{{Short description|Social club in Kolkata, India}} {{Use Indian English|date=November 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox organization | name = The Bengal Club | image = Bengal Club Lawn.jpg | caption = The Bengal Club | formation = {{start date and age|1827}}<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indianlink.com.au/travel/the-city-of-wonders/ |date=2010 |first1=Sandip |last1=Hor |website=indianlink.com.au |title=Indian Link – The City of Wonders |access-date=28 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404061736/http://www.indianlink.com.au/travel/the-city-of-wonders/ |archive-date=4 April 2013 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> | type = Social club | location = Kolkata, West Bengal, India | leader_title = President | leader_name = Sumit Ray | website = {{official URL}} }}
'''The Bengal Club''' is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Marshall|first=P. J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EXN8JTwAEC|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire|date=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00254-7|page=249|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite book|last=Renford|first=Raymond K.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.131614|title=The Non-official British In India To 1920|date=1987|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=16|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Moorhouse|first=Geoffrey|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12596/page/n169/|title=Calcutta|publisher=Penguin Books|year=1974|location=New York|page=164|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> The club is nowadays known for its old-world ambience and patronage among contemporary social and corporate elites, and is among a small number of Indian clubs featured in the elite<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dobson|first=Jim|title=The Top 25 Most Exclusive Golf And Country Clubs In The World Honored With Platinum Status|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimdobson/2018/11/29/the-top-25-most-exclusive-golf-and-country-clubs-in-the-world-honored-with-platinum-status/|access-date=2021-08-21|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Antun|first1=John M.|last2=Gustafson|first2=Catherine|date=2005-12-30|title=Menu Success|url=https://doi.org/10.1300/J385v04n04_05|journal=Journal of Culinary Science & Technology|volume=4|issue=4|pages=51–66|doi=10.1300/J385v04n04_05|issn=1542-8052|s2cid=101699297|url-access=subscription}}</ref> list of the "Platinum Clubs of the World".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Platinum Clubs of the World 2021|url=https://platinumclubnet.com/assets/pdf/Platinum_Clubs_Listing_2021.pdf|access-date=24 October 2021|archive-date=24 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024051309/https://platinumclubnet.com/assets/pdf/Platinum_Clubs_Listing_2021.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== History == Works that provide detailed historical information about the club include ''A Short History of the Bengal Club 1827–1927'', a book by Sir Hugh Rahere Panckridge (Barrister-at-law and later judge of the Calcutta High Court); ''The Bengal Club 1927–1970'', a book by R.I. Macalpine (former officer of the Imperial Forest Service); ''A History of The Bengal Club'' ''(1970–2000''), a booklet by Arabinda Ray (former club president and senior corporate executive); and ''The Bengal Club in History'', a book edited by academic Malabika Sarkar.
=== 19th century === [[File:Viscount_Combermere.jpg|thumb|96x96px|1st Viscount Combermere|left]] [[File:Bentinck william.png|thumb|106x106px|Lord William Bentinck]] Panckridge writes that the Bengal Club predates many important social clubs in London, though the model for the club was the Oriental Club in London (founded in 1824). The idea for the Bengal Club was conceived of in a meeting of notable Englishmen at the Town Hall of Calcutta in 1826, led by Lieutenant-Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) John Finch, son of the 4th Earl of Aylesford. Finch explained at the meeting that "nothing like a respectable hotel or coffeehouse has ever existed" in Calcutta, and "those who constitute the society of Calcutta have no place where they can spend an idle half hour agreeably"<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/mode/2up|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|date=1927|publisher=The Bengal Club|location=Calcutta|page=30|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|year=1827|title=Projected Calcutta Club|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqdAAQAAIAAJ|journal=Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany|volume=23|page=850}}</ref>
The club was formally established on 8 February 1827, with the Viscount Combermere its first patron. In 1830, Lord William Bentinck, the last Governor of Bengal and the first Governor-General of India, became the second patron of the club. The club's original members included influential figures like Charles Metcalfe, Henry Thoby Prinsep and Sir Edward Ryan, along with senior military officials.<ref name=":15">{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/mode/2up|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|date=1927|publisher=The Bengal Club|location=Calcutta|pages=45–57|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1838, the club passed a resolution to reciprocate with the now-extinct Byculla Club of Mumbai (then Bombay). Later, reciprocal relations were established with the Madras Club, the Hong Kong Club and the now-defunct Shanghai Club.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|date=1927|publisher=The Bengal Club|location=Calcutta|page=20|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Knight|first=James Blackburn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOc2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA198|title=W. Newman & Co.'s Hand-book to Calcutta: Historical and Descriptive|date=1875|publisher=W. Newman|page=198|language=en}}</ref>
