Wednesday, February 28, 2018

BURMA / CEYLON / AUSTRALIA Mandalay / Rangoon * Colombo * Albany / Port Adelaide/ Melbourne 1893


BURMA / CEYLON / AUSTRALIA
 Mandalay / Rangoon * Colombo * Albany / Port Adelaide/ Melbourne
Written from first-hand research and illustrated from his personal archive of photographs copied from Album VI collected by George Bullough, (later Sir George Bullough, Baronet), 
 during his World Tour 1892 - 1895 by George W. Randall, co-founder in July 1996 and former 
Vice Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends' Association.

GEORGE  BULLOUGH  -  WORLD  TOUR  1892-1895
(Newspaper article 13 of 28   *   Time of Visit February / March 1893)

IRAWADDY RIVER NEAR STEAMER LANDING PLACE, MANDALAY. 
Album VI  *  Photograph 21  *  Size 10 x 8 inches
  
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KINLOCH CASTLE, ISLE OF RUM, SCOTLAND, HIGHLAND HOME OF
SIR GEORGE BULLOUGH COMMISSIONED IN 1897 AND COMPLETED IN 1900.

The Castle is depicted nearing completion.  George W. Randall Research Archive
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PUBLISHED BY GEORGE W. RANDALL ON 28 FEBRUARY 2018
CELEBRATING THE DAY - 148 YEARS AGO IN 1870 - 
SIR GEORGE BULLOUGH, BARONET, WAS BORN
AND 61 YEARS SINCE HIS WIDOW, LADY MONICA BULLOUGH 
SOLD KINLOCH CASTLE AND THE 26,400 ACRE ISLAND OF RUM UPON 
WHICH IT STANDS TO THE BRITISH NATION, 28 FEBRUARY, 1957;
THE ISLAND TO BE USED IN PERPETUITY AS A NATURE RESERVE
AND KINLOCH CASTLE TO BE MAINTAINED ... ... IT WAS AGREED
 THE CONTENTS OF KINLOCH CASTLE WERE TO BE KNOWN AS -

THE SIR GEORGE BULLOUGH MEMORIAL.
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In late February 1893 George Bullough and his companion, Robert Mitchell
boarded the Bibby Line S.S. Shropshire at Rangoon for Colombo, Ceylon, where they
were booked onto P. & O. liner S.S. Oceana bound for Australia.
However, delays principally due to fog departing Burma, meant Oceana had
already sailed when they arrived at Colombo forcing them to wait until the
7th of March when they boarded Oceana’s sister ship, S.S. Orient,
outbound for Sydney, Australia, via Albany, Port Adelaide and Melbourne.
where they disembarked on the 23rd of March.
The delay meant George Bullough celebrated his twenty-third birthday,
28th February, in the humid heat of Colombo
rather than the invigorating sea breezes of the Indian Ocean.

In 1896 Robert Mitchell described their experiences in a series of twenty-eight articles
published in the Accrington Gazette, these I have transcribed and illustrated with 
a selection of photographs from the twenty album record of their travels.

A TWENTY ALBUM PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD OF
BULLOUGH AND MITCHELL'S WORLD TOUR 1892-1895

IS IN THE LIBRARY AT KINLOCH CASTLE
All have been re-photographed by the author in detail and a selection used to 
illustrate Mr. Mitchell's articles.

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RANGOON
A Mogul Masjid (mosque) in cosmopolitan Old Rangoon.

Album VI  *  Photograph 12  *  Size 11 x 8½ inches
George W. Randall Research Archive

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GOLDEN UMBRELLA,
SHRINE OF SHWE DAGONE PAGODA, RANGOON

    (Album VI  *  Photograph 15  *  Edited from full size 11 x 8½ inches  Number 393
           George W. Randall Research Archive
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STEAM SHIP ORIENT  
Album VII * Photograph 22 * Edited from full size
George W. Randall Research Archive

George Bullough and his travelling companion Robert Mitchell departed Colombo, Ceylon, 
on-board SS Orient on Tuesday the 7th of March 1893 arriving Albany, Australia
eleven days later, Saturday 18th of March. Orient arrived Port Adelaide 
on the 21st March departing the same day, arriving Melbourne on the 23rd.
Here they left the ship, which later continued to its final destination, Sydney.
See Note 8.
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BURMESE DANCING GIRL IN ALL HER WAR PAINT
  Album VI  *  Photograph 132  *  Size 10½ x 8 inches)
George W. Randall Research Archive

Unattributed in the George Bullough’s Album, the British Library records this
photograph as being the work of Felice Beato c.1890 on the basis the painted
backdrop appears in several of his known works.  See Note 6.

The full-length studio portrait is one of at least three images depicting the same
young girl titled a “Dancing Girl” or “Burmese Princess”.

In this image she is wearing a crown and a hta-mein, (a wrap-around skirt),
beneath a richly embroidered garment made of flaring panels,
very similar to the special ceremonial robes adorned with gold embroidery,
sequins, gold, silver and gems on apparel worn in the late
19th century by members of the Burmese royal family.

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ENTRANCE TO SHWÈ  DAGONE PAGODA, RANGOON
Album VI  *  Photograph 13  *  Size 11 x 8½ inches
George W. Randall Research Archive




          ENTRANCE TO SHWÈ DAGONE PAGODA, RANGOON
              Album VI  *  Photograph 13  *  Edited from full size 11 x 8½ inches)
           George W. Randall Research Archive

SHRINE OF SHWÈ DAGONE PAGODA, RANGOON
Album VI  *  Photograph 14  *  Size 11 x 8½ inches
George W. Randall Research Archive


SHOAY DAGONE PAGODA, RANGOON
Album VI  *  Photograph 16  *  Size 10½ x 8½ inches  *  No. 303
George W. Randall Research Archive

The Shoay Dagone Pagoda is the holiest of Buddhist sites in Burma,
since 1989 re-named Myanmar.
Over three hundred feet high it is sheathed in 13,000 gold plates
and crowned with more than 5,000 diamonds and other precious stones.
Journalist, story writer and Nobel Prize for Literature awardee,
Joseph Rudyard Kipling, referred to the Pagoda as “a beautiful winking wonder.”



Shwedagon Pagoda by Sky 89. Design by Hintha.
Standing 368 feet high on Singuttara Hill, close to Kandawgi Lake, (formerly Royal Lake),
 the Buddhist Shwe Dagone Pagoda dominates the skyline of Rangoon.
 It is the most sacred pagoda in Burma, reputedly containing relics of past Buddhas: 
the staff of the twenty-fifth Buddha, Kakusandha; the water filter of his successor Konãgamana;
 a piece of the robe of Kassapa, the third of the five Buddhas of the present kalpa or aeon; 
and eight strands of hair from Gautama, the historical Buddha,
the Enlightened One, on whose teachings Buddhism is founded.
Legend says the Pagoda has existed for more than 2,600 years. thus making it the oldest in 
the world. However, modern archæological research indicates it was built in the 6th Century 
by the Mon, one of the earliest peoples to reside in south-east Asia and responsible for the
spread of Theravada, the oldest surviving form of Buddhism in Burma and Thailand.

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 LARGEST BELL IN THE WORLD AT ... ...

THE MINGUN BELL

Album VI    *    Photograph 22    *    Size 10 x 8 inches 
George W. Randall Research Archive

The Mingun Bell is located at Mingun, Sagaing, seven miles north of Mandalay
 on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River, in north-west Burma.
The bell is rung by striking the outer edge with the end of a hand-held wooden pole.
To achieve the ringing tone an alloy of five metals, principally bronze, 
with silver, gold, iron and lead were used in the casting.

