Calcutta

Calcutta
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	22.572625°N, 88.363893°E
Altitude:	9 m (30 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Kolkata
State/Province:	West Bengal
Country:	India
Transport links
East Indian Railway (Howrah) Bengal-Nagpur Railway Calcutta and South Eastern Railway (Sealdah) Eastern Bengal Railway (Sealdah) Calcutta Port Commissioners' Railway Arrah-Sasaram Light Railway Barasat-Basirhat Light Railway Futwah-Islampur Light Railway Howrah-Amta Light Railway Howrah-Sheakhalla Light Railway

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

Calcutta (present day Kolkata) is a large city in north-east India. Calcutta was the headquarters of the Government of the Bengal Presidency. It was also the capital of British India until Delhi became the capital on 12th December 1911. The city had a large European mercantile community.

Spelling Variants

Modern name: Kolkata
Variants: Calcutta

FIBIS resources

• FIBIS database: Percy-Smith/Bullock papers Graves and Monuments contains some entries from the "Church of Our Lady of Delores, Baithakhana, Calcutta and Surah Cemetary. Hand written transcript taken and rearranged from 'The Registers & Inscriptions of the Church of Our Lady etc. by Rev H. Hosten Calcutta 1915", refer Churches and missions, Roman Catholic, below. This church was founded in 1810 and some of the records date back to that early period. Entries were noted in Inscriptions Volume 1, but it is not known if there are additional entries in other volumes
• Images of Calcutta in Fibiwiki collection
• "Eliza Fay: New Aspects" by David Atkinson FIBIS Journal Number 24 (Autumn 2010), pages 1-11. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.
• "The Imhoff Inheritance" by Pippa Milnamow FIBIS Journal Number 27 (Spring 2012), pages 3-13. Includes details of Belvedere House, now the National Library.

Military history

Battle of Calcutta 1757
3rd Carnatic War

Location

Calcutta is now known as Kolkata in modern day India and is situated at 22°33′N, 88°20′E in the Ganges Delta.

Places of interest

Calcutta in 1862

The Maidan

The site of Fort William, the Maidan was (and still is) the centre of Calcutta. It was bounded on the west side by the Hooghly River and the Strand Road, and on the east side by Chowringhi Road. Government House, the Governor's residence, was at the north end of the Maidan and Belvedere, the residence of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, was near the southern end.

Eden Gardens

The Eden Gardens were started by Lord Auckland's sisters and are beautifully laid out. They were the main gathering place of Calcutta Society in the time of the British Raj. They are also the home of India's oldest cricket ground, the Calcutta Cricket Club, and have a lake which was the home of the Calcutta Rowing Club. Beside the lake is a Burmese Pagoda brought from Prome and set up in 1856. There were many statues in the Gardens. Calcutta Eden Gardens Links to a postcard of Eden Gardens in the Fibiwiki images collection

Churches and missions

Images of Churches can be found in FIBIS Gallery, FIBIS Database and Fibiwiki

Anglican

• St James Church - see FIBIS Journal 5, "The Man Who Built St James Calcutta"
• St John's Cathedral Church - consecrated 1787.
• St Paul's Cathedral - completed in 1847.
• St Peter's Church, Fort William - built 1828. 1835 Watercolour (British Library). Photograph c 1850 (flickr.com)
• St Thomas’ Church, part of the Free School , completed 1831
• 'Old' Mission Church - see article in FIBIS Journal 7, includes a list of graves. Also see Kiernander's Church asiaticus.blogspot.co.uk.
• St Stephen's, Kidderpore. Photographs: Kidderpore Church: 2008 (flickr.com)
• The contact details for the Church of North India in Calcutta is given in the website of the Diocese of Calcutta, CNI

• 
  Exterior View of St James Church
• 
  Pulpit at St James Church
• 
  Interior View of St James Church
• 
  Altar of St James Church
• 
  Early Vicars of St James Church
• 
  Font of St James Church

