THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA: Legends, Guilt and Empire

THE BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA: Legends, Guilt and Empire

By Roderick Matthews

eBook published by IDEAINDIA.COM

© Roderick Matthews 2008


Despite the fact that The Black Hole of Calcutta is more properly a place than an event, the incident known popularly by that name has, over its 251-year history, acquired a sort of double notoriety. The death in confinement of a number of European survivors of the siege of Calcutta, in June 1756, attracted a brief blaze of sensational attention when news of it reached London a year later in mid 1757, whereafter the incident eased itself into an obscure old age. But the tragic events of that June night eventually came to enjoy a notorious career in more modern times as a bone of contention between moralistic imperial apologists and sceptical Indian nationalists. Did such an incident ever really occur? What were the precise statistical facts? How many died? Exactly who was to blame?

This eBook examines the events of that night and asks what really happened, why, and what purposes the legend was subsequently put to.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.