Brajendranath De: Difference between revisions

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]]. He travelled to England on a Junior Scholarship of Canning College. 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>

His wife, Nagendra Nandini, was the daughter of Binodini Debi and Rakhaldas Bose, proprietor of Wine Sellers and Merchants on Old Court House Street in Calcutta. Binodini Debi's father, Ishan Dutt and her own brother was Dayal Dutt, were members of the Hatkhola Datta Paribar. His eldest son-in-law, Dr. Shashi Bhushan Mitra, a winner of the Faraday Medal in medicine in England, was the proprietor of the Swadeshi firm, the Hindusthan Insurance Company. His second son-in-law was [[Sir]] [[Sarat Kumar Ghosh]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Chief Justice of Jaipur and Kashmir and the only interim Chief Justice of the High Court of Rajasthan. His third son-in-law, Professor Satish Chandra Basu, IES, was a Professor of Economics at Hooghly College, Chinsura. His fifth daughter was the social reformer [[Saroj Nalini Dutt]], [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]].<ref name="womenofindia"/> Her husband was [[Gurusaday Dutt]], [[Indian Civil Service|ICS]], Secretary, Local Self Government and Public Health, Government of Bengal. His fifth son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De, [[Indian Medical Service|IMS]],<ref name="livesless forgotten">[http://rajsaday.com/?p=2089 Lives Less Forgotten: Lieutenant Colonel Jyotish Chandra De]</ref> was the 2nd Indian Principal of the [[Calcutta Medical College]] and Principal of Aurangabad Military College and Hospital. His sixth son-in-law, Captain (Hon.) Dr. Paresh Chandra Datta, was the First Chief Medical Officer of the B.R. Singh Memorial Hospital, Calcutta then of the East Bengal Railway and Director of Public Health, Government of West Bengal. His third son, Major (Hon.) [[Basanta Kumar De|Basanta Kumar Dey]], was Traffic Superintendent General and then Commercial Traffic Manager of the [[Bengal Nagpur Railway|BNR]]. His seventh son-in-law, Dr. Debabrata Datta, was the Deputy Director of Public Health in the Government of West Bengal after independence.