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BURIVER   PUBLIC CART
Album VI  *  Photograph 26 *  Size 11 x 8½ inches
George W. Randall Research Archive

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NOTE:

Prior to 1901, Australia was made up of six self-governing colonies; New South Wales, Victoria, 
South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania. These colonies were ultimately under 
British rule from the time the First Fleet landed, in 1788, until 1901. Numerous politicians and influential 
Australians through the years had pushed for federation of the colonies, and self-government. 
On 22 January 1899, leaders of the six Australian colonies met in Melbourne to discuss a federation bill.
After not being accepted by the states the first time, the amended Commonwealth Constitution was given 

Royal Assent on 9 July 1900. On 1 January 1901, federation of the colonies was achieved and the 
Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. Australia's first Governor-General, John Hope, made the 
proclamation at Centennial Park in Sydney. Australia's first Prime Minister was Edmund Barton.
The first Australian Federal Parliament, held in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne which 
was the only building large enough to house the 14,000 guests, was opened by the 
Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V, on 9 May 1901.


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STRAND ROAD, RANGOON
Album VI  *  Photograph 11  *  Edited from full size 10½ x 8½ inches  *  No. 383
  George W. Randall Research Archive

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STRAND ROAD, RANGOON 
Album VI  *  Photograph 11  *  Edited from full size 10½ x 8½ inches  *  No. 383
George W. Randall Research Archive 

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THE ATTACK ON KYAING-KWINTAUNG STOCKADE BY THE DEVON REGIMENT
Album VI  *  Photograph 25  *  Size 11 x 8½ inches
George W. Randall Research Archive 

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One of two photographs in George Bullough's album depicting the assault on the
Kyaing-Kwintaung Stockade by the 2nd Devon Regiment during the Wuntho Sawbwa
Campaign under Captain Davies with 2nd Lieutenants Holman and Logan in 1891.
Located between the Irrawaddy and Chindwin Rivers, it was in this, the 3rd Burmese
War 1885-1886, that the state of Wuntho Sawbwa came under British administration.
The ruler of the Shan States at this time was thirty-four year old Maung Aung Myat 
who had become Sawbwa (hereditary ruler) in 1878.
Ill-disposed to British rule he had permitted his lands to become a refuge for dacoits
(bandits) fleeing the British and had attacked British forces who entered northern
Wuntho in their pursuit. In February 1891 open rebellion erupted, British police posts
were attacked and on the 21st it was learnt the Sawbwa had stockaded himself at the top
of a hill at Kyaing-Kwintaung, mid-way between Kawlin and Wuntho.
On 22nd of February a force under thirty-four year old Captain T. A. H. Davies,
(later Major, D.S.O.), attacked the stronghold and took the stockade after about one 
hours fighting. Only four of the enemy were found dead inside, “but the many blood 
stains showed there had been a large number of casualties.”
                                                                                            (“History of the Third Burmese War 1890-1891”.)

The original photograph is attributed to Felice Beato.




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BE AWARE


THE NEXT AND LAST PICTURE DEPICTS 


A CRUCIFIXION


OF DACOITS IN BURMA


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CRUCIFIED DACOITS BY THE VILLAGERS NEAR MIGINGYAN. 
Album VI  *  Photograph 20  *  Edited from full size 10½
 x 8 inches
George W. Randall Research Archive 


The village of Migingyan lies some 65 miles south of Mandalay on the east bank of 
the 1,375 mile long Irrawaddy River.

In 19th century India Dacoit, was a term used for a robber belonging to an armed gang.
The word is derived from the Hindustani dakai.
In Burma the words dacoit and dacoity were applied to individual or group members
of armed gangs who maintained a state of guerrilla warfare and extortion
“in the pursuit of wealth” on native villages. 
Approaching a village soon after dark they fired their guns to alert the inhabitants. 
If the villagers bolted their homes were looted and burnt, if they returned fire, 
depending on its ferocity, the dacoity would withdraw for another day or throw 
burning oiled rope onto the houses to terrify the inhabitants.
Dacoits “as a rule did not attack villages they found to be awake and alert.”