Roman Catholic Church, Dhurrumtollah Street, Calcutta

Roman Catholic

• RC Cathedral (Virgin Mary of the Rosary) - built 1797. Also known as the Portuguese Church, it was located in the area called Murgihatta (Murghihatta, now Murgighata).
• St Patrick's Chapel, Fort William - built 1857
• St Theresa - built 1893
• St Thomas' Church - (Middleton Row). Begun in 1841, adjacent to the Convent of Our Lady of Loreto
• Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Boitakhana (Baithakhana), founded in 1810, as a Portuguese mission church. The address of the Church was 147 Bipin Behari Ganguly Street (Old Bowbazar Street). It is situated quite close to the Sealdah Station, and near the Railway Barracks where most of the Anglo Indian who were employed by the Railway lived. A book was published in 1915 in Calcutta The Registers & Inscriptions of the Church of Our Lady of Dolours, Baithakhana (1810-1914) by Fr H Hosten. A copy of this book is available in Calcutta at the Goethals Indian Library category Various Indian Missions subcategory Portuguese Jurisdiction, reference Id : 38L/135. At least some of the records appear in the FIBIS database, refer above, but it is suspected that only some of the records were copied by Percy-Smith and Bullock. From copies of baptismal records obtained from the Church in the 1960s, and held by the FIBIS research co-ordinator, it would appear that some of the registers in the 1800s were noted in Portuguese.
  • Non-Christians in church flock telegraphindia.com Article re Our Lady of Dolours.
• Catholic [and other] Heritage Churches of Calcutta goethals.in
• The [Catholic] Archdiocese of Calcutta with contact details

Other denominations

• St Andrew's Church of Scotland - opened 1818. Website for St Andrew’s Church with contact details. Previously the website advised that the church holds the Scottish Cemetery Burial Register from its inception in 1826 and Baptism and Marriage Registers of St Andrew's Church, Kolkata and for small fee would search and provide a copy of an extract. It also holds the Baptism and Marriage Registers and some other documents for Church of Scotland cantonment Churches throughout India, Ceylon, Burma and some Gulf stations. Note however this wording no longer appears. In the past a researcher reported a lack of response to emails, so a personal visit may be necessary. Note also that this church is now part of the [Anglican/Protestant] Church of North India, refer above.
• Greek Church - established 1780.
• Holy Church of Nazareth (Armenian) - built in 1724. Dr. Reuben Khachaturyan/Liz Chater have transcribed all the baptisms at this church. They can be viewed on the FIBIS database. Liz also has many photos of graves at the Nazareth Church on her website.

Missions

• Church Mission Society
• Free Church of Scotland - started in 1830
• London Missionary Society
• Oxford Mission - Church of England
• Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (Anglican)

External links

• Churches and Cathedrals of India Part V - Eastern India by 'ChurchesofIndia' on You Tube includes Calcutta
• Virtual Serampore. Includes links to the Calcutta [Baptist] Mission including the Lal Bazaar Chapel, now known as tha Carey Baptist Church
• Calcutta (Kolkata) Churches Blog by Rangan Datta , December 19, 2012

Non-Christian places of worship

As well as the temples and mosques that served the general Indian populace, Calcutta also housed:

• Parsi temple
• Synagogue
• Chinese temple

Cemeteries

See Cemeteries in Calcutta. There is also information about the crematorium.

Education

• "The Educational Establishments of Calcutta Past and Present" - article in the Calcutta Review Volume 13 (January-June 1850), page 442.
• "Reports on Colleges and Schools in India" , article in the Calcutta Review Volume 42 1866, page 57
• "Old Calcutta :It’s Schoolmasters" article in the Calcutta Review July 1913 held on website of Madge Family of Bengal.

Colleges

• Bengal School of Art
• Bishop's College, Circular Road - run by the Oxford Mission
• Calcutta Medical College - formerly Bengal Medical College, founded 1835
• Doveton College
• Presidency College

Schools

Also refer Orphans and Calcutta schools c late 1700s

• Benevolent Institution School - see these two references from 1818 and 1851
• La Martiniere School - established 1836 Wikipedia, La Martiniere For Girls, Kolkata. Also see 'Historical books online' below
• St James' School - founded by Bishop Cotton in 1864
• St Lawrence High School
• St Thomas School, Kidderpore - founded 1789 as the Free School
• St. Xavier's Collegiate School - founded by the Jesuits in 1860
• The Loreto Sisters in Calcutta www.loreto.in

