The Ragged and the Rovers

Mary Carpenter, a Unitarian and a friend of Keshub Sen and Monomohun Ghose, made certain valuable contributions in the field of education, especially of female education, in Calcutta. In 1866, apparently, she started a school, which she left shortly after. She did however go on paying the rent for the building December 1867. The school was then taken over by one C.H. Dall, an American Unitarian missionary, who had arrived in Calcutta in 1855. (The Unitarian-Brahmo connection seems to have been written about in various scholarly publications.) The first mention of the school that I found was in the Report of the Second Meeting of the National Conference of Unitarian and Other Christian Churches, which said that “admission is only possible to the very poorest and most morally exposed and forsaken.” The school back then received a Government grant of Rs. 20 a month. The author also hoped that it will be able to carry on another year with a little help from friends. It did better than that, and in the 1874 Cone’s & Co.’s Calcutta Directory we find mention of “The Calcutta (Ragged or) Rover’s School. It was located “near the corner of Mirzapore street and Old Bytakhauna Bazar road”, admitting “boys and young men only of the most indigent and homeless classes.” The attendance projected is remarkably high by today’s standards, an average of 100 out of 120. There were six teachers and the instruction was in Bengali. Baboo Dwarkanath Ghottock, the Directory says, was the headmaster. Of interest to book-historians would be the fact that apart from the ordinary branches of learning, “30 pupils learn knitting and 10 (Mahomedans) are at bookbinding.” One hopes to find out more!