Regards atrocities committed by dacoits, instances of the most barbarous and inhumane practices were the exception rather than the rule. However, in the pursuit of treasure, 
when extortion failed to reveal where it was buried, neither age nor sex spared the villagers.

Any man killed while dacoiting was tied to a crucifix by the villagers,
consequently the remains of crucifixes were to be seen all over the country in 19th century
as they were placed at conspicuous places such as cross-roads or the approach to
villages as a deterrent to further attacks. Whist there is evidence to indicate some victims were crucified whilst still alive, greater weight indicates the majority were killed first.
                                                                                          
(Source:  “History of the Third Burmese War 1890-1891”.)

Dacoits 
who fell into the hands of the British were not crucified, and crucifixion was not an 

invention of the British as I have seen stated in a book by a person who should have known better.

Execution of a dacoit at Shway-Bo by the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Upper Burma 1886.
Wood-engraving from The Graphic 18 February 1886.




  
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Reviewed by author 27 February 2024.


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Tuesday, February 20, 2018

INDIA - BURMA
  Benares * Calcutta * Rangoon
THE WORLD TOUR OF GEORGE BULLOUGH 1892-1895

Researched, written and illustrated with accompanying explanatory notes by George W. Randall, co-founder in July 1996 and former Vice Chairman Kinloch Castle Friends' Association.

  Time of visit: January/February 1893
Article 12 of 28 as published in the Accrington Gazette in July 1896 

GENERAL VIEW OF BENARES  (today Varanasi)
Album V * Image 26 * Edited from full size: 11½ x 7 inches
Original photograph by Bourne 1165   *   George W. Randall Archive 



American writer and humorist Mark Twain said of the great Hindu city of Benares:

“Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, 
and looks twice as old as all of them put together.”

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George Bullough (right) 
was twenty-two years old when he embarked on a three year world tour with his travelling companion, 
Robert Mitchell, in September 1892.

In this, the twelfth of twenty-eight

articles published in the 
Accrington Division Gazette
in July 1896, Robert Mitchell recounts
their last weeks in India visiting Benares and Calcutta before departing for Rangoon, Burma.


The original article I have transcribed unaltered followed by Explanatory Notes relating to the text. 
I also include a selection of photographs from George Bullough's albums with their title, 
album and page number, size of image and original photographer details where given.


BURNING GHATS BENARES
Album V * Image 27 * Full size: 11½ x 8½ inches * Original by Bourne 1169 
George W. Randall Archive


Although not specifically identified this could be Harishchandra Ghat, 
one of the two burning or cremation ghats in Benares.

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BURNING GHAT, CALCUTTA.
Album VI  *  Image 8  *  Edited from full size: 11½ x 9 inches  *  Original photograph 2723    
George W. Randall Archive

BENARES GYAN BAPI or WELL OF KNOWLEDGE
Album VI    *    Image 1    *    Edited from full size: 12 x 9 inches
Original photograph by Bourne 1173   *    George W. Randall Archive

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VIEW FROM HIGH COURT CALCUTTA
Album VI  *  Image 2  *   Size: 12 x 9 inches   *   Photograph Bourne and Shepherd 2599
George W. Randall Archive

The Supreme Court of Judicature in which justice was dispensed according to the
 Laws of England by a Chief Justice and three Puisne Judges
i.e. Judges of the High Court but inferior of the Chief Justice.

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The High Court at Calcutta was the first of three created by 
Letters Patent 14th May 1862 issued under the High Court Act 1861, 
the others being at Madras and Bombay. Designed in neo-Gothic 
by Government Architect Walter Granville and based on the 
Stadt-Haus at Ypres, Belgium, the building was completed in 1872.

The Lord Chief Justice at the time of Bullough and Mitchell’s visit 
was forty-eight year old Sir William Comer Petheram, Q.C.
The bronze statue of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck,
Governor-General of India 1828-1835 is by Richard Westmacott, R.A.