Economy and business

Colootollah street , Calcutta

• Image: Taylor & Co.'s emporium in Calcutta by Charles D'Oyly (1781 - 1845). Watercolour. Calcutta, India, 1828 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • The shop in Loll Bazar is described c 1828 from page 92 Tom Raw, the Griffin: a burlesque poem, in twelve cantos, see Historical books online, below
• "Calcutta" Street's Indian and Colonial Mercantile Directory for 1869, page 9. Google Books
• "Old-Time Conveyances in Calcutta" [the famous Calcutta coach building firm of Steuart & Co.] by Frank Bushby Bengal Past and Present, Volume 41, 1931, pages 138-140 Archive.org
• "A Famous Calcutta Firm: Thacker, Spink & Co." by Evan Cotton Bengal Past and Present, Volume 41, 1931, pages 157-164 Archive.org
• Articles by Christine Furedy written 1979-1981 www.yorku.ca
  • "The Early History of Morrison & Cottle (Private) Ltd., a Producer-Retail Enterprise of Calcutta" by Christine Furedy, Bengal Past and Present, Volume XCVIII, Part I, 1979 html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened. "Pioneers in Leather Goods" by Christine Furedy in B. Sarkar (ed.), Capital Book of Nostalgia, Calcutta, Capital Press, 1980, pp.16-17. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
  • "Era of Mail-Order Shopping" "Series of Articles on the History of Retail Trade in Calcutta." Capital, Vol 183, No. 4587, December 24, 1979, pp 4-10. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
  • "Retail Trade in Calcutta:Offshoot from the land of shopkeepers." Capital, Vol 183, No. 4587, December 24, 1979, pp 4-10. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
  • "Development of Modern Elite Retailing in Calcutta, 1880-1920" by Christine Furedy The Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. XVI, No. 4 1980, pp. 378-394. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
  • "British Tradesmen of Calcutta 1830-1900: A preliminary study of their economic and political roles" by Christine Furedy in C.B. Sealy (ed.) Women Politics and Literature in Bengal east Lansing: Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University, 1981, pp. 43-62. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
  • "Hall & Anderson" by Christine Furedy in B. Sarkar (ed.), Capital Book of Nostalgia, Calcutta, Capital Press, 1981, pp.17-18. html version; Original Microsoft Word document, a download to your computer, which must then be opened.
• "The Calcutta Piano Trade in the Late Eighteenth Century" by Ian Woodfield from the book Music and British Culture, 1785-1914 Essays in Honour of Cyril Ehrlich 2000. Oxford University Press.
• Bathgate & Co., Camac Street & Ballygunge Circular Road Bathgate & Co. were the first British chemists in the city of Calcutta, with the Scottish-owned firm starting business in 1811. double-dolphin.com
• Calcutta Businesses in 1933

Also see

• Fort William
• 1864 Calcutta cyclone

External Links

Encyclopedia entries

• Kolkata Wikipedia
• History of Kolkata Wikipedia
• Maidan (Kolkata) Wikipedia
• "[Catholic] Archdiocese of Calcutta" from The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 Saintwiki.com

Maps

• Calcutta Maps 1756,1839,1847,1883 from the website of Prof. Frances Pritchett, Columbia University
• Calcutta Map 1832 by J.B. Tassin. Published in Calcutta Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 011490109)
• Calcutta Map 1842 David Rumsey Collection
• Map of Calcutta from actual survey in the years 1847-1849 , by Frederick Walter Simms,revised to 1857, published 1858. Library of Congress Webpage 1 Webpage 2
• Calcutta Map 1852 Published In London under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge by George Cox. Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 011490122)
• Calcutta Map 1854. Published by Samuel Smith & Co for the New Bengal Directory. British Library Online Gallery
• Old Maps of Kolkata oldmapsonline.org. Includes links to a number of maps, including some from the British Library’s Online Gallery.
• Plan of Calcutta, shewing the latest improvements as existing in 1854 ; with part of the environs, Calcutta, 1854 by R Smyth. This map has images for the four quarters: RH top quarter, LH top quarter, RH bottom quarter LH bottom quarter. The River Hoogly is on the left hand side of this map. The maps may use a Tiff format. If so you may need a plug-in to be able to see them, see Online books- Digital Library of India for more details. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek - Bavarian State Library
• Plan of Calcutta from actual survey in the years 1847-1849, revised to 1857, by Frederick Walter Simms, published 1858. Library of Congress. Webpage 1 Webpage 2
• Ian Poyntz’ Historical Maps of India contains 1893 and 1924 maps of Calcutta, and the environs (Scroll down)
• Calcutta Map 1909 Digital South Asia Library,University of Chicago.
• Kolkata, Google Maps Map with many buildings marked
• A plan of the docks, slips, and dock yard, constructing at Calcutta 1777 by Henry Watson Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 012604436)
• Map of Churches and institutions in Calcutta, c 1879. Use the search terms Keyword =Calcutta; Subject = Maps. From The Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative of the American Theological Library Association
• Calcutta Tramways Company: Route map : Calcutta & Howrah 1910. Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 011491101)

Guides and directories

See Directories online for links to many directories with information on Calcutta.

