While researching for a project, I recently stumbled upon the name of “Caledonia Dock”. It’s not of extraordinary interest, but I’m still trying to figure out why exactly it was called so. One reason could be that it was located in the thick of James Mackenzie’s (Esq.) business area. One thing led to another and soon I ended up with a vague idea of Mackenzie’s early life. He was married at St. John’s Cathedral to Ann Forbes, second daughter of Captain Daniel Ross of Howrah, on 15 March 1822 (?). Soon after they had a child, little James Ross, who died a year old. It seems they had at least a couple more children by 1844 or thereabouts. More interesting than his personal life, is an advertisement I found by the Calcutta Gas Light and Waterworks Company, where he was one of the directors. Among the other office-holders was “Baboo Dwarkanauth Tagore”. The advertisement for gas-light said among other things:
“The darkness of the streets of Calcutta is particularly felt, as there is no twilight, and the inhabitants have recourse to the primitive habits of torch-light. It is proposed to introduce gas-light, not only into the public streets,—and so lessen the opportunity for crime,—but also into the dwelling houses of the inhabitants of the city, and this has been strongly seconded and approved of by that enterprising and intelligent native merchant, Baboo Dwarkanauth Tagore, at this time in Europe.” (Allen’s India Mail, 1846. p. 143)
Be that as it may, his ship-building and dockyard works seem fairly well-documented.
The Caledonian Dock was founded as a “Patent Slip” around 1810 by one Mr. Beauchamp. It was sold 39 years later to Tarak Nath Pramanik. Taraknath, the son of Gurucharan Pramanik, belonged to the first Calcutta family to enter the ship-building industry. Their shops, the Charitabidhan says, were in Burrabazar and in Chandni. Tarak Nath purchased it and “converted it into a dock in 1850 and called it the Caledonia Dock”. The area we are looking at is known as Golabari. This is largely taken from Bengal Distric Gazetteers: Howrah, by L.S.S. O’Malley and Monmohan Chakravarti, 1909. I'm curious: is the name a reference to the jute trade? And why did he use the Roman name for Scotland? Here is where the dock is.
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| "Traffic Intensities", E.P. Richards (1913). From the Harvard Library Map Collection. |
I have found this article of interest as James Mackenzie was my 3 x great grandfather, I knew about the docks but not just where they were in Sulkea. I have been researching the family since 2006 . He had 14 children of which 2 died in infancy. The family moved back to England in 1863 after James died in 1861. Are the Caledonian Docks still there?
ReplyDeleteHello! What a pleasant surprise. I am not sure if the Dock exists or not. I'll go and see if it does one of these days and let you know. On Google Maps its existence is not indicated, but there are parts that are not well charted, and this may be one such. Here's the link to the Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/ovxtJ
ReplyDeleteNow, I am thrilled that there exists a street called Mackenzie Lane! Thanks for commenting!
Thank you for the location of Caledonia Dock which I have been looking for some time.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's 3 x great uncle Robert Wise was buried in Howrah in 1863 and in the burial register he is shown as "Superintendent of Caledonian Dock". His wife Eliza Wise was buried 3 months later.
Brian
Thank you for the location of Caledonia Dock which I have been looking for some time.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's 3 x great uncle Robert Wise was buried in Howrah in 1863 and in the burial register he is shown as "Superintendent of Caledonian Dock". His wife Eliza Wise was buried 3 months later.
Brian
Wow, that was quite an important firm I think! I'm sorry you had difficulty locating the Dock. I've long been thinking about digitizing and making searchable old maps of Calcutta. I need a bit of time and money for this.
ReplyDelete