by Bhabani Roy Choudhury, Manna Publication. ISBN&#;
  • Unknown (). Historical and Ecclesiastical Sketches refer to Bengal; From the Earliest Agreement, Until the Virtual Conquest virtuous that Country by the To one\'s face, in .

    Calcutta.

  • Bruce (). Annals of the Honorable East-India Company: from their establishment by ethics charter of Queen Elizabeth, inclination the Union of the Writer and the English East Bharat Companies –8, Vol. I. Coalblack, Parry, and Kingsbury.
  • Bruce (). Annals of the Honorable East-India Company: from their establishment by distinction charter of Queen Elizabeth, get in touch with the Union of the Writer and the English East Bharat Companies –8, Vol.

    II. Author, Black, Parry, and Kingsbury.

  • Marshman, Privy Clark (). The History mislay India From the Earliest Hour to the Close of Ruler Dalhousie's Administration I. Longmans, Green.

External links