• Handbook of the Bengal Presidency. With an account of Calcutta City by Edward E Eastwick, published by John Murray 1882 Archive.org
• Thacker's Guide to Calcutta (1906) by Rev W.K. Firminger a noted historian. This book gives the historical background of Calcutta, area by area. Read online or download Archive.org
• Tourist guide and shopping list : where to go, what to see, where to shop in Calcutta and Burma 1920 Southeast Asia Visions

Images

• Search the British Library Online Gallery APAC Collection for Calcutta
• Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta The Memorial is the largest repository in India for a visual history of Calcutta
  • The Calcutta Gallery displays the history and development of Calcutta up to 1911,when the capital was moved to Delhi. The gallery also has a life size diorama of the view of the Chitpur road in the late 19th century. Chitpur was then the main business centre, presently known as the Burabazar area.
  • Views of Calcutta and its Environs A series of 28 Lithographs (click to view all) by Sir Charles D'oyly, 1781-1845, published 1848. An amateur artist of superb talent, he served in India between 1803 and 1838
  • Aquatints made by Thomas and William Daniell in the late eighteenth century, mainly views of Calcutta
• A collection of photographs from India Illustrated: Being a Collection of Pictures of the Cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, Together with a Selection of the Most Interesting Buildings and Scenes throughout India, published by Bennett, Coleman, & Co., publishers of the English language newspaper Times of India, c 1905. University of Houston Digital Library.
• Photographs: Calcutta An album by DBHKer flickr.com. British Raj era buildings. Includes a present day map indicating where the buildings are located.
• Old Indian Photos, category Kolkata
• Calcutta with images from Prof. Frances Pritchett’s webpage
• Calcutta Faces and Places in Pre-camera Days by Wilmont Corfield 1910 Archive.org
• Clyde Waddell photograph album of Calcutta, 1945-1946 Penn Libraries, University of Pennsylvania. Clyde Waddell was the personal photographer of Lord Louis Mountbatten who was the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in India–Burma during WW2.

Calcutta 1947. Photographs, at least some of which appear to come from the above album, on flickr.com.

• Calcutta from Great Mirror
• Writers' Building, Kolkata Photographs from Skyscrapercity.com

Other

• '"App brings Kolkata’s history alive'" by Shiv Sahay Singh November 29, 2015 The Hindu. Install Timescape: Kolkata. Free App, for use in Calcutta.
• The Black Hole of Calcutta by Richard Cavendish History Today Volume 56 Issue 6 2006. This incident occurred on the night of 20 June 1756 at Fort William
• "Town planning and public health in Calcutta in the 18th and 19th centuries" by Dr Partho Datta Wellcome History Issue No.22 February 2003, pages 2-4
• Changed street names, old and new Calcuttaweb.com, Calcutta Yellow Pages
• Heritage Buildings of Calcutta (Kolkata) double-dolphin.com
• "The Writers' Building, Kolkata" by Srinath Perur 10 April 2015 theguardian.com
• "Restoring value to the Currency Building" by Shiv Sahay Singh February 11, 2015 The Hindu. The Currency Building was built in 1833 for housing the Agra Bank and then the Reserve Bank of India till 1937
• Calcutta 1940’s Oral history site
• Policing Wartime Calcutta [WW2] by Peter R. Moore oldmartiniansassociation.co.uk
• In the Skies of Calcutta : A tribute to Maurice Pring by Joydeep Sircar. Details the bombing of Calcutta in December 1942 bharat-rakshak.com
• Kolkata Sports Heritage Scribd.com
• The bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese by Katyun Randhawa bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar
• Royal Calcutta Turf Club Indiarace.com
• Calcutta Rowing Club
• Kolkata’s finest gentlemen’s clubs by Ashwin Rajagopalan 12 June 2011 gqindia.com
• The Tollygunge Club, founded in 1895; [Memories of] Tollygunge club by Belinda Wright, probably written 2006; Photograph of the Tollygunge Club, Calcutta: Inside one of the old buildings built during the British Raj flickr.com
• The Sons Of Mystery: A Masonic Miscellany From Old Calcutta by Pratap Chandra Chunder 1973
• Empire Theatre and Theatre Royal, Calcutta joydiv.org
• A trip down memory lane: Calcutta at Christmas . The Telegraph, Calcutta Sunday, 25 December 2011
• Cliff's Calcutta: How Richard's singing career actually began in the British Raj by Steve Turner 13 January 2013 dailymail.co.uk. The singer Cliff Richard , born Harry Rodger Webb in 1940 lived in India until the family left (c 1947). Also see Anglo Indian
• Calcutta Tramways Company Limited was established in 1880.

