Before the post begins, a special mention to Somnath da, without his insights and help this would not have been possible.....
Who would believe that the busy intersections of Calcutta today where places which at the turn of the last century were places which marked the boundaries of the city? And if we go further into history, these busy roads of today and even tourist spots had been places which were battle grounds back then – yes battle grounds…
For anyone who takes some interest in the history of the city would know about the Siege of Calcutta of 1756 was fought bang in the heart of the city of today – in B.B.D. Bagh. Most of us know about the Battle of Plassey which paved way for the establishment of the British supremacy in Bengal and then to the rest of India. But not many know about another small-scale war, a skirmish you might say, which happened between these two events - an important page in the history of the city, now forgotten: and that too had taken place in today’s busy and chaotic roads of North Calcutta. So, which place is this? Where was the so-called battle ground?
When the news of the fall of Calcutta broke in Madras in August 1756, the Council immediately sent out an expedition force from Madras under Robert Clive and Admiral Watson. The English took this defeat as very humiliating and the aim now was just not to re capture Calcutta but establish their long-term control in Bengal. Even before setting for Bengal, Clive had written “this expedition will not end with the re taking of Calcutta only. The Company’s estate in these parts will be settled in a better and more lasting conditions than ever”.
Clive assumed command of the land forces, consisting of 900 Europeans and 1500 sepoys while Watson commanded a naval squadron. They sailed from Madras on October 16th, 1756 but it was not till December that Watson could anchor at the mouth of the river Hooghly after encountering innumerable difficulties.
On 29th December, 1756, the English dislodged the enemy from the fort of Budge Budge. Next it was the turn of Fort Tanna. This stood approximately opposite to the present-day Botanical Gardens. When the English fleet arrived, they found the fort deserted. Having searched the fort for any hidden soldiers or ammunition, and convinced that the river was clear without any danger, the advance towards Calcutta began. Once again it was to be assaulted both by land and water. By this time Calcutta had already been evacuated by Manik Chand long before Clive marched up. All that remained for him to do was march in and claim the East India Company’s premises. With Calcutta recaptured, the Council was re-instated and on January 3rd, 1757, a formal war was declared against Siraj.
Having formally declared war on the Nawab, the English immediately demonstrated that they meant business by launching an expedition up the river. The attack was a very calculated one and needed too. There were understood to be large stocks of grain and rice accumulated in the town which could sustain the army and another enticing reason was that it was believed that a substantial quantity of East India Company’s own goods, earlier seized by the Nawab, was stored there. On 9th January 1757, a force of 650 men under Captain Cooke and Major Kilpatrick stormed and sacked the town of Hooghly including the Dutch settlement at Chinsurah. By January 16, their Hooghly expedition was done and having demolished their fortifications, they re embarked and sailed towards Calcutta.
On learning of this attack, the Nawab raised his army and marched to Calcutta. He had with him 60,000 infantry, 40,000 cavalry, 30 guns and 50 elephants. They camped outside the Maratha Ditch at Maniktala, very near the present Jain Temple complex with the Nawab’s headquarters being the garden house of Umichand. Against this huge army, Clive had only 700 British soldiers, 100 gunmen, 1300 sepoys and 14 six pounder guns. The English sent envoys under Luke Scrafton and John Walsh at Umichand’s garden house to negotiate with the Nawab but on being scoffed away, they knew that now it was time to take attack him at once. After having met the emissaries at Umichand’s house, Siraj suspected foul play and hence to mislead Clive , he secretly moved to Gobindram Mitra’s garden house.
Though the decision was taken to attack the Nawab, yet with the forces at his disposal. Clive was very wary of taking on Siraj-ud-daulah in an open battle and instead decided to launch a pre- emptive attack on his headquarters in Umichand’s garden. From the midnight of 5th February 1757 till early next morning. a huge skirmish between the English and the Nawab took place on either sides of the present day Gouri Bari Lane, on the very spot where the Gouribari temples stand today.
The Nawab, on his part, commenced a genteel retreat and re-opened negotiations. Advised by his principal advisors and ministers, the Nawab concluded the Treaty of Alinagar on 9th February 1757 through which he was forced to make humiliating and expensive concessions to the East India Company.
The main provisions of the treaty were: a) The Nawab would allow the English all the privileges sanctioned by Farukh Siyaar in the farman of 1717 b) all English goods passing through Bengal with the company’s dastak (stamp) would be exempted from custom duties c) the Nawab would permit the English to fortify Calcutta d) the English would have the liberty to coin money in Calcutta .
The terms of the treaty were favourable to the English and quite humiliating for the Nawab. But he accepted it, not because he was afraid of the English but because he was scared of the threat of an impending Afghan invasion under Ahmad Shah Abdali who was reportedly moving towards Bengal after the sack of Delhi. Perhaps, he thought, though mistakenly as later events proved, that the Afghans were a greater threat than the English at that time.
The Nawab withdrew his army back to Murshidabad but the treaty did not last long which eventually led the way to the Battle of Plassey and as they say, the rest is history…..