Hicky's Bengal Gazette

History glossary

Also called: Bengal Gazette, Calcutta General Advertiser · Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"

Meaning

Hicky's Bengal Gazette was a private English weekly newspaper. James Augustus Hicky started it in Calcutta in 1780, and it is usually called the first newspaper printed in India. It called itself "a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none". It printed advertisements and gossip about officials of the East India Company.

It matters because it was the first time the press and the government fought each other in India. Warren Hastings punished Hicky and backed newspapers that the government approved. In 1782 the paper was shut down [2].

Explanation

Background: why English printing started so late

  • Missionaries brought print to India before the Company did.
  • Portuguese Jesuits brought the first presses to Goa in September 1556 [2].
  • Catholic priests printed the first Tamil book in 1579 at Cochin.

  • Dutch Protestant missionaries had printed 32 Tamil texts by 1710.

  • The English East India Company began bringing in presses in the late seventeenth century. English printing still grew very slowly.

  • In 1768 William Bolts put up a notice in Calcutta saying he would start a press. Nothing came of it, and he left India without printing a paper.
  • Britannica gives three reasons why the Company's presses had little effect at first [2]:
  • India was politically unstable.
  • The old culture of handwritten manuscripts was still strong.

  • Few people wanted printed reading matter.

  • So the first real English newspaper was not started by the government. It came from private English enterprise (a business run by a private person, not by the Company).

The paper: its main features

  • Founder and editor: James Augustus Hicky. NCERT spells his name "Hickey".
  • First issue: 29 January 1780 [2].
  • Full title: Hicky's Bengal Gazette; or, The Original Calcutta General Advertiser [2]. This is why it is also called the Calcutta General Advertiser.
  • How often: once a week.
  • Place: Calcutta, the main centre of Company rule in Bengal.
  • Motto: "a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none".
  • Owner: a private person, so the paper was independent of colonial influence (the government did not control it).
  • What it printed:
  • Advertisements, including notices for the sale of slaves.
  • Gossip about senior Company officials.
  • Attacks on Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta [2].

The clash with Warren Hastings (1780–1782)

  • Hastings used punishment.
  • Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hicky, meaning he harassed and punished him.

  • Hicky was jailed, his types (the metal letters used for printing) were seized, and the paper closed in 1782 [2].

  • Hastings also used counter-propaganda.

  • He encouraged officially sanctioned newspapers, meaning papers the government had approved.
  • He wanted to stop harmful reports about the Company.

  • He also wanted to build up a good image of colonial rule.

  • The pattern: the state answered a critical press in two ways at once. It punished the critic, and it supported friendly papers.

Results

  • English newspaper printing in India really began with this paper.
  • It was the first time the press and the colonial state came into conflict in India.
  • That conflict was an early step towards later censorship, such as the Vernacular Press Act (1878).
  • It also shows the idea of a free press as a check on power.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: late eighteenth century, from 1780 to 1782, under early Company rule in Bengal.
  • Place: Calcutta.
  • Key people:
  • James Augustus Hicky, the founder and editor.
  • Warren Hastings, the Governor-General, who persecuted him.

  • Elijah Impey, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, whom the paper attacked [2].

  • Earlier figure: William Bolts. His 1768 plan for a press in Calcutta failed.

  • How we know:
  • The paper's own issues, including the full title of the first issue dated 29 January 1780 [2].
  • NCERT Class 10, Chapter 5, "Print Culture and the Modern World".
  • Britannica's account of the print revolution in India, which covers Hicky's jailing, the seizure of his types and the closure of the paper in 1782 [2].

Don't confuse with

  • Gangadhar Bhattacharya's Bengal Gazette. It had the same name, but it was the first newspaper published by an Indian. Bhattacharya was close to Rammohun Roy. Hicky's paper was English private enterprise.
  • William Bolts (1768). He only announced a press in Calcutta. He never printed a paper. Hicky actually published one, from 1780.
  • Missionary presses at Goa (1556) and Cochin (1579). These were the first printing presses and books in India, and they printed religious texts in Indian languages. Hicky's was the first English newspaper, more than 200 years later.
  • Officially sanctioned newspapers. Hastings backed these to defend the Company. Hicky's paper criticised the Company's officials.

Prelims Hooks

  • Hicky's Bengal Gazette: a weekly published in Calcutta; first issue 29 January 1780 [2].
  • Motto: "a commercial paper open to all, but influenced by none".
  • Hicky and Hastings: Governor-General Warren Hastings persecuted Hicky and promoted officially sanctioned newspapers.
  • Paper closed in 1782. Hicky was jailed and his types were seized. The paper had also attacked Chief Justice Elijah Impey [2].
  • Trap: there are two Bengal Gazettes. The first newspaper published by an Indian was Gangadhar Bhattacharya's Bengal Gazette, not Hicky's.
  • Order of events: press at Goa (1556) → first Tamil book at Cochin (1579) → Bolts's press notice (1768) → Hicky's Bengal Gazette (1780) → paper closed (1782).

Mains Points

  • This was the first conflict between the press and the state in India.
  • A private paper printed gossip about Company officials and attacked Chief Justice Impey [2].
  • Hastings answered with repression (jail and seizure of types) and counter-propaganda (officially sanctioned newspapers).

  • This two-part response appears again in later colonial press control, such as the Vernacular Press Act, 1878. It is a useful example for GS-I answers on the press and colonial rule.

  • Print came to India through religion first, and only later through commerce.

  • Missionaries had been printing in Indian languages since 1556 [2].
  • The first English newspaper came only in 1780. It was a private business, not a state project.

  • Britannica gives three reasons for the slow start: political instability, a strong manuscript culture and low demand for print [2].

  • Commerce and journalism were mixed together from the start.

  • The paper called itself a "commercial paper" and printed advertisements, even for the sale of slaves.
  • This shows the early press was tied to the trade and social life of colonial Calcutta.
  • It was not yet a tool of Indian opinion. That role came later, with Indian-run papers such as Gangadhar Bhattacharya's Bengal Gazette.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World" (primary)
  2. 2Print revolution in India | History, Impact, & Freedom Movementbritannica.com · tier 3