TWELVE MEN OF BENGAL
IN THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY
BY
F. B. BRADLEY-BIRT
Indian Civil Service
With Twelve Illustrations
FOURTH EDITION
Calcutta:
S. K. LAHIRI AND CO., COLLEGE STREET
[All Rights Reserved]
Price Re. 1/-
Printed and published by S. K. Banerjee at the Cotton
Press, 57, Harrison Road, Calcutta for Messrs.
S. K. Lahiri & Co.—10-1-27—XX.
PREFACE.
The following pages attempt to give a necessarily short but, it is hoped, complete sketch of the lives of twelve among the most prominent men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century. The difficulty of selection where so many names occur will be obvious. I have, however, by no means attempted to select the twelve most distinguished names of the century, but rather those whose lives may be regarded as typical of the varied conditions of Bengal during that momentous period in its history. The selection has been further guided by a desire to cover the whole of the century so that the book may be not only a record of the lives of Twelve Men of Bengal but a comprehensive though brief sketch of the wonderful revival, social, moral and intellectual, which came to the Province during the period. Among the six Hindus and the six Muhammadans, to whom the present volume has been limited, will be found the social reformer and the merchant prince, the religious revivalist and the philanthropist, the Government official and the educationalist, the descendant of a long line of ruling chiefs and the self-made man who won his own way to wealth and influence. If by serving to remind the people of Bengal of the splendid examples that the great men of their own race have set before them, and by bringing home to Englishmen a greater knowledge of a few of the noble and devoted lives lived by men of Bengal in the Nineteenth Century, this little book may in its own small way increase the respect and sympathy between men of different creeds and races, it will amply fulfil its purpose.
Save in the case of Haji Mahomed Mohsin, of whose family I know of no representative surviving and in writing of whom I have had the kind assistance of the Mutwali of the Hooghly Imambara, I have to thank very cordially the representatives of the subjects of these sketches for the material assistance they have given me and for the interest they have taken in the book.
F. B. B-B.
CONTENTS.
Page.
1. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
1 |
2. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
35 |
3. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
61 |
4. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
89 |
5. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
101 |
6. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
111 |
7. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
141 |
8. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
173 |
9. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
185 |
10. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
199 |
11. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
219 |
12. | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
241 |
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1963, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 60 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse