From marshes to metropolis - the making of Calcutta might seem to be a fairy tale. When looked at in detail - the story unfurls into the city being built block by block. Such is the story of a marshland in 17th century Calcutta, where stood a tavern or an inn for comfort staying and refreshments - albeit a famous one, went down in pages of history and led to the making of one of the epicenter of present day Kolkata with vital thoroughfares grazing past it. This is an account of what went down over the years to make way for the present.
In the early 17th century, Calcutta sportsmen established their Jockey Club and refreshment room at the South corner of Sealdah, opposite the Baitakkhana which was named Bread and Cheese Bungalow. Records mention the Bungalow being opposite to the huge banyan tree in Baitakkhana which would be on the eastern extremity of Bowbazar St (BB Ganguly St) meeting Circular Road. Sportsmen would enjoy the comforts of the inn and then went in search of tigers and wild boars in the neighborhood of Dumdum.
When in June 1756, Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-daula marched all way from Murshidabad to Calcutta to take on British establishment, he was under the impression that Mahrattha (Maratha) Ditch was a defensive line that fenced entire white town and in order to take on Fort William, the army had to cross the ditch. In reality, the ditch was dug only till Entally but 15 years on, Nawab and his commander-in-chief, Rai Durlabh, never knew this fact. It took an almost dying servant of Omichand to make Nawab aware that the ditch which was slated to run from Bagbazar to Maidan had been dug only till Entally and that there is a causeway near Bread and Cheese Bungalow which could be easily crossed over by Nawab's army. Overnight, plans were redrawn and the rest is history. In 1757, less than a year after the fall of Fort William, British made a comeback and this area near Bread and Cheese Bungalow near Baithakkhana, Sealdah was the scene of hard fighting. It is here that thirty nine English and eighteen sipahis (foot-soldiers) were killed, eighty-two English and thirty-five sipahis were wounded. The English guns had to be dragged through Sealdah, then rice fields. At Baithakkhana, there was a battery of Nawab which inflicted great damage to the English. Sealdah then, was a narrow causeway, raised several feet above the level of the country, with a ditch from each side leading from the East. The name Sealdah, writes Calcutta's barefoot historian, P.T. Nair, was derived from the name ‘Sialdihi’, the word ‘sial’ being a term for jackals and ‘dihi’ meaning ‘village’, a variation of which became ‘Sealdah’ over the years which is arguably true.
This image is a part of the collection of James Baillie Fraser’s ‘Views of Calcutta and its Environs’. Fraser (1783-1856) arrived in Calcutta in 1814 and in six years in the city, produced a collection of sketches of the city, later published as a collection of 24 plates. In this plate, the view of the neighborhood of Lalbazaar is visible along with the Portuguese Church. At the east end of Lalbazaar was the Bowbazar, sometimes called Boytaconnah Street. The accompanying text to this plate reads: “At its eastern end, where it joined the Circular Road stood a Catholic Church with its northern facade on Bow Bazaar. The Circular Road runs across the picture, while the tracks sweeping round from the left are those of carts heading eastwards to the Salt Water Lake.” (Photo credit: British Library)
Ater retaking of Calcutta by the British, years passed by and we have account of Mrs Griffiths being the owner of the Garden House at the Bread and Cheese Bungalow which by 1780 was at its peak of popularity among taverns in Calcutta. Owing to its fame, the road from Old Fort William to Boytaconnah was at times referred to as 'Great Bungalo Road'.
A Boys' School
In 1781, the Garden House at Bread and Cheese Bungalow was bought by Henry Cowen from Mrs Henrietta Griffiths to build a boys' school. As we learn, this was only a slice of the vast property and land around which the tavern stood. On 23rd August, 1781, Hicky's Gazette mentions - "Henry Cowen lately arrived from England takes this opportunity of informing his friends and the Public, that he has taken Mrs Griffiths' Garden House at Bread and Cheese Bungalow where he proposes opening on the 3rd of September next an Academy & Boarding School for teaching Grammatically Young Gentlemen the English, Latin, French and Italian Languages. Also writing, geography according to the methods adopted by the most eminent masters in Europe. Such Gentlemen and Ladies who think proper to honor him with the Tuition of their children may depend upon his most strenuous endeavors to merit their countenance and future recommendation. For further particulars he begs leave to refer them to Messrs Killican and Thornhill. The terms of Board and education are viz under ten years of age 40 Sicca Rupees per month and all above ten 50."