Historical books online

Also see Newspapers and journals online for many Calcutta publications including the Calcutta Review

• "Calcutta" Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 9, page 260 c 1909
• "Bengal and Fort William" A new account of the East Indies, Volume 2, page 1 by Alexander Hamilton 1744 Google Books
• The early annals of the English in Bengal, being the Bengal public consultations for the first half of the eighteenth century, summarised, extracted, and edited with introductions and illustrative addenda by Charles Robert Wilson Archive.org. Volume 1 1704-1710 1895, Volume 2 Part 1 1711-1717 1900
• The good old days of Honorable John company; being curious reminiscences illustrating manners and customs of the British in India during the rule of the East India Co. from 1600 to 1858; with brief notices of places and people of those times, &c. &c. &c. Compiled from newspapers and other publications by W. H. Carey. Archive.org. These books principally refer to Calcutta.
  • Volume 1 1906 (reprint of original published 1882), Volume 2 1907 (reprint of original published c 1882-1887), Volume 3 1887
• "A Genuine Narrative of the Deplorable Deaths of the English Gentlemen, and Others, who were suffocated in the Black-Hole in Fort-William, at Calcutta, in the Kingdom of Bengal, in the Night succeeding the 20th Day of June 1756", page 251-276 India Tracts by Mr Holwell and Friends. Second Edition 1764 Google Books
• 1794 boundary of Calcutta page 313 Parliamentary Papers: Indian Law Commission: Session 2 February- 24 August 1843 Google Books
• Calcutta in the Olden Times Two articles in the Calcutta Review available on Google Books
  • Its Localities Calcutta Review Vol 18, July-Dec 1852, p 275
  • Its People Calcutta Review Vol 35, Sept-Dec 1860, p 164
• Echoes from Old Calcutta: Being Chiefly Reminiscences of the Days of Warren Hastings, Francis and Impey by Henry Elmsley Busteed 1882 edition. The 1908 Fourth edition is much enlarged. Archive.org
• The Early History and Growth of Calcutta by Binaya Krishna Deb 1905 Archive.org
• Calcutta, Past and Present by Kathleen Blechynden 1905 Archive.org.
• Calcutta, Old and New: A Historical & Descriptive Handbook to the City by H E A Cotton 1907 Archive.org. Some pages are poorly filmed. Pdf download, Digital Library of India. 1980 Edition, edited by N R Ray Pdf download, DLI.
• The Thackerays in India and some Calcutta graves by Sir William Wilson Hunter 1897 Archive.org
• The history, design, and present state of the religious, benevolent and charitable institutions, founded by the British in Calcutta and its vicinity by Charles Lushington 1824 Google Books
• Recollections of Calcutta for over half a century by Montague Massey 1918 Archive.org
• Calcutta in the 19th Century by P Thankappan Nair contains extracts by many authors and is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. The contents is computer page 10, and the index is computer page 1028. Pdf download, DLI
• Bygone Days in India by Douglas Dewar 1922. Archive.org. Extracts from accounts by various authors. Includes Calcutta. Covers the period early 1800s to c 1857.
• Memoirs of William Hickey: edited by Alfred Spencer, published 1913-1925. Note however the comment that a later version, edited by Peter Quennell, London 1960, is to be preferred to that edited by Alfred Spencer, in which some of Hickey’s racier reportage is expurgated. Quennell’s edition was a one volume selection, with a slightly expanded edition in 1975.

