Did You Know About Kolkata’s Scottish Legacy?

May 11, 2020 BengalBee Uncategorized 1641

In the post COVID-19 world, we hope to spend a winter’s day looking at Kolkata’s Scottish landmarks, quietly humming Tagore’s adaptation of the Scottish ditty ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to ourselves

Uttara Gangopadhyay

Standing at one end of Kolkata’s central business district—Dalhousie Square or Benoy Badal Dinesh Bagh—is the unmissable St Andrew’s Church (also known as Kirk), whose tall spire with a weather cock on top can be seen from a distance. But not many who pass by with an admirable look at its Grecian style or the lofty Doric pillars beautifying the portico on both sides, know that it is one of the best examples of the city’s Scottish connection. 

According to historians, the Scottish immigration to India started after the signing of Scotland’s ‘Treaty of Union’ with England in 1707. The Scots started arriving in Calcutta (the former name of Kolkata), the capital of British India, from the 18th century. As power shifted from the East India Company to the Crown, it is said that a large number of Scotsmen took up employment as ‘writers’ in the administrative service. Over the years, they left their mark in areas ranging from politics to education, missionary activities to trade to philanthropy. Unknown to many, the Scots feature prominently in the history of British rule in India. Six governor generals (including Lord Dalhousie) and viceroys of British India were Scottish statesmen.

St Andrew’s Kirk, designed by Burn, Currie and Company, was opened to the public in March 1818, and was a house of worship meant for the Scottish Presbyterian Christians. It is said that Bishop Middleton (the first Bishop of Calcutta) had objected to the construction of the steeple but Dr James Bryce, who had formed the Scottish congregation in 1815, not only built the spire but also put a weather cock on top.

Jute was one of the strongest bonds that tied Calcutta with Scotland. According to many reports, the Scots were instrumental in establishing jute mills in Bengal. Michael Meighan in the book Scotland’s Lost Industries, writes that many mill owners of Dundee, the hub of Scotland’s jute mills, thought it prudent to establish mills nearer the source of raw material (Bengal in India), a “movement [that] began with Margaret Donnelly, who was first to set up a jute mill in Calcutta in 1855.” Known as the ‘jutewallahs’, they not only worked hard but also maintained their Scottish identity and followed their rituals and festivals. Eugenie Fraser, the wife of a jute-mill manager who lived here between 1937 and 1963, gives a graphic account of the ‘jutewallahs’ life in Calcutta in her book Home by the Hooghly.

While there are not many reminders of the trading houses (except for a few such as Andrew Yule or Gillanders Arbuthnot Co.), you may still find landmarks harking back to the Scottish contribution to education in the city. Take a walk down central Kolkata and you will come across several educational institutions that bear the Scottish legacy. The Scottish Church College—originally founded in 1830 as the General Assembly Institute and established at its present location in 1839—upholds the memory of Dr Alexander Duff, a missionary from the Church of Scotland who arrived in Calcutta in May 1830, after surviving successive shipwrecks. His memory survives through other institutions such as Duff College (the building was subsequently converted to a police station), Duff Girls High School and the Duff Church (founded in 1848). Scottish watchmaker and philanthropist David Hare was instrumental in establishing the Hindu College (renamed as Presidency College, now Presidency University); he also established a school on the same premises which was later named after him in 1867.

Lying across the Hooghly River, to the west of Kolkata, is the sprawling Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, which was founded by a Scotsman Lt Colonel Robert Kyd in 1787. The derelict Roxburgh House inside the garden is a testimony to another Scotsman, Dr William Roxburgh, who not only expanded the collection in the garden but also enriched Indian botanical studies with his notes and diagrams.

No discussion of Kolkata’s Scottish link can be complete without a peek into the Scottish Cemetery, established around 1820 when a demand for a separate cemetery for the Scottish people was raised. After the cemetery was abandoned, probably in the 1950s, it slowly began to crumble. Graves were vandalised, vegetation overran the place and miscreants took shelter here. However, with wide-scale restoration and landscaping work under the aegis of the UK-based Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust, the cemetery is being nurtured into the heritage site it deserves to be. According to a survey by the Trust, there are nearly 2,000 Scottish burials here. The BBC quoted James Simpson of the Edinburgh-based conservation architects Simpson and Brown, who has visited the site several times, as saying, “Even the gravestones are made of Scottish stone—granite and marble, some of it brought all the way from home.”

Lying across the Hooghly River, to the west of Kolkata, is the sprawling Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, which was founded by a Scotsman Lt Colonel Robert Kyd in 1787. The derelict Roxburgh House inside the garden is a testimony to another Scotsman, Dr William Roxburgh, who not only expanded the collection in the garden but also enriched Indian botanical studies with his notes and diagrams.

No discussion of Kolkata’s Scottish link can be complete without a peek into the Scottish Cemetery, established around 1820 when a demand for a separate cemetery for the Scottish people was raised. After the cemetery was abandoned, probably in the 1950s, it slowly began to crumble. Graves were vandalised, vegetation overran the place and miscreants took shelter here. However, with wide-scale restoration and landscaping work under the aegis of the UK-based Kolkata Scottish Heritage Trust, the cemetery is being nurtured into the heritage site it deserves to be. According to a survey by the Trust, there are nearly 2,000 Scottish burials here. The BBC quoted James Simpson of the Edinburgh-based conservation architects Simpson and Brown, who has visited the site several times, as saying, “Even the gravestones are made of Scottish stone—granite and marble, some of it brought all the way from home.”

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/70400/do-you-know-about-kolkatas-scottish-legacy

Photo: Scottish Church College founded by Dr Alexander Duff

1 Comments

  2. Beeindruckend! Dies könnte einer der nützlichsten Blogs sein, die wir jemals zu diesem Thema gesehen haben. Eigentlich großartig. Ich bin auch Spezialist für dieses Thema, damit ich Ihre Bemühungen verstehen kann. Bree Isadore Mario

  4. C’est vraiment intéressant, vous êtes un blogueur très compétent. J’ai rejoint votre flux rss et je suis impatient de chercher plus de votre merveilleux message. Aussi, j’ai partagé votre site web dans mes réseaux sociaux! Almire Ruy Heeley

  7. ATT: bengalbee.com / Bengal Bee – Bengal Bee intends to touch a chord with all to whom Bengal matters.. INTERNET SITE SOLUTIONS
    This notice RUNS OUT ON: Sep 16, 2020

    We have actually not received a payment from you.
    We’ve attempted to contact you but were unable to contact you.

    Kindly Go To: https://bit.ly/2FEWHNn .

    For information and also to process a discretionary settlement for solutions.

    09162020024216.

  8. ATT: bengalbee.com / Bengal Bee – Bengal Bee intends to touch a chord with all to whom Bengal matters.. WEBSITE SERVICES
    This notification EXPIRES ON: Sep 22, 2020

    We have not gotten a settlement from you.
    We’ve attempted to call you but were incapable to contact you.

    Kindly Browse Through: https://bit.ly/32MupJL .

    For information as well as to process a optional settlement for solutions.

    09222020121707.

  265. If you want to use the photo it would also be good to check with the artist beforehand in case it is subject to copyright. Best wishes. Aaren Reggis Sela

  267. If you want to use the photo it would also be good to check with the artist beforehand in case it is subject to copyright. Best wishes. Aaren Reggis Sela

  411. RE: bengalbee.com / Bengal Bee – Bengal Bee intends to touch a chord with all to whom Bengal matters.. WEB SITE SERVICES
    This notice EXPIRES ON: Oct 30, 2020

    We have actually not obtained a payment from you.
    We’ve attempted to call you yet were unable to reach you.

    Please Visit: https://www.electronicdomains.com/bengalbee.com

    For information and to make a optional payment for solutions.

    Thank you.

    103020200841583454356

  506. Perfect update of captcha solving package “XEvil 5.0”:

    Captchas solution of Google (ReCaptcha-2 and ReCaptcha-3), Facebook, BitFinex, Bing, Hotmail, SolveMedia, Yandex,
    and more than 12000 another types of captcha,
    with highest precision (80..100%) and highest speed (100 img per second).
    You can use XEvil 5.0 with any most popular SEO/SMM software: iMacros, XRumer, SERP Parser, GSA SER, RankerX, ZennoPoster, Scrapebox, Senuke, FaucetCollector and more than 100 of other software.

    Interested? There are a lot of impessive videos about XEvil in YouTube.

    Free XEvil Demo available.

    Good luck!

  660. Your way of telling everything in this article is genuinely
    fastidious, all be able to without difficulty be aware of
    it, Thanks a lot.

  693. I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought
    this post was good. I don’t know who you are but certainly you’re going to
    a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!

  740. I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what
    all is needed to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny?

    I’m not very internet smart so I’m not 100% certain. Any
    suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Appreciate it