Darjeeling

Darjeeling
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	27.037559, 88.263044
Altitude:	2,134 m (7,001 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Darjeeling
State/Province:	West Bengal
Country:	India
Transport links
Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
Darjeeling

Darjeeling was a hill station in Bengal.

There were military cantonments at Jalapahar (established 1848), Darjeeling and at Lebong, situated below Darjeeling about eight miles away. Lebong cantonment was established in 1882 as part of the Jalapahar cantonment, and became a separate cantonment in 1895.There were artillery barracks at Katapahar, above Darjeeling and it appears that this was what was called the Darjeeling cantonment. The Darjeeling cantonment may have at times also included Jalapahar, which was a convalescent depot.

Records

• The British Library has the following book in its catalogue:

Taylor’s Maps of the following Tea Districts, Darjeeling, Terai, Jalpaiguri and Dooars, Darrang, Golaghat, Jorhat Nowgong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, Cachar, Sylhet, with complete Index to all Tea Gardens, published 1910

• The Australian newspaper dated 1 August 2009 has an article about a hotel in Darjeeling “where the clock stopped ticking circa 1930”, and where the library has a substantial collection relating to India's railways.

Cemeteries

A BACSA (British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia) cemetery publication is

• Darjeeling and the Dooars: Christian Cemeteries and Memorials 1842–1995 by Eileen Hewson, 2006. A record of the cemeteries and isolated graves from this corner of India with MIs and biographical notes on the planters and other notable tombs. 93pp, 23 illustrations, and map

BACSA are in the process of putting the indexes to its cemetery books online and these indexes are free to browse. If an indexed name is of interest then application can be made to BACSA for details of the relevant burial inscription - charges apply for this service.

Darjeeling’s English Cemetery by Rebecca Bragg 6 November 2009 darjeelingtimes.com. It was also known as the Hooker Road Cemetery or Hill Cart Road Cemetery according to the comments of Peter J. Karthak, 8 November 2009. He also mentions other cemeteries, including the Jewish Cemetery.

Related Articles

• Tea Plantation
• Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway
• Darjeeling Images Fibiwiki page containing various images of Darjeeling - click on thumbnails to expand.

External Links

• Darjeeling Wikipedia
• Jalapahar Wikipedia
• Darjeeling from the website Koi-Hai
• Darjeeling Tea History
• Photograph of a tea plantation, Darjeeling.
• Photos of Darjeeling from Old Indian Photos
• Old photographs of Darjeeling from the Das Studio Photo Archives from Ratna D Pradhan’s Himalayan Light: Images of the Himalayas
• Old Mount Hermon Students' Association (UK)
  • Old Darjeeling Photographs
• Postcard of Loreto Convent Darjeeling 1907 click to enlarge. thehimalayanbeacon.com
• The Robertsons and Darjeeling - A photo feature by Miss Ally McGurk Click to enlarge. thehimalayanbeacon.com
• Photographs:Darjeeling English Cath Forrest’s collection on flickr.com. Includes the wording "...the New School, set up during the Second World War to educate the children of British families in India safely, away from the threat of Japanese bombs, was closed at the end of the war. My mother and her classmates, some as young as five, were sent up here all the way from Calcutta on the Darjeeling Mail and the Toy Train.".
• History of Darjeeling from Windamerehotel.com
• The cantonment at Lebong 1910 Postcard from Images of Asia

Online books

• "Darjeeling Town" Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 11, page 178
• Newman's Guide to Darjeeling and Its Surroundings, Historical & Descriptive 1900 Archive.org
• Darjeeling & its Mountain Railway: A Guide and Souvenir published by the Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway Co. Ld. 1921 vsdh.org
  • Chapter 6 "Suburbs of Darjeeling" includes details about the cantonments at Lebong, Jalapahar and Katapahar (although confusingly the latter is also called Jalapahar)
• History Of The Darjeeling District by E C Dozey 1917 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Refer Online books-Digital Library of India for more details about this site. A chapter on schools commences computer page 99, and a chapter on cemeteries, with details of some burials, commences computer page 140. Note some pages appear to be missing. A revised 2nd edition, published c 1922 and titled A Concise History of the Darjeeling District by E C Dozey is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. The chapter on cemeteries commences actual page 146, computer page 189.
• The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj by Dane Kennedy, 1996 University of California Press
• “Darjeeling” from Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa : their history, people, commerce and industrial resources by Somerset Playne 1917 Archive.org
• Bengal District Gazetteers: Darjeeling by L.S.S.O’Malley (reprint 1985/1999, original 1907) is available to download as a searchable pdf file at DSpace at West Bengal State Central Library. Also available as Google Books Preview