VIEW FROM HIGH COURT CALCUTTA
Album VI  *  Image 2  *  Edited from full size: 12 x 9 inches
Original photograph Bourne and Shepherd 2599

The view is of Esplanade Row looking east across the city, 
with Government House Gardens in the middle and the Maidan (upper right)
with the 165 foot tall Ochterlony Monument, commemorating the victory 
of Major-General Sir David Ochterlony in the Nepal War 1814-1816.


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GENERAL VIEW FROM MUSEUM CALCUTTA
Chowringhee Road. 
(Today re-named Jawaharlal Nehru Road.)

Album VI  *  Image 3  *   Size: 11 x 7 inches   *   Photograph Bourne and Shepherd 2.4.81
George W. Randall Archive 


The Maidan, literally “field” was created in 1758 when Governor Robert Clive cleared 
large areas of forest to give the guns of the new octagon shaped Fort William 
(completed in 1771) a clear line of fire following the successful attack on old Fort William in 1756
by  twenty-year old Suraj ud Dowlah, Moslem leader of Bengal, Orissa and Bihar.

The small building, extreme bottom right, bears the sign: Christian Book Society.


GENERAL VIEW FROM THE MUSEUM CALCUTTA 
Album VI  *  Image 3  *   Edited from full size: 11 x 7 inches
Photograph Bourne and Shepherd 2.4.81
George W. Randall Archive 

       The High Court of Calcutta.                                                                            Government House.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CALCUTTA
Album VI  *  Image 4  *   Edited from full size: 11 x 8½ inches   *   Photograph 2724 A
George W. Randall Archive

Situated overlooking the Maidan and Eden Gardens, Government House was the
residence of the British Viceroy of India. Modelled on Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, England,
it was built under the administration of Lord Richard Colley Wellesley between 1798-1803.
Lord Richard, elder brother of the Duke of Wellington, was subsequently recalled
in 1805 in part due “to such extravagant outlay”, the 84,000 square foot building
costing £63,291 at the time, equivalent to well over £6 million today.
From the necessity to maximise a free circulation of air in a climate of extreme heat,
the approach was by a double flight each of sixteen steps set within great projecting porticos.



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HOOGHLY BRIDGE, CALCUTTA
Album VI  *  Image 5  *   Edited from full size: 11 x 8½ inches   *   Photograph 2581A
George W. Randall Archive

Designed by Sir Bradford Leslie the immense 1,528 foot long floating bridge was opened
 on the 17th of October 1874 to link Calcutta with the two main railway lines across the
 Hooghly River at Howrah. Sixty-two feet wide, each side incorporated a seven foot wide 
pavement for pedestrians and a removable section to allow safe passage of steamers. 
A new bridge was opened on the 3rd of February 1943 after six years of construction. 
Described as an “all steel, suspension type, balanced cantilever and truss arch” bridge, 
it has an overall length of 2,313 feet; the longest span being 1,500 feet, a width of 71 feet, 
with pedestrian pavements 15 feet wide on either side.

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THE BLACK HOLE  -  CALCUTTA
Album VI  *  Image 7  *   Size: 11 x 9½ inches
(Original Photograph B & S  - Bourne and Shepherd)

George W. Randall Research Archive


The tablet over the gateway reads:

THE STONE PAVEMENT CLOSE TO THIS
MARKS THE POSITION AND SIZE OF THE
PRISON CELL IN OLD FORT WILLIAM KNOWN IN
HISTORY AS THE “BLACK HOLE” OF CALCUTTA

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The prison cell known as the Black Hole measured 18 x 14 feet* (floor area 252 square feet) 
with a sleeping shelf along the east wall. It was meant as an overnight lock-up for no more than a handful of  miscreants, usually drunks.

* Historical sources refer to various sizes: 22 x 14 and 24 x 18 being often quoted. 
John Holwell, the most senior person imprisoned wrote a book about the incident 
and gives 18 x 14 feet as the floor area.