By the 1870s, the club was being described in travelogues as "the most swell establishment of the kind in the East" (by American Civil War general Robert Ogden Tyler)<ref name=":452">{{Cite book|last=Tyler|first=Robert Ogden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_c_AAAAYAAJ|title=Memoir of Brevet Major-General Robert Ogden Tyler, U. S. Army, Together with His Journal of Two Months Travels in British and Farther India|publisher=J.B. Lippincott & Company|year=1878|page=50|language=en}}</ref> and "an institution known to all the dwellers of the East" (by scholar and historian Sir George William Forrest)''.''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Forrest|first=George William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odUaAAAAYAAJ|title=Calcutta: Past and Present|journal=The Pall Mall Magazine|publisher=George Routledge & Sons, Limited|year=1896|pages=93, 107|language=en}}</ref> By the close of the century, the Bengal Club became one of a handful of buildings in British India to be supplied with electricity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sarkar|first=Suvobrata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BB3hDwAAQBAJ|title=Let There Be Light: Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Electricity in Colonial Bengal, 1880–1945|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2020|isbn=978-1-108-83598-5|page=161|language=en}}</ref>
Panckridge writes that the Bengal Club was originally intended to be called the Calcutta United Service Club. Ironically, a later (unconnected) institution with a similar name, the Bengal United Service Club (now home to the Geological Survey of India), was established in close proximity to the Bengal Club. Much like the Bengal Club, the club had senior British officials and judges as members.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Pearson|first=Jim|date=27 June 2003|title=Maltese Cross in city heart|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/maltese-cross-in-city-heart/cid/1258480|access-date=2021-10-21|website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref>
=== 20th century === [[File:Bust_of_George_V.jpg|left|thumb|140x140px|Bust of George V at the Bengal Club.]] thumb|180x180px|Plaque at the Bengal Club with names of members who died while serving in the First World War. In 1912, on the visit of George V to Kolkata, the club was among a set of buildings illuminated with electric lights to welcome his cavalcade.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Reed|first=Stanley|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.100233/page/281/mode/2up|title=The King and Queen in India: A Record of the Visit of their Imperial Majesties, the King Emperor and Queen Empress to India, from December 2nd, 1911 to January 10th, 1912|publisher=Bennett, Coleman and Co.|year=1912|location=Bombay|page=282|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=IMG|desc=The 'new' Bengal Club, Kolkata lit for British royal visit; seen from across the General's Tank on the Maidan. This part of the club is now demolished, having been completed in 1908 by the architect ... |num=1196774 |num2=SC 1196774 |access-date=2025-06-18 }}</ref> The King presented the club with his portrait.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|date=1927|publisher=The Bengal Club|location=Calcutta|page=41|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Over a hundred members of the club served in the First World War. Two members were awarded the Victoria Cross: army doctor Arthur Martin-Leake (the first person to have received the honour twice) and Sir Reginald Graham. Several members also lost their lives in the War. The Governor of Bengal later unveiled a plaque in their memory.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|pages=41–42|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1927, the Bengal Club celebrated its centenary by organising a grand banquet, with many important figures from British India in attendance.<ref name=":39">{{Cite news|date=3 February 1927|title=The Bengal Club: Centenary Celebrations at Calcutta|page=14|newspaper=Times of India|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/325266622|id={{ProQuest|325266622}} |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The following day, for the first time in the club's history, female guests were allowed to enter the club for a one-off tour.<ref name=":39" /> [[File:Royal_Air_Force_Operations_in_the_Far_East,_1941-1945._CI1066.jpg|thumb|223x223px|A Royal Air Force hospital in Kolkata, during the Second World War. In the course of the War, over a thousand military officers stationed in the city (above the rank of Lieutenant-colonel) were granted honorary membership of the Bengal Club.]] According to Macalpine, the club's other milestones in the 20th century included its designation as a public air raid shelter and medical aid post during the Second World War; the grant of honorary membership to around 1,200 armed forces personnel stationed in Kolkata during different phases of the War (above the rank of Lieutenant-colonel); the admittance of Indian members (in 1959); the allowance of women inside the club's premises (initially in fits and starts, and eventually without restriction in 1967); the receipt of valuable paintings and artefacts (gifted by club members and presidents); and visits by many notable dignitaries and public figures.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|pages=98, 105, 116–19, 131}}</ref>
However, Macalpine also chronicles the club as suffering from a series of financial setbacks during this period, exacerbated by the fact that the club's membership size was small and highly selective. The 1934 Nepal–India earthquake apparently caused great damage to the club's building and necessitated costly repairs, while a large number of expensive renovations were also undertaken in successive decades. Meanwhile, the Second World War resulted in food and alcohol shortages, and an atmosphere of panic followed the bombing of Kolkata by Japan. Macalpine claims that the club's revenues were further dented by strikes by "menial" staff motivated by "anti-British" sentiment, and various excise, prohibition and labour laws. By the late 1960s, the club's finances were so badly hit that it sold half of its premises.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|pages=94–98, 105, 109–11, 116–19, 124, 131}}</ref>
Ray states that the club celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1977 with a large banquet (with the British High Commissioner to India and the Governor of West Bengal in attendance), allowed women to become members in their own right in 1988, and increased facilities offered to members significantly from the 1990s onwards.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Arabinda|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ray-BC_History.pdf|title=A History of The Bengal Club (1970-2000)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=2001|location=Calcutta}}</ref>
