Journal of a Cavalry Officer; Including the Memorable Sikh Campaign of 1845-1846Humbley, W. W. W. (William Wellington Waterloo)
History
Journal of a Cavalry Officer; Including the Memorable Sikh Campaign of 1845-1846
Humbley, W. W. W. (William Wellington Waterloo)
India -- Description and travel; Sikh War, 1845-1846
The monument erected to his memory is situated to the east of
Government House. Mr. C. K. Robinson, the same who built Metcalfe
Hall, and well known for his great taste in civil architecture, was
requested to draw a design for the column. He sketched two plans; and
the one, which now forms such a conspicuous ornament among the public
erections of Calcutta, was selected, as being in the Moslem style, to
indicate the preference which Sir David always shewed to the followers
of the prophet, over the other native population. Subscriptions were
received from all classes in the Bengal Presidency--civil, military,
and mercantile--amounting to nearly 40,000 rupees or £4,000. A
wealthy Calcutta firm, as it was then considered, were appointed the
treasurers; but the building had made only a very little progress when
the firm failed, and £2,700 was lost. The committee requested the
subscribers to repair the deficiency; but many refused, alleging that
the committee were the responsible party, as they might have deposited
the money in the Bank of Bengal. The committee excused themselves on
the plea that their object was to get as much interest as possible;
for, had they vested it in the Bank, they must have deposited a part
for a fixed time, while the remainder would have been a floating
capital without interest.
The builder had contracted to erect the monument for £3,300, without
the platform or the rail around it. A fresh subscription was opened,
and £1,000 collected; but the committee had not benefited by their
recent experience. They placed this £1,000 with another Calcutta
firm, and lost a portion of it by a second failure! Mr. Parker, the
public-spirited contractor, however, agreed to finish the column on
receiving an assignment of the dividend of both houses.
The monument has a pedestal and a railing. In ascending, I counted 190
steps to the first projecting balcony, and twenty-five steps further
led me to the summit. The best view from the top is about sunrise; and
especially in the rainy season, when the dust has been laid by the
previous rain, and the whole city lies before you, with the Hoogly
stretching out right and left.
On the occasion of Her Majesty's birthday, in May 1840, the Court
of Directors ordered fireworks, to the amount of £2,000, when the
Ochterlony monument was illuminated with variegated lamps, to keep in
countenance the Government house, where all the _élite_ of Calcutta
were assembled. The pyrotechnist, on the occasion, was Colonel Richard
Powney, the Commissary of Ordnance in Fort William, whose subsequent
fêtes, in honour of many other events, are well known.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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