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| -south-park-street-cemetery, Kolkata double-dolphin.blogspot.in |
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As time went by, with more people from Britain arrived in Kolkata, soon many social clubs and recreation clubs came up where these young people could go for a spin with the local beauty or be content with British whisky or India Ale to get rid of frustration and loneliness..
Being lonesome and away from their mother land, it is quite obvious, the young boys in the British company were longing for a company of girls. In those days only some officers were living with their families, and the competition for the girls from these families was heavy. As for higher officials, their girls went for ball room dances on the week ends with the elite members.
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Obviously the arrival of many middleclass European families in the city of Calcutta was a welcome news for the young bachelor of the English company. Below is the brief, plaintive story of a young, innocent girl who died on the soils of Calcutta in the early colonial period and is now taking an eternal sleep in the South Park Street Cemetery there.
A glamorous young girl by the name of Elizabeth Sanderson arrived in Calcutta in 1775 in style and elegance with a sedative look that melted the young men. They never went past her on the street without taking a second look at her. No doubt she became dream girl for the bachelors grouping in the darkness. Daughter of a Colonel in East India Company’s army, for a few days she became a topic of discussion in social gathering and club houses as one could not shut the blabbermouths. Obviously, the rumor mill had begun to work overtime ever since her arrival in Calcutta. The girl was stunningly charismatic and soon carried a tag "the Helen of England and British India'. The more she appeared on the social circuit, the higher the number of officers wanted to seek her hand.
Apart from being a pretty belle of Calcutta, she was also equally mischievous. In one funny incident, she told
sixteen of her suitors separately that she would be going to a ball in a
Parisian dress and it would be nice if they ould wear a similar
costume of pea-green, with pink silk trimmings. Driven by blind love to win her heart on that particular occasion,
no less than a dozen young men turned up at the ball, all dressed in the
same pea-green ludicrous clothing unmindful of their foolhardy misadventure. She also danced with some of them, while other suitors standing along the roadside with the lit torches and throbbing heart. Such was the spell-binding effect she had on the crazy young officers.
One day, the British bachelors were in a state of shock and were heart broken when she married a wrong man of her choice; he was no way suitable to her temperament. More painful is the fact this charming woman chose one Richard Barwell, an official of E.I.C and a friend of Warren Hastings. He was a well-known womanizer and gambler and the couple lived in the house known today as Kidderpore House. She had two sons by him. Later Richard's heavy gambling losses, laxity of his private morals, amorous exploits, etc., showed him in bad light and he gained notoriety. In between his romantic escapades and gambling spree, he distinguished himself in his service.
But this lovely woman, as ill-luck would have it, did not live long in Calcutta. It was the edit of God that she had to tragically die of "fever" (Malaria?) shortly afterwards. Some say she died because of tough labor and difficult child delivery. She was barely 23 years old at the time of her death. A nice woman who had no pretensions about her beauty. Nor was she proud of her beauty. A pale of gloom enveloped over Calcutta on the day of her death and funeral.
She was buried in the South Park Cemetery, Calcutta. The tomb of Elizabeth Barwell - a huge stone pyramid one - is the largest in the graveyard at the Park street Cemetery, Kolkata.
Ref:
http://double-dolphin.blogspot.in/2015/02/the-south-park-street-cemetery.html
A glamorous young girl by the name of Elizabeth Sanderson arrived in Calcutta in 1775 in style and elegance with a sedative look that melted the young men. They never went past her on the street without taking a second look at her. No doubt she became dream girl for the bachelors grouping in the darkness. Daughter of a Colonel in East India Company’s army, for a few days she became a topic of discussion in social gathering and club houses as one could not shut the blabbermouths. Obviously, the rumor mill had begun to work overtime ever since her arrival in Calcutta. The girl was stunningly charismatic and soon carried a tag "the Helen of England and British India'. The more she appeared on the social circuit, the higher the number of officers wanted to seek her hand.
 |
| www.cartoonstock.com |
One day, the British bachelors were in a state of shock and were heart broken when she married a wrong man of her choice; he was no way suitable to her temperament. More painful is the fact this charming woman chose one Richard Barwell, an official of E.I.C and a friend of Warren Hastings. He was a well-known womanizer and gambler and the couple lived in the house known today as Kidderpore House. She had two sons by him. Later Richard's heavy gambling losses, laxity of his private morals, amorous exploits, etc., showed him in bad light and he gained notoriety. In between his romantic escapades and gambling spree, he distinguished himself in his service.
But this lovely woman, as ill-luck would have it, did not live long in Calcutta. It was the edit of God that she had to tragically die of "fever" (Malaria?) shortly afterwards. Some say she died because of tough labor and difficult child delivery. She was barely 23 years old at the time of her death. A nice woman who had no pretensions about her beauty. Nor was she proud of her beauty. A pale of gloom enveloped over Calcutta on the day of her death and funeral.
She was buried in the South Park Cemetery, Calcutta. The tomb of Elizabeth Barwell - a huge stone pyramid one - is the largest in the graveyard at the Park street Cemetery, Kolkata.
http://double-dolphin.blogspot.in/2015/02/the-south-park-street-cemetery.html
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