Edited by Alfred Spencer: Volume 1 1749-1775 Index Archive.org, Volume 2 1775-1782 Index Google Books. Volume 3 (1782-1790) and Volume 4 (1790-1809) may be viewed online on the Digital Library of India website. Pdf downloads, DLI: Volume III, Volume IV.

Edited by Peter Quennell: The Prodigal Rake: Memoirs of William Hickey 1962 is available to borrow from the Archive.org Lending Library. (Only one person at a time is able to read the book). You first need to register.

• The Travel Letters of Mrs. Kindersley, transcriptions from the book first published in 1777 Letters from the Island of Teneriffe, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies. The letters from India commence with Letter 18 in Pondicherry June 1765 and conclude with letter 67 from Calcutta in 1768. Letters 20-21, and 64-67 are written from Calcutta. Note: Only the first page of the letter is displayed, click on the image for a full transcription. travel-letters.org.
• Calcutta in September 1800, Part 10, page 41 from Cursory Remarks, on board the ship Friendship by Mary Anne Reid, continues part 11 and part 12 Google Books. (Full details in this India List post)
• Calcutta in 1810 commences page 131 Journal of a Residence in India by Maria Graham 2nd Edition 1813 Illustrated by Engravings. Google Books
• Calcutta in 1836 commences page 7 of Book 2 Travels in South-Eastern Asia, embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China: with notices of numerous missionary stations, and a full account of the Burman Empire; with dissertations, tables, etc by Howard Malcolm 2nd edition 1839 2 volumes in one Google Books
• The stranger in India : or, Three years in Calcutta by George W. Johnson, Advocate of the Supreme Court at Calcutta. 1843 Volume I, Volume II Google Books
• Yesterday and To-day in India by Sydney Laman Blanchard 1867 Archive.org. He was in India c 1854-1864. He was initially editor of the Bengal Hurkaru. Sidney Laman Blanchard (1825–1883) victorianresearch.org
• "Adulterated Liquor sold to Sailors and Soldiers in the Bazars of Calcutta" and "The dangers to which Sailors and Soldiers are exposed in the Bazars of Calcutta" from On the preservation of the health of seamen, especially of those frequenting Calcutta and the other Indian ports by Norman Chevers MD, Surgeon, Bengal Army 1864 Google Books
• Indian Gods Sages And Cities by C Cesary 1881, which contains much information about Calcutta. Pdf download, Digital Library of India.
  • Catholic Institutions in Calcutta c 1881 page 172 reprint of original published 1881 at Calcutta by Catholic Orphan Press. Preview Google Books 1987
• Report of the Commissioners for the Improvement of the Town of Calcutta Third Half-yearly Report 1850, Fourth Half-yearly Report 1851, Tenth Report, for the year 1853 Google Books
• Selections from the Records of the Government of Bengal: no 10: Report on the Establishment of Water-Works to Supply the City of Calcutta 1853 Archive.org
• Report on the Drainage and Conservancy of Calcutta by David Boyes Smith M.D., Sanitary Commissioner for Bengal 1869 Google Books
• Municipal Calcutta: Its Institutions in their Origins and Growth by SW Goode 1916, is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Table of Contents is computer page 16. Pdf download, DLI
• "The City of Calcutta" from Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa : their history, people, commerce and industrial resources by Somerset Playne, J W Bond, edited by Arnold Wright 1917 Archive.org.
• Bengal Past and Present-Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society

Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society was first published 1907 and is a very valuable source of information. Volumes are available at the British Library. There are published indexes, each of one volume, as follows: Volumes 1 (July 1907)-8 (June 1914); Volumes 9 (1914)-18 (1919); Volumes 1 (1907)-85 (1966); Volumes 1 (1907)-104 (1985). In addition, the British Library has an index for Volumes 19-29.