During 1783, lot of buzz is noticed with Bengal Military Orphan Society keen on educating military orphan children. On 2nd April, 1783, under the efforts of the Society, arrangements were made with Mr Cowen to board and educate orphan boys who were old enough to go to his school at 40 sicca rupees a month, exclusive of clothing. The orphan girls were accommodated in a large airy room at Radha Bazaar of Mr Croftes who was Secretary in the Revenue Department. The society appointed Mr and Mrs Jervis for overseeing the education and dieting of these girls. The Orphan Society did not stop here. They started doing inspection of how these institutions fared in treating the orphan children. Upon review, they found that although the girls under Mrs Jervis were receiving fair amount of attention and care, the existing arrangements at Mr Cowen's boys' school was far from satisfactory. The boys were well taught but the internal state of the house was abominable - the rooms were dirty, the linen filthy and the food was very bad. Mr Cowen was being simply told by Orphan Society's management that unless improvements took place for which the Society paid a substantial amount, the managers would be compelled to remove them. These review observations did not go down well with the Society management when it was decided that the soldiers' orphans be shifted to a house directly under the control of a resident Superintendent. This finally was done by purchasing a Levett's house at Howrah.
Michael Derozio
It appears that Mrs Griffiths passed away on or before June 1785 as executors of her will sold portion of her property at Bread and Cheese Bungalow. On 13th and 14th June 1785 - we find reference to William Bondfield (reputed auctioneer during times of Warren Hastings and after whom Bonfield Lane in Calcutta is named), Manuel De Cruz and Lewis De Costa as the executors of will of Henrietta Griffiths who sold a lower roomed house and ground (7 bighas 15 cottahs) at the Bread and Cheese Bungalow to Micahel Derozio for Sa Rs 12000. It would be interesting to note that William Bondfield (Bonfield) was a reputed auctioneer during times of Warren Hastings, who in his youth was posted to 3rd Bengal European Regiment. Mr Bondfield was one of the jurors who tried the indictment against James Augustus Hicky for a libel contained in Bengal Gazette. Bonfield Lane in Calcutta is named after William Bondfield who had his premises in this street.
Michael Derozio (1742-1809), in May 1789, bought another upper-roomed house for Sa Rs 6200 from Mathew Mendes, executor of will of Andy Derozio. He was a well-to-do Portuguese merchant and 'Native' protestant who appears to have bought substantial property at around Sealdah and Entally area during late 1780s. Not to our surprise, we learn that Michael Derozio is the founder of the Derozio family at Calcutta and grandfather of the famous poet Henry Louis Vivian Derozio.
1802 Auction
Dated 14th January 1802 an advertisement was up for notice - To be sold by Public Auction, by Tulloh and Co., at their Auction-room, this day, Thursday, the 14th instant (positively without reserve). It read : "That well raised lower roomed house and garden, known by the name of Bread and Cheese Bungalow, situated in Dhie Entally, Mouzah Sealdah, on the right hand side of the road leading from Calcutta to Baliaghaut (Beliaghata), on the Salt Water Lake, and immediately to the eastward of and adjoining Mr Davidson's consisting of a hall 28 by 21 feet, four sleeping rooms, and two enclosed verandahs, with every convenient out-offices, three tanks, and a great variety of trees, the whole standing on 24 beegahs and 12 cottahs of ground as per pottah. The deeds may be seen, and other particulars known, at the Auction-room." This gives us an idea that the entire land referred to was spread across almost 10 acres of land.
Last Supper painting at the background in St. John's Church, Calcutta
It may be noted here that William Tulloh (Tulloh & Co, Tank Square - present day B.B.D Bagh, Calcutta) was a well-known auctioneer whose portrait John Zoffany had used to depict Judas Iscariot in his large painting of 'The Last Supper' for St. John's Church. John Zoffany, a Royal Academician had painted 'The Last Supper' while in Calcutta and presented it for an altar-piece to St John Church in 1787 which was then nearing completion. William Tulloh, however, was far from being pleased to find himself as Judas in the painting. This curious humour on part of John Zoffany gave way to controversies in Calcutta society but the artist seems to have been well satisfied with his creation. The painting is still present and can be seen at St John's Church, Calcutta.
As we know it today
At a later point in time, a police chowkey was in place of this Garden house. Further on in 1855, the Eastern Bengal Railway Company was established and formally incorporated by the Eastern Bengal Railway Act 1857. The Act authorized the newly formed venture to acquire and hold land in India and to enter into contracts with the East India Company and others to construct and work the first phase of a railway line. In all probability as per this Act, this land which once housed the Bread and Cheese Bungalow was taken by Eastern Bengal railway for a railway station - which now is site of Sealdah station.
Sealdah Station, 1944 (Pinterest)
Today, as the ubiquitous yellow taxis and app cabs swarm APC Road and make a beeline towards Sealdah, one might well pause and wonder at the stories this place had to offer, lost in sands of time.
~ Souvik Bhattacharya
Bibliography:
> Biswas, Anil Ranjan - Calcutta and Calcuttans : From Dihi to Megalopolis
> Cotton, H.E.A - Calcutta Old and New
> Hicky's Bengal Gazette, 1781
> Bengal Past and Present Vol 14
> Selections from Calcutta Gazettes: Showing the Political and Social Condition of the English in India Vol III
> Calcutta Review - Volume 18 & 44
> Carey, W.H - The Good Old Days of Honorable John Company
> Nair, P.T - A History of Calcutta's Streets
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