UNHEARD: THE MISSING PAGES OF HISTORY – The Black Hole Horror of Calcutta

As Indians, while growing up, and even in school, we have read a lot about the horrifying crimes committed by the British during their 200-year rule over the Indian subcontinent. From the Jallianwala Bagh massacre to the torture and execution of young freedom fighters. However, the incident that you will be reading about in this article, is a unique one. Unique in the sense that, the roles in this story are reversed. Here, it was the British who were ‘tortured’ and the Indians who were the aggressors. Unusual isn’t it? Well then, allow me to expand.

The Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah (left) ; John Zephaniah Holwell (right)

By the year 1756 the distribution of power in the Indian sub-continent had changed drastically. With the death of Aurungzeb in 1707, the last able Mughal emperor had perished, and thus began a series of new Emperors, who were not capable of handling such a vast empire. On the other hand, the English East India Company had slowly started increasing its influence in India. They had established a port and trading base at Calcutta in the 1690s and built a fort named – Fort William, to guard it. Around the same time, even the French were trying to grapple control of the Indian sub-continent, and were engaged in a power struggle with the British. Insecurities and concern started growing in both the camps. The English, afraid that the French would seize power from under their noses, started increasing the fortifications of Fort William. The French too started a similar process within their forts in Bengali city of Chandannagar. This is where the whole trouble started.

Fort William, a view from the inside; circa 1828

Since in the early 18^th century foreign (British or French) control over India was limited to only a small number of strongholds in India, and as a result, they were forced to get into agreements and treaties with nearby princely states and their ruling ‘Nawabs’. So, the Nawabs had the upper hand during this period. When the English and the French had started strengthening their respective forts as a preventive measure, the Nawab of Bengal – Siraj-ud-Daulah, warned them to stop the work on the fortifications. However, unlike the French, the British paid no heed to this, and as a result invited the Nawab’s army to its doorstep. The Nawab’s army, with a strength of 50,000 men, 500 elephants and fifty cannons, marched towards Fort Williams, unopposed. Very easily, they made their way to Calcutta on June 16, 1756, and slowly started moving through the outlying areas of the city, crushing all resistance.

The veranda outside the Black Hole

As the Indian force advanced, the British fell into confusion. By June 19^th, all the staff including the garrison’s commander organized an escape and fled via the ships docked in the harbour nearby. Behind him, he left women, children, and a small set of his army to defend the Fort. To command the army, the governor left behind John Zephaniah Holwell, a one-time military surgeon and although a top East India Company civil servant, he was a tax collector by profession. An extremely limited military experience of their substitute commander combined with the poor state of the Fort, did not work well in the favour of the British. With between 70 to 170 soldiers left to protect the fort, Holwell was forced to surrender to the Nawab on the afternoon of June 20^th, 1756.

And then dawned upon, the night of 20^th June, 1756, which soon became a horrifying legend in the history of the British Raj. All the captured soldiers and civilians of Fort Williams, including Holwell, were thrown into the infamous Black Hole of Fort Williams, which had originally been built for minor offenders. This little lock up measured only 18ft by 14ft and 10 inches in size, and had two small windows. According to Holwell’s account, these were the events that transpired on the ominous night of 20^th June, 1756, exactly 264 years ago:

The dungeon was a strongly barred room, and was not intended for the confinement of more than two or three men at a time. There were only two windows, and a projecting veranda outside, and thick iron bars within impeded the ventilation, while fires, raging in different parts of the fort, suggested an atmosphere of further oppressiveness. The prisoners were packed so tightly that the door was difficult to close.

John Zephaniah Holwell

An artist’s depiction of the Black Hole Tragedy

Around 146 prisoners were jailed (according to Holwell), in this small room where temperatures were soaring to around 40 degrees Celsius. First, they attempted to bribe one of the guards to relocate them to a larger room by offering him ₹1000. He went away, possibly to ask his superiors, but returned saying that it was impossible to do so. They then doubled the amount, but were met with the same reply – “The Nawab is asleep and we dare not wake him up.” By 9 pm, several prisoners had already died. After this, one of the guards who was “more compassionate than his fellows”, offered them some water by pouring it into Holwell and two or three other prisoners’ hats. The prisoners attempted to distribute the water amongst themselves equally, but it soon turned into a frantic struggle, causing many to be trampled over. Everybody attempted to reach the only two windows in the small enclosed area, to catch a breath of fresh air and in this conflict too, many lost their lives.

At around 11 pm, “the prisoners began to drop off, fast”. Finally, at 6 am the next morning, the Nawab – Siraj-ud-Daulah woke up and released the remaining prisoners. Out of 146, only 23 (including Holwell) were alive and breathing (all these numbers are according to John Holwell’s account). Fresh air revived them and the commander was presented before the Nawab, who showed no signs of regret or sympathy other than providing him with a chair and a glass of water. Yet, Holwell and some others “acquit him of any intention of causing the catastrophe, and ascribed it to the malice of certain inferior officers.” However, many find this opinion baseless and devoid of any truth. After this, when Fort Williams was reopened, Holwell and three other men were transferred to Murshidabad, the Nawab’s capital, and the remaining dead bodies were thrown into a ditch.

An artist’s depiction of the Black Hole Tragedy

Soon, the news of Calcutta being recaptured reached the British in Madras, and Lieut. Col. Robert Clive was sent on his was to Calcutta to defeat the Nawab. Along with the support of a few neighbouring Indian Kings, the British defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey, the next year itself on 23^rd June, 1757. The Black Hole was then, turned into a warehouse.

A 15-metre-high obelisk erected by the British in honour of those who died in the Black Hole. It is now in the graveyard of St. John’s Church, Calcutta

This news was received with a sudden surge in patriotism and hatred against the Indians, back in Britain. However, a number of historians including the British scholar J.H. Little and Indian scholar Brijen Gupta, have since then, questioned the authenticity of Holwell’s account, describing him as an unreliable and biased source. Statistically speaking, only 43 of the Fort William garrison had been listed as missing, after the Nawab’s invasion. Therefore, the minimum number of deaths would have been at least 43. On the other hand, another historian Stanley Wolpert, reported that 64 people were imprisoned and 21 survived. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to ascertain the exact number of people who died that horrendous night. In fact, J.H. Little, has even gone as far as saying that the entire event was a figment of Holwell’s imagination. While some disagree with this, there is a consensus on the opinion that Holwell’s figures were greatly exaggerated, because since then Holwell been caught fabricating other incidents of similar controversial natures. Whatever be the public opinion now, we will surely never know what actually transpired on the hazy, dark and sinister night of 20^th June 1756, exactly 264 years ago from this day.

Text on the Memorial in St John’s Churchyard

Sources and Media:

Black Hole of Calcutta – New World Encyclopedia

The Black Hole of Calcutta – Historic UK

The Black Hole of Calcutta – History Today

Black Hole of Calcutta – Wikipedia

The Black Hole of Calcutta: The Fort William’s airtight death prison – ThoughtCo.