The black hole of Calcutta : a reconstruction

Since 1600 the English East India Company traded with the Indian sub-continent and tried to avoid becoming involved in internal Indian politics.

However, one event was crucial in converting English influential opinion to an interventionist policy - the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta, when on the night of June 21, 1756, 123 English prisoners suffocated to death on the orders of Siraj-ud-Daula, Nawab (ruler) of Bengal.

Thenceforth England regarded Indian rulers as savages like Siraj, and considered that they were unfit to govern India.

From this it was but a short step to the establishment of partial and eventually complete English political control over the areas in which the English Company traded.

But what is the truth of the Black Hole? Did 123 die? Did Siraj-ud-Daula deliberately order their deaths, or indeed did the Black Hole happen at all?

Noel Barber sheds light on this unfortunate episode.