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EVENTS LEADING TO “THE BLACK HOLE.”  

On the 10th of April 1756 the eighty-two year old Moslem Nawab of Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa, Aliverdi Khan, died of dropsy after a long illness, he left no sons.
Prince Mirza Muhammad Suraj ud Dowlah, which means Lord of the Lamp, 
his twenty-one year old grandson on his younger daughter’s side, became ruler from 
his magnificent palace at Murshidabad, 160 miles north of Calcutta.
In 1717 Aliverdi Khan had extended commercial privileges to the East India Company
in the form of a Firman.* This most valuable Royal Edict included Dastaks,** 
certificates exempting levies on all goods passing from district to district.
As Nawab Khan lay dying the British at Fort William siezed this opportunity to 
busily extend their customs free rights to traders and wealthy Hindu merchants, 
who thereby also evaded paying dues which should have gone to the Nawab, 
and, after his passing, Prince Suraj.

Prince Suraj was highly suspicious of the majority native Hindu population,
all foreigners and especially the British in the form of the Honourable East India Company 
which had been granted trading rights “east of the Cape of Good Hope”

by Queen Elizabeth I on the 31st of December 1600.

*   Firman - a permit, authorisation.    
** Dastaks - An 18th century trade permit in Bengal exempting European businesses, 
     in particular the British East India Company, from paying customs or transit duty. 
     From the Persian word “pass.”

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British Library
Coloured engraving by Jan Van Ryne (1712-1760) titled “Fort William in the Kingdom of Bengal, belonging to the East India Company of England, published According to Act of Parliament 1754.” (The River Hooghly is running left to right.

The Fort was built 1696 - 1706 and named after King William III in 1700.
The fine, tall buildings of the wealthy European sector, White Town, stretched around the Fort and for one mile along the Hooghly River. The homes and businesses of the
120,000 native population, Black Town, stretched outward for a further two miles.
In 1756 as the Nawab's forces drew nearer, many fled into the countryside while some
two thousand sought shelter inside Fort William.

Born in the Netherlands, Van Ryne spent most of his working life in London, England, 
where he specialised in scenes of the British and Dutch colonies.

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The young Nawab’s suspicions, which he saw as a threat to his position and his country, were not without justification. He particularly mistrusted the Company’s thirty-four year old President and Governor of Bengal at Fort William, William Drake, described by those who worked alongside him as “pompous and vain, a man incapable of taking any advice.”
Drake had been declared Acting President and Governor in 1752 “simply because he happened to be the senior Company official in Calcutta at the time.”*
The Company in London finally confirmed his appointment in February 1756, the actual letter arriving at Fort William some months later. The long delay placed Drake in an invidious position making him appear cheap among the natives.”
The only rival to Prince Suraj ud Dowlah assuming power was his cousin, Kissendass, son of Raj Bullabh, the Diwan of Dhaka, who, with the dying Nawab’s eldest daughter, Mehar-un-Nisa Begum, had not only been plotting against the pending succession but also lining his own pocket by “cooking the books.”
In March 1756 Prince Suraj detained Kissendass, but he escaped. Fearful of his ruthless scheming uncle, he sought the protection of Governor Drake at Fort William along with his heavily pregnant wife and “a large appropriated fortune in treasure.”

To give asylum no matter what the circumstances to any contender for power 
was incredibly foolish, under these circumstances it was courting disaster, 
disaster that was about to change the course of history.

