Calcutta Season Calendar
Current to the evening of Wednesday 12 October 1814.
See the prop edition — the season as the cards on the hall table
June to September in Bengal is rain, misery and almost no entertaining. The monsoon breaks in mid-to-late October and the city erupts. The party landed on 8 October, at the exact pivot — so the calendar is about to accelerate around them whether they want it or not.
This page lists what the party knows about. It fills in as invitations arrive.
Fixed points
| Date | What | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sun 9 Oct, morning | St John’s (St Johns Church Calcutta) — morning service | Attended. Pastor Reverend Arthur Jessop read the newcomers from the chancel. Attendance is not optional if you intend to be received anywhere |
| Sun 9 Oct, evening | Dinner with the Magistrate | Mr Charles Ashworth extended the invitation by card, delivered to the Cavendish Compound on Saturday evening |
| Tue 11 Oct, 9pm | Ball and supper at Government House | By command of the Earl of Moira, Governor-General. The card came with Monday’s post by a Government House hurkaru; the principals named, the rest of the party inside and their party |
| Wed 12 Oct, 6pm | The Zorab private sale | Advertised publicly in the Calcutta Gazette Office, 5th and 8th October. A dead man’s effects, sold off |
| Thu 13 Oct | Mr Mullick’s godowns; Baranagar overnight | Morning: Baijnath Mullick shows the Misses Wentworth his godowns on The Strand. Afternoon: up the river to Baranagar, housed for the night by Acharya Devendra Ghosh on the Magistrate’s letter (Ashworth Chandernagore Chit). Mrs Courtney’s Committee sits the same day (Harriet Note to Meg) |
| Fri 14 Oct | Chandernagore | The Vicomte goes on in the Acharya’s boat on the morning flood, and returns on the evening ebb |
| Sat 15 – Sun 16 Oct | The Magistrate’s tiger hunt | Confirmed in writing from Charles Ashworth’s office on Monday the 10th. Assembly at Garden Reach, five in the morning; his own elephants and shikarree; a night in camp; the drive on Sunday; return Sunday evening. The second Sunday at St John’s is lost to it |
| Mon 17 Oct, 7pm | Dinner at the Mess, Fort William | Colonel Blackwood presiding; the Vicomte, Mr Cavendish and Cornet Wyndham. First carded for Friday the 21st; moved to the Monday at Mr Cavendish’s request when he called at the Fort on the 13th |
| Tue 18 Oct, 9pm | Mr Mullick’s Nautch | At his house in the Burra Bazar, for the approaching Festival of the Lamps. Card brought Wednesday with a basket of mangoes (Mullick Nautch Card) |
| Tue 25 Oct | Kali Puja | The festival of the goddess Kali, kept on the new moon at the end of the rains. Lamps, offerings, and rites at the burning ghats. The whole city will be out |
Standing rhythms
- Sunday service at St John’s, every week. Who sits where is the settlement’s power structure drawn as a seating plan, and being absent is itself a statement.
- Morning calls, most days. Meg Cavendish runs the party’s introductions and knows which committees are about charity and which are about rank.
- Riding on The Maidan, early, before the heat. Pratap Singh is arranging horses.
- The Gazette carries advertisements, arrivals, sales and notices. It is the fastest way to find out what the city is doing.
Sixteen days
From the morning of 9 October to Kali Puja on the 25th is sixteen days. Every evening spent in a ballroom is an evening not spent on the river.
See also
- The City of Palaces — Bengal in 1814, and what you have walked into
- Calcutta City Map — the city, and where things are
- Cavendish Compound — the party’s household
- Landfall — what happened on landfall