Buy this book

Clarissa Woodberry
posted 5 September 2006

The Black Hole of Calcutta was, for a long time, one of the most famous events in the history of British India, along with the Battle of Plassey and the Mutiny. However, for an event that had a quasi-mythological hold on the British imagination it is shrouded in mystery.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the East India Company had established a flourishing trading settlement at Calcutta which, having survived a precarious beginning, had grown into a sizeable and prosperous settlement, with the tacit support of local rulers. This cosy arrangement changed when a young hothead, Siraj-ud-daulah, became the new Nawab of Bengal and determined to drive the British out. A battle ensued and the crumbling Calcutta fortress was taken by the Nawab. According to the legend a misunderstanding occurred, resulting in one hundred and forty-six people being locked in a tiny cell overnight. In the morning, only twenty-three came out alive.

This horrific event, known to posterity as the Black Hole of Calcutta, is the subject of Jan Dalley's compelling and readable book. Dalley covers the formation and growth of the East India Company in the preceding years in great detail and then deals with the impact of the myth of the Black Hole on the British psyche and the growth of British India.

The story of the Black Hole has been constantly surrounded by myth and contradictions. For example, one hundred and forty-six people were said to have been locked in a cell measuring eighteen feet by fourteen feet - although we know it would have been impossible to fit so many people in such an enclosed space. The confusion generated by contemporary anecdotal evidence is embodied in the person of Mary Carey, a teenage Eurasian wife of a British officer whose fate differs markedly in the various accounts. Dalley clearly illustrates these discrepancies in the accounts in the first few pages, which gives the book a gripping introduction but results in a rather anti-climactic second part.

Dalley's tale of the early years of the East India Company is fascinating. We are introduced to many buccaneering and disreputable characters such as 'Diamond' Pitt and John Holwell. The precariousness of the early years of the settlement is clear. For example, there was a 'two monsoons' rule (meaning that people were not expected to survive in India for more than three years) and of English children born in Calcutta, only about one in twenty survived infancy.

It is interesting to consider the portrayal of the Black Hole through British history as a reflection of our evolving attitudes to colonialism. An event which most agreed was a tragic accident assumed a prominence in the history of British India because, as Dalley says, 'it presents to the British nation a rank of heroes.' In the early 20th century Curzon created a huge, prominent memorial to be constructed to the victims because he recognised the tale as being of 'great importance to the Imperial spirit'. However, the monument to the victims in the centre of Calcutta became such a focus for nationalist discontent that it had to be moved. The Black Hole became a common cliché that could be applied to a myriad of events - 'the phrase passed itself into the everyday use of people who had no idea of what happened'. It is still in use today (for example, Dalley cites a critic comparing the Last Night of the Proms to the Black Hole).

For an event that was such an established part of British history the story of the Black Hole has had a quick decline. The disappearance of British India and the increasing disapproval of Western society towards colonialism over the last fifty years mean that the Black Hole is no longer a mainstay of the History curriculum. Dalley is right when she states that for people under thirty the Black Hole 'refers to something from out of space'. This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in the history of British India and the contribution of the Black Hole to the 'Imperial myth.'