Within a few weeks of his accession, furious at the turn of events, the new Nawab of Bengal moved to attack and destroy the British settlement at Calcutta. 
Over the fat years of profit, complacency and idleness had become deeply rooted. The resulting decay and neglect hastened by the hot sultry climate meant Fort William was crumbling. The surrounding ditch had been used as a dumping ground, and indeed was not even completed on the upstream side. Gun carriages were so rotten they could no longer carry their cannon. Three years previously fifty new eighteen and twenty-pound cannon had been unloaded onto the wharf, they were still there, their cannon balls stacked nearby, rusted beyond use. Few shells appeared to fit the guns, no fuses had been prepared, and a large part of the more than ample supply of gunpowder was found to be damp.
A roll call of the garrison’s strength revealed one hundred and eighty available men, of which forty-five were Europeans. Unknown to senior officers twenty-five men had been sent to small stations up-country, while seventy-five European soldiers were hospitalised.
On Friday the 11th of June 1756 the Nawab’s army was rerported fast approaching Fort William.
At 1am the following Wednesday morning, by the light of fire torches to the beat of kettle drums, 4,000 of the Nawab’s elite troops moved into position around Perring's Redoubt while trumpeting elephants crashed through the jungle hauling heavy cannon. Meanwhile history records some tens of thousands of Suraj’s troops were encamped on the far side of the unfinished ditch surrounding the fort.

*    Drake was succeeded as Governor of the Bengal Presidency at Fort William   
by Major-General Robert Clive in 1857.

     ↑  Perring's (sometimes Perrin's Redoubt)                                                                                                                               wikiwand
FORT WILLIAM SHOWING THE UNFINISHED MAHRATTA DITCH
AND POSITION OF SURAJ UD DOWLAH'S FORCES.

Perring’s Redoubt, (a small fortified outpost upstream of the Fort), 
located at Perring’s Point about one mile from the Fort was where on the 
16th of June 1756 the Nawab's forces opened the attack against Fort William.
Here, Company Ensign Francis Pickard with twenty-five men, mostly Portuguese 
and Dutch, supported on the adjacent River Hooghley by the Company ship 
Prince George of 499 tons burthen, mounted with twenty-six 39-lb. carriage guns, 
commanded by Captain Thomas Hague, held off the attackers.

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Company ships anchored in the river busily took on board European evacuees from the Fort. One cruel and highly regrettable incident occurred when sixteen year old Mary Carey, half-caste wife of English seaman Peter Carey, was turned back from the Company ship Dodaldy by the Fort’s Export Warehouse Manager, Charles Manningham, “because she was not white”, whilst Manningham along with all other managers, including governor Drake, deserted their posts to the ships, leaving Dublin born, forty-five year old John Zephaniah Holwell, F.R.S.,* as the most senior person in the Fort. 
In conditions of extreme heat and humidity tens of thousands of the Nawab's forces surrounded Fort William. It was only a matter of time before matters came to a head. 
Finally, after four days “of astonishing ferocity”, shortly after 4pm on Sunday the 20th of June 1756, Suraj ud Dowlah “made his entry into Fort William by the small north river gate opposite the flagstaff, (his) grand entrance marked with colourful ceremony, (by) hundreds of his personal bodyguard, recognisable by their indigo dhotis and turbans, (who) had preceded him and now lined his route.”
Despite their differences, according to protocol and because of his royal blood, Suraj received his relative, Kissendass, and “presented him with a ceremonial dress, a sign that all was forgiven”, leading some historians to suggest that Kissendass's flight for sanctuary was a a carefully orchestrated ruse by his uncle in order to provide him with a plausible excuse to attack Calcutta.
There was no such forgiveness about the Nawab's dislike of Governor Drake. In his absence orders were given to burn down the Governor's House; before long it seemed the whole of Fort William was ablaze. 
With the capture of the Fort Suraj ud Dowlah retired leaving his 146 prisoners under guard. It is suggested that he believed with “the destruction of the garrison he had rendered his government secure” even to the point he might be persuaded “to an immediate resumption of trade and commerce.”
Such high hopes were quickly shattered by a drunken Dutchman when “a fight started, a musket-shot cracked into the night and one of the Nawab's soldiers slumped to the ground.”
On hearing of the death and being advised by his troop Commander, Roy Doolub, "it was dangerous to leave a large body of English prisoners in comparative freedom during the night" Suraj sanctioned "they all be confined."
Events had moved very fast. At 8pm, only four hours after the Fort had fallen, "146 prisoners were forced into the Black Hole by the Nawab's soldiers with clubs and drawn scymitars." Ten hours later as the inward opening door was forced open only twenty-three were still alive.**
Historians, as  is their way, continue to debate numbers. However many went in to the Black Hole the names of the "twenty-two men and one woman who staggered out into the fresh air of the parade ground" is a matter of record. They included Holwell and sixteen year old Mary Carey.  

Suraj ud Dowlah and the Mohammedans retained possession of Calcutta for almost seven months, changing its name to Allinagar. The city was recaptured in January 1757 by a naval and ground force sent from Madras and led by Vice-Admiral Charles Watson and Colonel Clive. 

On the 9th of February 1757 Robert Clive of the East India Company and the Nawab of Bengal, Mirza Muhammad Suraj ud Dowlah signed the Treaty of Alinagar  by which the Nawab would recognise all provisions of the 1717 Firmann, all British goods passing through Bengal would be exempt from paying duty and the British would not be prevented from fortifying Calcutta.
But lingering mistrust, particularly by the British, resulted in a final confrontation on the 23rd of June in the orchestrated Battle of Plassey, on the banks of the Bhagirathi River, ninety-three miles north of Calcutta, when eight hundred Europeans and two thousand two hundred Indian troops under Robert Clive routed the Nawab’s unwieldy force of fifty thousand.

The rebuilding of Calcutta began immediately and commerce quickly revived. Fire damaged Fort William was abandoned to be re-built slightly further down-stream.

It was the beginning of British supremacy in India.

*   In 1732, after studying medicine at Guy’s Hospital, London, Holwell was employed as a    
     surgeon  by the East India Company becoming a member of the Fort William Council and 
     Chief Magistrate of Calcutta.

**  In his book, “The British Empire” Stephen Sears writes: “Holwell seems to have overestimated 
      the number. A careful check of the Europeans surviving the siege, and who could have been 
      imprisoned in the Black Hole on the terrible night of June 20 1756, suggests a number nearer            sixty-four.”
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A STREET IN RANGOON
Album VI  *  Image 10  *   Edited from full size: 10½ x 8½ inches   *   Original photograph No. 427
George W. Randall Archive

At the time of Bullough and Mitchell’s visit Burma (or Burmah as they spell it)
was a province of British India acquired by the British Indian government the
result of three wars, 1826, 1852 and 1885, the latter being when the Shan States
were declared part of the British Empire.
The population in 1901 was put at 10,490,624, 
a density of forty-four per square mile, 
an interesting comparison being that the population density 
of England and Wales was put at 530 per square mile.

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REFERENCES:


Encyclopædia Britannica 11th Edition 1910
A Dictionary of Indian History by Sachchidananda Bhattacharya 1967
The Oxford History of India by Vincent Smith 1959
The Black Hole of Calcutta - A Reconstruction by Noel Barber 1965
A Vindication of Mr. Holwell’s Character ... ...  by His Friends 1764
A Comprehensive History of India Civil, Military and Social … … by Henry Beveridge 1862
Census of India 1901 - Calcutta Town and Suburbs ... ... by A. K. Ray 1902
A Far Horizon by Meira Chand  1988
The British Empire by Stephen Sears 2014
Old Fort William in Bengal by Charles R. Wilson 1906
Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism by James S. Olson 1991
Terrorism, Insurgency and Indian English Literature 1830-1947 by Alex Tickel 2012
The Calcutta Review - Volume XIV - July/December 1850
A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan by Robert Orme 1803
Siraj ud Daullah and the East India Company, 1756-1757 by Brijen Kishore 1962
Pictorial History of England During the Reign of George III by Craik/Mac Farlane 1842

Echoes From Old Calcutta by Henry Elmsley Busteed 1888


George W. Randall Research Archive 
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