EAST INDIA COMPANY FACTORY RECORDS
Sources from the British Library, London

Part 5: Calcutta, 1690-1708

History of Calcutta

Calcutta (renamed Kolkata in 2001) is the capital of West Bengal in eastern India. It is the fourth largest city in India with an overall population of around 14 million.

Calcutta was founded in 1690 when the Mogul Aurangzeb agreed to let the East India Company establish a settlement on the banks of the Hooghly River in Bengal near a village called Kalikata. The name was anglicized into Calcutta and the settlement grew rapidly with a reputation as a place of disrepute. In 1702 it was declared a Presidency City with EIC troops stationed at Fort William.

In 1756 as war with France approached the fortifications at Calcutta were strengthened significantly. The young Nawab Siraj-ud-daula who had recently come to the throne of Bengal saw this as a threat and in June 1765 marched on Calcutta, defeated the garrison and imprisoned a group of British in a small airless room. They died of suffocation and the so called “Black Hole” of Calcutta was to be imprinted on British minds as proof of Indian barbarism.

Colonel Robert Clive (1725-74) mounted an expedition from Madras and retook Calcutta in February 1757. He formed an alliance with one of Siraj’s generals Mir Jafar and defeated Siraj at the battle of Plassey in June 1757. Mir Jafar was made Nawab but in reality was a puppet in British hands and the Indians were forced to hand over millions of rupees in cash payments to the British who also took over the trade in valuable goods such as salt, betel nut, tobacco and saltpeter.

In 1772 Calcutta became the capital of British India and Warren Hastings as the first governor-general set about creating an ordered system of government for the country.

By the 1780s Calcutta had a population of around 200,000 including over 3,000 European residents and the living areas had begun to be sharply divided into the large European mansions and the crowed Indian sectors.

It was Richard Wellesley, Governor-General between 1797 and 1805 who was responsible for the growth of the city and its imposing public buildings. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the city was the centre of the East India Company’s opium trade and locally produced opium was sold at auction in Calcutta to be shipped to China.

By the early nineteenth century Calcutta was divided into two areas, the British area known as White Town and the other Indian area known as Black Town which consisted of poverty ridden shanty towns. Industrial growth took place in the 1850’s especially in textile and jute manufacture with a resultant investment in railroads and telegraph connections. A new class of Indians emerged known as “Babus” who were professional business people belonging to upper-caste Hindu communities.

In 1883 a national conference was organized in Calcutta by Surendranath Banerjee and gradually the city became a focal point for revolutionary organizations of the Indian independence movement. The 1905 partition of Bengal led to public agitation and the boycott of British goods.

Factory Records for Calcutta, 1690-1708

The factory records for Calcutta held at the British Library cover the early period of the factory’s history, 1690-1708. After the outbreak of hostilities in the 1680’s between the East India Company in Bengal and the Mogul emperor, Aurangzeb, all the Company’s factories in his dominions were confiscated. As a result the Company moved their factory about 20 miles down the Hooghly river to Sutanati, a settlement which gradually extended to Kalikata as it was originally known and Govindpur. Kalikata was renamed Calcutta by the British and became the headquarters of the Company’s Bengal factories. In 1696 the Company was given permission to fortify the settlement and in 1698 actually purchased the towns of Sutanati, Govindpur and Calcutta. Fort William was completed in 1702, the Calcutta settlement grew rapidly and in 1707 it was raised to the status of presidency.

The factory records for Calcutta, 1690-1708 are divided into the following types of document:

• Diaries and Consultations, 1690-1691, 1694-1708

These records give day to day details of the discussions and subsequent actions taken by the factors concerning a wide variety of topics. They also include the reports of the Warehousekeeper and the Charges Generalkeeper. The names of those present at the consultations are listed. The information provided consists of:

• Lists of goods to be sent to London with information on bills of lading and bills of exchange
• Lists of goods received at the factory from Madras, for example chests of copper
• Notes on the foreign ships passing by Hooghly such as the Dutch, French, Moors and Portuguese
• Reports on competition by the Dutch and French
• Departure of factors to Fort St George on business
• Details of orders given to Captains of EIC ships
• Notes on letters written to York Fort
• Detailed monthly accounts of money paid to Indian merchants for the Company’s purchase of goods such as silk and cloth. Lists of names are provided
• Details of the expenses of the factory such as repairs to buildings and ships, the purchase of cattle, the payment of wages to workers in the weaving shop and to servants, the purchase of food and military costs
• Details of money requested by captains for the refitting of EIC ships
• Notes on money paid to the Charges Generalkeeper at the factory in order for him to pay the wages of EIC ships’ crew
• Information on the amount of money left in the mint after expenses had been paid
• Reports on negotiations with the local Moguls
• Notes on money paid to the factors by Indians for marriage fees, rent of land and as fines and by miscellaneous persons such as 100 rupees from an Englishman for a licence to sell liquor
• A separate short but very interesting diary of George Petty and Trevor James, 9 August-28 December 1705, covering subjects such as: black merchants demanding their bills be paid; news that the Dutch were to go to Batavia; list of papers received from Fort St George; reports in October that all persons were dangerously ill and on November 1st George Petty reports the death of Trevor James

• Copies of letters despatched to subordinate factories from Calcutta, including St Helena, Fort William, Cassim Bazzar and Viziagar, 1690-1705. The names of the factors are given such as Charles Eyre and John Beard. It should be noted that the early letters are sent from Chuttanutte (the early name for the factory at Calcutta). They contain details such as:

• Instructions to Captains of EIC ships, ketches and smacks
• Instructions to factors regarding silk and cloth to be sent to Calcutta
• Details of invoices to be paid and bills of exchange
• Acknowledgement of goods received at Calcutta from the factories
• Details of negotiations with local Moguls
• List of papers including bills sent by ship to London
• Worries about piracy and the protection of the ships
• Losses incurred to ships and goods due to storms at sea
• A separate batch of letters consist of letters sent from 12 December 1699-28 November 1700 to Fort St George only, covering the same range of topics
  o Also included are letters sent to EIC headquarters in London regarding goods despatched there by Company ships

G/7/7 Letter despatched from Chuttanutte, 20 May 1698 to Nathaniel Walsh

“We wrote to you about 4 or 5 days agoe to know your reason why we have not heard from you upwards of 90 days and we are still dissatisfied for want of advice from you. The affair you have in hand being of such vast import to us, the chief Interlop in Ballasor being not able to doe his business there hath sent his Purser to Hugley….”

• Copies of letters received at Calcutta, 1690, 1694-1704 from subordinate factories including Pattana, Ballasore, Rajamaule and Cassim Bazzar. They cover subjects such as:

• Notification of the safe arrival of the Company’s ships
• Translations of letters from Dutch merchants
• Letters from Captains regarding voyages and difficulties with pirates
• Negotiations with the Moguls regarding permission to trade
• Goods stolen by factors and discussions regarding the appropriate punishment
• Local disturbances and worries about possible trouble with the local duans
• Wages of workers in the factories
• Allowances and expenses

G/7/10 Letter received at Calcutta from Nathaniel Halsey, Edward Hern, Edward Cattle and Richard Draper:

“By these Eight Peons on Eight Boates be pleased to receive 196 Bales of Raw Silk and 54 chests of piece goods. Invoice whereof shall follow overland tomorrow. Dundee Peon has 5 Rupees given him for charges on your way in case he should have occasion for the same….”

The Factory Records of the East India Company for Calcutta are an indispensable tool for researchers interested in the early trading networks in South East Asia. Part 6 will cover the records for Bombay.