Brief History of the English Press in India

Brief History of the English Press in India

While journalism and its roots have traces in Ancient India as a whole. The concept of journalism as it exists today can be traced to the British rule in India. It is said that the newspaper was brought by the Britishers and forced upon us. The existing nationalist idea didn’t entail the learning of a foreign language ‘English’ which had a derogatory term of reference in the Indian context known as Mlechhas’ language or the language of immoral degraded people. The initial English papers did not have Indian content. They began with gossip of Officials, poetry and some snippets related to Britain and Europe.

However, the East India Company, the trade rulers who had a large control over different parts of India were unhappy about the way news was published. They were suspicious of all journalists and newspapers as they feared criticism. Secondly, the newspaper exposed the private lives of many Britishers which angered them and led them to suppress the same. The slow rise in the conscientisation of Indians to fight for freedom saw to many freedom fighters using the press to write about it both in English and in vernacular language. This further miffed the East India Company. Thus, journalism paved a way in the conscientisation and the bringing together of the Indians for an India freed from the rule of the British.

This write-up focuses on journalism in the English Language and its history in India. While, the historical roots remain the same, the focus in this article has been primarily English newspapers and their contribution to journalism in Indian History.

A historical route of English Journalism in India

Historically the first venture was by William Bolts who started the first newspaper, in 1776, but could not sustain himself. He was an ex-employee of East India Company and had to abort the attempt as he came under scrutiny of the East India company.

After this failed attempt, on January 29, 1780, another individual, James Augustus Hicky started another newspaper called the Bengal Gazette or the Calcutta General Advertiser, which is today considered as the first English Newspaper in India. Self-proclaimed as a “weekly political and commercial paper open to all parties but influenced by none”, the paper included news snippets from England, letters from local and rural readers, scandalous gossips, a poet’s column, and a space for Hicky to communicate with his readers. The scandalous gossips about private lives of Britishers earned Hicky the enmity among his own. He often used nicknames for particular British officials and notable personalities in his newspaper.

In the same year, i.e. 1780, as a set back and as a stiff competition appeared another newspaper with better content presentation called The Indian Gazette by Peter Read and B. Messinck. Hicky also fell in the bad books of Warren Hastings, the Governor-General after having written against the Governor himself, along with ‘Simeon Droz, Colonel Thomas Dean Pearse and a Swedish Missionary, John Zachariah Kiernander’ (Natarajan, 1955). 

Hicky’s vicious writings against many top officials brought suit after suit on him, to an extent that he was imprisoned, but he still wrote from the prison. However, the incidents took a toll and Hicky was reduced to utter poverty which gradually crushed the newspaper itself within a span of two years. 

“Four years later followed the Calcutta Gazette, published under the direct patronage of Government, and in the following year, came the Bengal Journal and a monthly, the Oriental Magazine of Calcutta Amusements. With the Calcutta Chronicle which was published in 1786, there were four weekly newspapers and one monthly magazine published from Calcutta.” (Natarajan, 1955)

In 1785, Richard Johnson, the Government Printer started the first newspaper of Madras called the Madras Courier.

In 1789, The Bombay Herald, Bombay (currently Mumbai’s) first newspaper was published which was followed by The Courier in 1790, which carried advertisements in the Gujarati language. Bombay Gazette another paper was published a year later in 1791, but was gradually merged with the Bombay Herald for purposes of Official notifications.

The Madras Courier had a smooth run for almost ten years, until it was followed by the printing of another newspaper called the Madras Gazette in 1795 by R. Williams and another paper called the India Herald. However, the India Herald ran into troubled waters as it was unauthorised and the owner Humphreys was deported to England. However, it is said that he managed to escape the ship. The Madras Gazette too underwent serious troubles with the government trying to gag its movements with an order to submit the content of the newspaper for scrutiny before its publication. Stringent measures were taken and free postage facilities were withdrawn from the paper.

The newspapers primarily contained material of interest to the foreign population in India. They were hardly more than 100 or 200 in circulation unlike today. If a person who was not in good terms or without the acknowledgement of Government officials, started a newspaper, then,  he was deported forthright. On the other hand, if a newspaper erred by printing something that irked the officials, the primary punishment was the cancellation of all postal privileges, the second step was a pre-censorship and gradually deportation. Papers like the Bombay Gazette who ran into trouble due to an article written on the conduct of the police were asked to send proof sheets for scrutiny before publication, while, those of the likes of William Duane, were deported.

