The Black Hole of Calcutta was a small dungeon in Fort William where British prisoners were held by the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, leading to the death of many due to overcrowding and poor conditions after the fort's capture on June 20, 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell, a prisoner, claimed that only 23 out of 146 survived the ordeal, although the accuracy of this figure has been contested. The incident triggered a military response from the British, with Robert Clive's forces defeating Siraj at the Battle of Plassey and leading to Siraj's downfall.

1. BLACK HOLE INCIDENCE
BY
SLIDE_MAKER4U
(ABHISHEK SHARMA)

2. INTRODUCTION
 The Black Hole of
Calcutta was a small
dungeon in the
old Fort
William in Calcutta, Ind
ia, where troops of
the Nawab of Bengal,
Siraj ud-Daulah,
heldBritish prisoners of
war after the capture of
the fort on 20 June
1756.

3.  One of the prisoners, John
Zephaniah Holwell, claimed
that following the fall of the
fort, British and Anglo-Indian
soldiers and civilians were
held overnight in conditions
so cramped that many died
from suffocation, heat
exhaustion and crushing. He
claimed that 123 prisoners
died out of 146 held.
However, the precise number
of deaths, and the accuracy
of Holwell's claims, have
been the subject of
controversy.

4. BACKGROUND
 Fort William was established to
protect the East India Company's
trade in the city of Calcutta, the
principal town of the Bengal
Presidency. In 1756, with the
possibility of conflict
with French forces, the British
began building up the fort's
strengths and defences.
The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-
Daulah, was unhappy with the
company's interference in the
internal affairs of his province and
perceived a threat to its
independence. He ordered an
immediate stop to the Fort's military
enhancement, but the Company
paid no heed. As a consequence,
Siraj organized his army and
laid siege to the fort. The garrison's
commander organised an escape,
leaving behind 146 soldiers

5.  However, desertions by
allied troops made even
this temporary defence
ineffectual, and the fort fell
on 20 June. The surviving
defenders, who numbered
from 64 to 69, were
captured along with an
unknown number of Anglo-
Indian soldiers and
civilians who had been
sheltering in the fort.
During this period some
prisoners were able to
escape.

6. THE HOLWELL ACCOUNT
 Holwell wrote about the events
after the fall of the fort. He met
with Siraj, who assured him "on
the word of a soldier [sic], that
no harm should come to
us".[3] After seeking a place in
the fort to confine the 146
prisoners (including Holwell),
at 8 pm, the jailers locked the
prisoners in the fort's prison
("the black hole" was 18th
century military slang for any
military prison - similar to "the
glasshouse" in the 20th century
British Army or "the brig" in the
US Navy),[4] which was 14 by 18
feet (4.3 m × 5.5 m) in size.
When the "Black Hole" was
opened the next morning at 6
am, only 23 people were alive.

7.  Stanley Wolpert argues that only 64
people were imprisoned and 21
survived. D.L. Prior argues that 43
members of the garrison were dead
or missing for reasons other than
suffocation and shock,[5] while
Busteed argues that, because so
many non-combatants were present
in the fort when it fell, the number
who died cannot be stated with any
precision.[6]Regarding responsibility,
Holwell believed that it "was the
result of revenge and resentment in
the breasts of the lower
Jemmaatdaars [sergeants], to
whose custody we were delivered,
for the number of their order killed
during the siege."[3] Wolpert concurs
and argues that Siraj did not order it
and was not informed about it.

8.  The following description from
a 1911 Encyclopædia
Britannica portrays Holwell's point
of view vividly:
 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.

9.  One of the soldiers stationed in
the veranda was offered 1,000 rupees to
have them removed to a larger room. He
went away, but returned saying it was
impossible. The bribe was then doubled,
and he made a second attempt with a like
result; the nawab was asleep, and no one
dared wake him.By nine o'clock several
had died, and many more were delirious. A
frantic cry for water now became general,
and one of the guards, more
compassionate than his fellows, caused
some to be brought to the bars, where Mr.
Holwell and two or three others received it
in their hats, and passed it on to the men
behind. In their impatience to secure it
nearly all was spilt, and the little they drank
seemed only to increase their thirst. Self-
control was soon lost; those in remote
parts of the room struggled to reach the
window, and a fearful tumult ensued, in
which the weakest were trampled or
pressed to death. They raved, fought,
prayed, blasphemed, and many then fell
exhausted on the floor, where suffocation
put an end to their torments.

