Brajendranath De: Difference between revisions

Dey, who was born in a Bengali (বাঙালি) Hindu (হিন্দু) Uttar Rarhi Kayastha (উত্তর রার্হি কায়স্থ)-Brahmo (ব্রাহ্ম) family, was the son of Durgadas Dey (দুর্গাদাস দে (দেব সরকার)), a Junior Scholar of Hindu College (later Presidency College) Calcutta (1847-1849) and a registrar in Lucknow, and Trailokyamohini Debi (ত্রৈলোক্যমোহিনী দেবী) (nee Basu). His paternal family, which was settled in Bhowanipur in Calcutta from the 18th century, were originally members of the Vaishnavite sect but, influenced by the Bengal Renaissance, joined the Brahmo movement from the middle of the 19th century. His maternal family, popularly called the ''garhkata Basu paribar'' of Anarpur in Barasat, was settled in Maniktala in Calcutta, where he was born. He was born in his maternal grandparents' home at 123, Maniktala Street, Calcutta.<ref name='reminiscences'>Maniktala, a neighbourhood in North Calcutta is named after either Raja Manikram Bose or Manik Pir, both of whom lived there in the 18th and the 19th centuries. Since Manikram or Manikchand Bose, the caretaker of Alinagar (i.e. Calcutta) during Alivardi Khan's reign and an agent of the Nawabs of Oudh, lived in the 18th century and Manik Pir lived in the early 19th century, and a map of Calcutta of 1784 shows the existence of Maniktala then, it is surmised that the locality is, indeed, named after Manikam Bose. Manikram Bose was an ancestor of Brajendranath's maternal grandfather, Rajendralal Basu, a managing clerk of a Scottish solicitor's firm in Calcutta and a lawyer, who fought a case for the Nawab of Farukkhabad in the aftermath of India's first war of independence in 1857. For details see Brajendranath De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref>

Later, he travelled to England for his higher studies, on the advice of his maternal grand-uncle, [[Peary Charan Sarkar]]<ref name="hareschool"> Peary Charan Sarkar was a luminary of the Bengal Renaissance who served as assistant professor of English at Presidency College, Calcutta and then principal of Hare School, Calcutta. The road that runs behind it on which stands the University of Calcutta and Hindu Hostel is named after him. His youngest son, Sailendra Sarkar founded another school in North Calcutta which is now named after him. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and his father's mentor, [[Raja]] [[Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee]],<ref name="ICS"> Raja Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee of Shankarpore was a member of the Young Bengal Movement who initially worked in the kutchery of the Rajas of Burdwan. Later, he fell out with his former employers and eloped with Rani Basanta Kumari,a daughter of Dewan Pran Chand Kapoor and the eigth wife of Raja Tej Chandra Ray. He was taken to Lucknow by Lord Canning and awarded the confiscated taluk of Shankarpore and given the rank of assistant commissioner of Lucknow. He was a senior friend of Dey's father, Durgadas, and adviced Dey on how and when to travel to the United Kingdom to take the ICS examination. For details see B.De, "Reminiscences of an Indian Member of the Indian Civil Service", Calcutta, 1925-29.</ref> and for some time assistant commissioner of [[Lucknow]]. In England, he joined University College, London to appear in the Open Competitive Services examination. Having taken the examination successfully, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1873, emerging 17th in a batch of 35 successful probationers selected from a total of 360 candidates.<ref>{{cite book |last=India Office, Great Britain |date=1905 |title=The India List and India Office List 1905 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2NPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447  |publisher=Harrison and Sons |page=447}}</ref> He was the 8th Indian member of the [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]].<ref name="womenofindia">{{cite book |last=Forbes |first=Geraldine Hancock |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |date=1996 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA28 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=28–29 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0 |quote="As one of the first eight Indians appointed to the Indian Civil Service (ICS), Brajendra Nath ... He insisted on educating his daughters and one of them, Saroj Nalini Dutt, led the way in organizing rural women's organizations in the years immediately following World War I."}}</ref> Subsequently, he was called to the [[bar association|Bar]] by the [[Honourable Society of the Middle Temple]] on 7 June 1875.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150213145353/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-2.0.pdf University of Wisconsin Law Library]</ref> He was admitted to [[St. Mary's Hall, Oxford]] (later merged with [[Oriel College, Oxford]] in 1902), where he spent one year, from 1874 to 1875, on a [[Boden Sanskrit Scholarship]], having attended the lectures of [[Sir]] [[Monier Monier-Williams]], who was then the [[Boden Sanskrit Professor]], [[Professor]] [[Max Mueller]] and Mr. Goldstucker and Mr. Ruslan.<ref name="oxforduniversitycalender">Oxford University Calendar, 1875, p. 366</ref> He was the first Indian ICS officer to have studied in a college in Oxford.<ref>Renu Paul (in consultation with Mitra Sharafi), 'South Asians at the Inns of Court: Middle Temple, 1863-1944', compilation based on H. A. C. Sturgess, (eds.) Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 (London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co., 1949), volumes II (1782-1909) and III (1910-44), p. 2.</ref>