Note that a different Journal, with a somewhat similar name, is the Calcutta Historical Journal, published by the University of Calcutta, first published July 1976, available at the British Library

• Volume 39, Part 1 Jan-March 1930 Archive.org
• Volume 41, Part 2, April- June 1931 pages 101-188 Archive.org
• A broken range of volumes to 1939, plus 1955 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Volume 2, part 2, commences at (actual) page 205, contents is computer page 8. Volume 25 has Volume 26 from computer page 211. Volume 44 is July-December 1932 and commences page 103, contents is computer page 7. Volume 49 has the language coded as bengali, so will not appear if the search is for english language books. Refer Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society for links to pdfs, Digital Library of India.
  • Baptisms 1767 -1777 and Baptisms 1778-1782 Transcriptions from Registers of St John's, Calcutta by E W Madge as they appeared in Bengal Past and Present – this link is to website of Madge Family of Bengal. Each listing contains many pages of biographical notes (13 and 16 pages respectively). The first page of the second document lists articles in other volumes of BP&P containing transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials to 1800, some of which are available online on the Digital Library of India website. Other articles are available at the British Library. Note: Some of these records have been transcribed and are available on the FIBIS database in the category Publications.
    • Baptisms 1713-1758 BPP Volume XXI, pp 143-159
    • Baptisms 1769-1766 BPP Volume V, pp 325-332
    • Marriages 1713-1754 BBP Volume IX, Part II, Serial No 18, Oct-Dec 1914 pp 217-243. Available online on DLI, catalogued as vol. 9, 1918; computer pages 86-112.
    • Marriages 1759-1779 BBP Volume IV, July-Dec 1909 pp 486-512. Available online on DLI as (1909) vol. 4; computer pages 107-147
    • Marriages 1780-1785 BPP Volume VII, pp 164-171. Available online on DLI, catalogued as (1917) vol. 7 but published c 1911; computer pages 197-204
    • Marriages 1785-1792 BBP Volume XVI, Part I, Serial No 31, Jan-March 1918 pp 41-71 Available online on DLI as vol.16, pt. 1; computer pages 52-82
    • Marriages 1781-1800 (Supplementary Register) BBP Volume XXI, pp 76-141
    • Burials 1713-1755 BPP Volume X, Jan-June 1915, Serial Nos 19-20, pp 257-284 Available online on DLI as vol.10; computer pages 84-111
    • Burials 1759-1761 BBP Volume V, pp 136-142
    • Burials 1762-1774 BBP Volume VI 1910, pp 92-126 Available online on DLI, catalogued as Volume 6, no 12; computer pages 143-177
    • Burials 1775-81 BPP Volume 31 (Jan-Jun 1926) pages 130-156. Available online on DLI, catalogued as Vol.31,Part.1,Serial no.61, computer pages 149-175
    • Burials 1782-88 Volume 32 II (Oct-Dec 1926) pages 109-132. Available online on DLI, catalogued as vol.32, computer pages 132-155
• Restricted access only, possibly available to those in North America and some other countries Hathi Trust Digital Library

• The Story of the Lall Bazar Baptist Church, Calcutta: Being the History of Carey's Church from 24th April 1800 to the Present Day by Edward Steane Wenger 1908 Archive.org. Includes An Alphabetical List of members of the Church and other lists, following page 575. Index
• "Slavery Days in Old Calcutta" by Syud Hossain, Bengal Past and Present, Volume II, Part II 1908, pages 271-276 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Catalogued as (1908) vol. 2, pt. 2; computer pages 22-27. Pdf download vol. 2, pt. 2 DLI.
• John Williamson Palmer was an American doctor and author who wrote c 1858 "The Chorus of the Palanquin Bearers", a description of his transit through Cossitollah Street, Calcutta. Photograph of Man in Palki (Palanquin) in Calcutta from the Smithsonian Institution. Click image to enlarge.
• ‪Rules and Regulations of La Martiniere, Founded in Calcutta Under the Will of Major General Claude Martin: With an Extract of the Will of the Testator, the Decree of the Supreme Court with Regard to the Same, and Other Documents‬ 1835 Google Books
• There are many references to Calcutta in History of The Portuguese in Bengal by J J A Campos 1919 which is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. For barcode 99999990174384, the Contents is computer page 16. Pdf download Another pdf download DLI.
• For reports on Rats in Calcutta, in connection with plague research, see Scientific books online.
• Tom Raw, the Griffin: a burlesque poem, in twelve cantos: illustrated by twenty-five engravings, descriptive of the adventures of a cadet in the East India company's service, from the period of his quitting England to his obtaining a staff situtation in India by “ a Civilian and an Officer on the Bengal Establishment” (Sir Charles D'Oyly) 1828 Archive.org
• A novel: Life in India; or, The English at Calcutta by Anne Catharine Monkland 1828 Volume I, Volume II, Volume III Google Books