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Site of the Black Hole, Calcutta, 1918

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3022AA/26

Scope and Contents

205x146mm. View showing the spot at the N.E. corner of the Post Office where the site of the Black Hole incarceration of 1756 is commemorated. A plaque on the wall recounts the details of the incident, and an area in front (paved with black marble in 1901 at the direction of Lord Curzon) is fenced off with iron railings. According to J.Z. Holwell, 146 men and women were forced into the tiny guardroom on the night of 20 June 1756, only 23 of whom survived to emerge the following day. This account has been disputed by some historians, and it has never been satisfactorily determined whether the imprisonment was an act of deliberate cruelty or beaurocratic mismanagement. For an account of the research of Curzon and others into the exact site of the Black Hole, and the lines of the walls of old Fort William, see Curzon i, pp.150-55. See also Y3022U/1. (Massey p.55).

Dates

  • Creation: 1918

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Language of Materials

English

Originator(s)

Bourne and Shepherd

Finding aid date

2011-01-21 14:42:03+00:00

Repository Details

Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository

Contact:
Cambridge University Library
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Cambridge CB3 9DR United Kingdom