The British Government and the East Indian company were terrified of the press and the bad publicity it got them which led to stringent actions. There came a point where under the bureaucracy of Lord Wellesley, the Press was suppressed or in other words it was put under rigid control. By 1807 more rigid rules surfaced to control the press. However, the newspaper printing continued.

It is said that in the year 1791, in Bengal, William Duane acquired the Bengal Journal in partnership with Messrs Dimkin and Cassan. He was admonished for printing the news of the death of Lord Cornwallis which was considered to be a rumour. While on the verge of being deported, it was confirmed by a French agent, M. Fumeron that the Colonel had indeed died, which led to the deportation being stalled. However, William Duane could not continue in his position as editor and he gradually started another paper called the ‘Indian World’. But William Duane was already under scrutiny and was harassed time and again gradually leading to his forced deportation along with his three adopted kids from India.

Bengal Hurkaru was another weekly paper which began in 1795, but became a daily newspaper on April 29, 1819 with a gradual circulation of approximately 882 copies. In 1798, Dr Charles Maclean, who had started the Bengal Hurkaru, was initially detained, but despite the apology rendered, was deported. This deportation gradually in the long run led to the downfall of Lord Wellesley, under whom gagging of the press had turned into a common feature. The primary reason being, Dr Maclean published the case of Lord Wellesley in England. However, the world digital library mentions that the paper mostly catered to the British population in India and a few members of the Bengali community and that it had liberal views and advocated a free dialogue on the topics of education and social issues. This could have been the outcome of the initial hiccups the paper had to undergo with the printing of varied views initially.

By the time, Lord Hastings took up as Governor General in 1813 years later, many newspapers were stringently already under control of the authorities. Although, Hastings was considered to be far more liberal as compared to prior British officials. Thus, despite the numerous deportations, gagging, threats, raids and imprisonments, the press was not to be suppressed at the hands of a gagging tyrant and rose with anonymity in the form of books, papers and pamphlets without names of the author nor the printer.

The years between 1813 and 1818 saw a strategic increase in publications in different languages. Due to an argument that happened between the then Chief Secretary and Press Censor, William Butterworth Bailey and Mr Heatly, son of an European British Subject and an Indian mother, and the proprietor editor of a newspaper in Calcutta called the ‘Morning Post’, the laws that censored the press went through changes again. The heated argument was pursued by Mr Heatly who refused to edit his writings given the fact that he was an Indian and not a British national and hence not subject to the rules of censorship. 

In an atmosphere like this, Lord Hastings, finally took a very important decision which changed the then aggressive scenario of Press Gag. Press censorship was gradually dispensed by a regulation issued on August 19, 1818, and the discretion of the matters being printed was left to the Editors themselves. It was however, warned that the editors would be held for any article that was published in flouting of the rules that had existed. He editors were to submit a copy of their publication in the Chief Secretary’s office.

It was almost around this time, that Indian began entering the foray of Newspaper journalism. We must remember that Press already existed from the time the Press had already stepped into Goa and a lot of Christian literature and books were printed along with a gradual transition towards other books in different corners of India. But News journalism by Indians took time. 

Indian English Journalism

In 1813, the Anglican and Presbyterian churches were established under license in India. By 1814, a Presbyterian church minister, Rev Samuel James Bryce, got the ownership of the ‘Asiatic Mirror’. He too landed up in a controversy due to the article printed in his magazine.

During the period, Raja Rammohan Roy the stalwart Indian Freedom fighter made an appearance. In 1818, Ganga Kishore (Ganghadar) Bhattacharya, a native of Bahar village, near Serampore, Bengal, started the first Bangla weekly, ‘Bangal Gazette,’ with support from Raja Rammohan Roy.  He owned a press called Bengali printing press along with a business partner. He had a series of books printed too and was held in high esteem. However, the newspaper was barely in print for a year. In the same year, John Burton and James  Mackenzie attained the rights to publish ‘The Guardian’.The condition to print this particular paper was that matters of morality would take precedence over other topics.