10.  About 11 o'clock the prisoners began to
drop off fast. At length, at six in the
morning, Siraj-ud-Daulah awoke, and
ordered the door to be opened. Of the 146
only 23, including Mr. Holwell (from whose
narrative, published in the Annual
Register for 1758, this account is partly
derived), remained alive, and they were
either stupefied or raving. Fresh air soon
revived them, and the commander was
then taken before the nawab, who
expressed no regret for what had occurred,
and gave no other sign of sympathy than
ordering the Englishman a chair and a
glass of water. Notwithstanding this
indifference, Mr. Holwell and some others
acquit him of any intention of causing the
catastrophe, and ascribe it to the malice of
certain inferior officers, but many think this
opinion unfounded.After the prison was
opened, the corpses were thrown into a
ditch. Holwell and three others were sent
as prisoners to Murshidabad; the rest of
the survivors obtained their liberty after the
victory of a relief expedition under Robert
Clive.

11. VICTIMS
 This is Holwell's actual
list of the victims:[7]
 "List of the smothered in
the Black Hole prison
exclusive of sixty-nine,
consisting of Dutch and
British sergeants, corpor
als, soldiers,
topazes, militia, whites,
and Portuguese, (whose
names I am
unacquainted with),
making on the whole
one hundred and twenty-
three persons."

12.  Of Council - E. Eyre,
Wm. Baillie, Esqrs.,
the Rev. Jervas
Bellamy.

13.  Gentlemen in the
Service - Messrs.
Jenks, Revely, Law,
Coales, Valicourt, Jeb,
Torriano, E. Page, S.
Page, Grub, Street,
Harod, P. Johnstone,
Ballard, N. Drake,
Carse, Knapton,
Gosling, Bing, Dod,
Dalrymple, V. Ament
Theme.

14.  Military Captains -
Clayton, Buchanan,
Witherington.

15.  Lieutenants - Bishop,
Ifays, Blagg, Simson,
Bellamy.

16.  Ensigns - Paccard,
Scot, Hastings, C.
Wedderburn,
Dumbleton.

17.  Sergeants, &c. - Sergeant-
Major Abraham, Quartermaster
Cartwright, Sergeant Bleau
(these were sergeants of
militia).Sea Captains - Hunt,
Osburne, Purnell (survived the
night, but died next day),
Messrs. Carey, Stephenson,
Guy, Porter, W. Parker, Caulker,
Bendall, Atkinson, Leech, &c.,
&c.List of those who survived -
Messrs. Holwell, Court,
Secretary Cooke, Lushington,
Burdett, Ensign Walcott, Mrs.
Carey, Captain Mills, Captain
Dickson, Mr. Moran, John
Meadows and twelve military
and militia, blacks and whites,
some of whom recovered when
the door was opened.

18. "Portuguese" was the general, albeit
confusing, name used for Calcutta's Anglo-
Indians: a term commonly used from the
early 18th century to the mid 19th century -
but no later than 1850.[citation needed] In
1829, Victor Jacquemont (travelling
naturalist, to the Museum of Natural
History, Paris) wrote: "There is a fairly large
Portuguese population in Calcutta. Few of
them, it is true, can boast a purely
European origin; there are some, but they
are all black, blacker than the natives... " In
1798, ‘Portuguese and other Christian
inhabitants’ (i.e., Eurasians and Indian
converts) occupied 2,650 houses out of a
total of 78,760 city abodes. They were
often the distant offspring of Portuguese
soldiers who had established the first
European settlement in Bengal atHooghly.

19. AFTERMATH
 As a result of Holwell's
account, Robert
Clive was sent in
October to retaliate. With
his troops and local
allies, he defeated Siraj
at the Battle of Plassey.
Siraj was overthrown
and killed.[2] The Black
Hole was later used as a
warehouse. An obelisk,
50 feet (15 m) high, was
erected in memory of the
dead.

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