Meanwhile, the Baptist Missionaries of Serampore began their printing venture by publishing a vernacular paper in Bengali language, called the Samachar Durpan,  a monthly magazine in Bengali called ‘Dig-Durshan’ and another English periodical, termed ‘Friend of India’. Dig Durshan and Friend of India succumbed to financial pressures by the year 1827. However, it is said that Samachar Durpan, which was a paper primarily meant for the propogation of Christian Faith, had a long run till 1840. The reason being that despite its Christian outlook, this paper carried a vast amount of ‘information from 60 stations in the Zillas of Bengal’. (Natarajan, 1955)

Another Britisher, James Silk Buckingham known as a man of principal due to his protest against the carrying of slaves when he was commander of a convoy of ships, started the Calcutta Journal. It was biweekly of 8 pages. It is said that he described the editors functions as, “to admonish the Governors of their duties to warn them furiously of their faults and to tell disagreeable truths.” (Quoted in Natarajan, 1955). His stand led to him being deported in the year 1823.

Raja Rammohan Roy is credited with the publishing of the English Periodical, ‘Brahminical Magazine’, to counter the Serampore Missionaries Christian propoganda. While, Roy did have other papers too in vernacular language, this was the English paper. He was an open minded individual but a man with an upright view of life who stood for social causes. He believed in educating the people of India in English and raising them to a level where they could participate in the administration. He even started an English school in a place called Sudipara. He teamed up with Alexander Duff, a Christian missionary, from the Church of Scotland to start a college dedicated to teaching English and Liberal Sciences. He was quite selective about the choice of his teachers both Foreigners and Indians. Alexander Duff taught his students the art of questioning and rational thinking. It is the activism of Roy’s writings and assertion on the topic of Sati along with like minded leaders that social evils like Sati which had got engrained into Religion were gradually banned by the British.

There were other newspapers, like John Bull (1822) by eight officials of the East India Company, The Scotsman in the East (1824), by Dr. Muston, Weekly Gleaner (1824), by Patrick Crichton, The Columbian Press Gazette (1824), by Monte de Rozario, Quarterly Oriental Magazine (1825), by Dr Bryce, Bengal Chronicle (1826), by James Sutherland, Kaleidoscope (1828) by David Drummond and H.L.V. de Rozario, Calcutta Chronicle (1827) by William Adam, Calcutta Gazette and Commercial advertiser (1828) by Villiers Holcroft and the Gospel Investigator (1828) by Emmanuel Robam. The ‘Calcutta Chronicle’ by William Adam also found his license being withdrawn. William Adam was a good friend of Raja Rammohan Roy and had strong views on certain issues which lead to a tiff between him and the government.

Meanwhile, when Raja Rammohan Roy had ceased printing, the Bengal Herald or Weekly Intelligence was launched by Robert Montgomery Martin and Neil Rutton Haldar which was printed in English, Bengali, Persian and Nagri. By the year 1830, due to stringent laws, threats and financial crisis many newspapers either closed down or were merged into others.

 

Under the governorship pf Sir John Malcolm, two official papers saw the light of the day, Namely, the Bombay Government Gazette and the Calcutta Gazette. The Bombay Courier which had published all Government advertisements had complained about a loss of 4000 pounds, so as an economical measure, these papers were brought into existence. During this period, other newspapers also came into existence.

Meanwhile, on January 6, 1832, Bal Shastri Jambhekar launched the first Anglo-Marathi Weekly called the Bombay Durpun in association with Rugoonath Hurryochunderjee and Junardhan Wessoodewjee which lasted till 1840. It was bilingual with both English and Marathi.

Another popular newspaper which is one of the leading English dailies in India started in 1838. Encyclopaedia Britannica states that, The Times of India, which was “originally called The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce, was founded in 1838 to serve the British residents of western India. At first published twice weekly, the paper became a daily in 1851 and changed its name to The Times of India in 1861.

Dadabhai Naoroji, was a founder of the ‘Voice of India’ and the ‘Indian Spectator’ which he began in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1885 which gave primary focus to the happenings in London as compared to local events which were mentioned briefly. Thus, Social reformers actually used media as a powerful tool in wringing in reforms and raising the ante against social evils.

While, most of the Britishers initially started the papers, the people of the Country, gradually took over with great gusto the pen- a tool mightier than the sword. The newspapers indeed became a channel of Information education and major contributor in the freedom struggle under the patronage of Stalwart leaders. Thus, after a string of newspapers that were mostly begun by Britishers themselves, a band of Indians took over with the Pen in various corners of India. Among the most prominent names, we have papers like ‘The Leader’ from Allahabad, ‘The Bombay Chronicle’, ‘The Hindustan times’, etc.

Founded by Madan Mohan Malviya on October 24, 1909 in Allahabad, ‘The Leader’ had a long run till Sept. 6, 1967 and was considered to be an influential newspaper in English run by Indians due to its politically charged stance. The Paper also carried numerous writings by Mahatma Gandhi. The chief-editor was C. Y. Chintamani. It is said that Motilal Nehru was also partly associated with this newspaper. However, he and C. Y. Chintamani had a clash which gradually led to Motilal Nehru quitting the Paper. Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya as he was popularly known as was an Educationist, Lawyer and politician. He is remembered as the founder of the Banaras Hindu University.

Another English Paper which was known for its raconteur and its political content especially during the upheavals and the freedom struggles was The Bombay Chronicle started by a lawyer, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta. This paper had a run from 1910 to 1959.

The Hindustan Times is another paper which was involved equally in the contribution towards the cause of Freedom. It was founded by Sunder Singh of the Akali Movement and had for in its managing committee the dynamic freedom fighter, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya and Master Tara Singh. It is said that Mahatma Gandhi was himself present at the launch of this Paper. This paper survived the Test of time and exists even today. It is said that due to Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya’s dynamism, that The Hindustan Times was able to launch its Hindi version called the Hindustan Dainik in 1936.

J. Ouchterlony started a weekly English Newspaper from Madras between 1836 and 1859 called ‘The Spectator’. The paper began its daily version only in 1850 only to be merged with another paper called the Madras Times by the year 1859. Madras times was historically known to be a liberal people that did not aim at a rivalry with the Britishers not aggravate the Struggle for Freedom.

The Hindoo Patriot was another English newspaper which played a very important role in conscientising people about the Indigo planters who oppressed the peasants, the imperial laws like the immigration bill, etc,. The paper was initially published on January 6, 1853 by Madhusudan Roy under the editorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh. But, it was later purchased by Harish Chandra Mukherjee. However, Harish Chandra named his Brother Haran Chandra as the Proprietor to shield himself from the Military Audit General under whom he officiated.

It is said the Girish Chandra Ghosh started another English newspaper in 1862 called The Bengalee. This paper too supported the freedom struggle and did have a good circulation. However, it is said that when it took a moderate stand on Swadeshi, the circulation was hit. This newspaper saw various phases as it was made into a morning and evening edition for urban and rural areas with the names The Bengalee for the morning and The Calcutta Evening News for the evening paper. However, the paper The Bengalee could not survive and was finally again made into one newspaper and renamed as The Star of India.

Another journal called the Hindu Intelligencer in English was edited by Kashiprasad Ghosh and was considered to be a mouthpiece of the Bhadralok community. Not mush is known of this paper though.

Amrita Bazaar Patrika is another English newspaper that contributed greatly to journalism and especially to the freedom struggle in India. The paper was initially in Bengali language but gradually became a bilingual and began its print in English. Today the place where this paper was initially printed exists in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was a weekly printed by Moti Lal and Sisir Ghosh in Bengali and launched on 20 February, 1868.  It is said that both Sisir and Moti Lal vehemently opposed the economic exploitation of India and the restriction on an individual’s civil liberties. They were close friends of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and went into great depths at exposing the atrocities and loop holes of the British Administration in India. It was a weekly that became a daily in 1891 and was one among the first one’s in India to enter into the genre of Investigative journalism. Despite many attempts at trying to dissuade the nationalistic activities, including cases of sedition and imprisonment on its editors at various times, this paper stood the test and kept on promulgating the cause of India’s freedom.

The Statesman is another English newspaper that emerged from the merging of two newspapers called The Englishman and Friend of India. It was started in 1875. The Statesman was a paper worth acknowledgement. It opposed the decision of making Delhi the capital of India instead of Calcutta (now Kolkata). Ian M Stephens, the editor of the newspaper, who was disappointed that the world was not taking note of the drastic conditions of the Bengal famine (1943- 1944) due to the deliberate clamp on the freedom of the Press, printed a group of pictures which actually put Bengal famine in the limelight much to the dismay of the Administration. It is said The Statesman stood its ground in also opposing Indira Gandhi during the Emergency.

The history of English Journalism has a glowing history transcending from its British origins to its Spirit of fire emanating from its heroic participation in the freedom struggle of India. While the initial stages showed it more like a tool for Yellow journalism, the Press grew into a mammoth instrument that strengthened and accompanied the people in the freedom struggle.

The slogan, “the pen is mightier than the sword” proved itself true in the struggle for freedom, the demand for economic liberties and civil rights as citizens of a country and right to freedom of speech. It is the obligation of every citizen of this country to uphold these rights as these were gifted to us through the ordeal and zeal of great socially reforming journalists of great calibre.