=== 21st century === Sarkar and her co-contributors generally describe the Bengal Club as continuing with many British-era traditions in the present century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf|title=The Bengal Club in History|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=2006|editor-last=Sarkar|editor-first=Malabika|location=Calcutta|pages=}}</ref> The international press has provided a similar description of the club, variously referring to its menus, decor, artworks, dress codes and waiters' uniforms.''<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gray|first=Dennis|date=January 9, 2018|title=Strolling through Kolkata's colonial past|url=https://apnews.com/article/37a2617d8df847d3b25112ce38d0ac6c|website=Associated Press}}</ref>''<ref>{{Cite news|last=Holburt|first=Jonathan|date=12 August 2005|title=Clubbing in Calcutta – The World's Largest 'Museum' of British Colonial Architecture|page=9|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal (Asia Edition)|via=Factiva}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Tonkin|first=Boyd|date=2004-03-12|title=A Week in Books: Calcutta's English-language tradition shows no sign of fading|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/a-week-in-books-calcutta-s-english-language-tradition-shows-no-sign-of-fading-63901.html|access-date=2021-09-06|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Bose|first=Mihir|date=2007-08-14|title=The changing values of modern India|language=en-GB|work=BBC|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6946800.stm|access-date=2021-10-30}}</ref> Among events of note, the club has hosted the award ceremony for the 2004 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, where ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' and ''A Distant Shore'' were awarded the top prizes.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Jaggi|first=Maya|date=2004-05-08|title=Oh, Kolkata|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/08/featuresreviews.guardianreview2|access-date=2021-09-06|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>
== Facilities == thumb|200x200px|One of the Bengal Club's dining rooms Travel books from the 19th century suggest that the Bengal Club was then one of Kolkata's principal luxury accommodations, along with the Great Eastern Hotel and the Spence's Hotel (now demolished).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Orlich|first=Leopold von|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=db4RAAAAYAAJ|title=Travels in India: Including Sinde and the Punhab|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans|year=1845|location=London|page=179|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhhiTtP68WwC|title=Handbook of the Bengal Presidency: With an Account of Calcutta City ...|last2=|first2=|date=1882|publisher=J. Murray|location=London|pages=85|language=en}}</ref> One visitor from that period, John Fletcher Hurst, described the club as "a delightful resort" with "spacious and beautiful" bedrooms and a well-stocked library.<ref>{{Cite book|last=John F. Hurst|url=http://archive.org/details/DKC0054|title=Indika. The Country and the People of India and Ceylon|date=1891|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York|pages=402|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> The club's present facilities include accommodation rooms, banquet halls, bars, lounges, dining rooms, conference rooms, a library and indoor sports facilities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Bengal Club {{!}} The Bengal Club|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/|access-date=2021-10-30|language=en-US}}</ref> The club's website lists various clubs in India and overseas as among its affiliated clubs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Affiliations {{!}} The Bengal Club|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/affiliations/|access-date=2021-09-25|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Food and culinary history == [[File:Harrods_Bengal_Club_chutney.png|thumb|180x180px|Advertisement for "Bengal Club chutney" in a 1912 Harrods catalogue]] In the 19th century, the Bengal Cub's food and drink was spoken of favourably in a number of travelogues and cookbooks.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=Sir William Howard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89fzZKnLlooC|title=My Diary in India, in the year 1858-9. With illustrations|date=1876|publisher=George Routledge & Sons|location=London|pages=71, 74|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Spencer|first=Edward|url=https://archive.org/details/b21529346/page/164/mode/2up|title=The flowing bowl : a treatise on drinks of all kinds and of all periods, interspersed with sundry anecdotes and reminiscences|date=1903|publisher=Grant Richards|location=London|page=45|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> The club's head chef was a French cook, who later became the private cook of the Nawab of Oudh.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Knighton|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=73YoAAAAYAAJ|title=The Private Life of an Eastern King|date=1855|publisher=Redfield|location=New York|pages=26|language=en}}</ref> Food historian Colleen Taylor Sen credits the Bengal Club with pioneering and popularising the masala omelette.<ref name=":40">{{Cite book|last=Sen|first=Colleen Taylor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VN_vCgAAQBAJ|title=Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India|date=2014|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1-78023-391-8|page=225|language=en}}</ref> At one point, the club supposedly housed "four cooks who made nothing but omelettes all day long and wouldn't soil their hands doing anything else."<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=Masani|first=Zareer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lm4FVb54_oUC|title=Indian Tales of the Raj|date=1988|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-07127-8|page=162|language=en}}</ref> The club was also known for a type of sweet mango chutney.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Bharati|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf|title=The Bengal Club in History: Birth and Survivaly|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=2006|editor-last=Sarkar|editor-first=Malabika|location=Calcutta|pages=11, 15}}</ref> Internationally, the item became generically known as "Bengal Club chutney"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schoonmaker|first=Alfeld, Beverly Ellen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcirBFKs5SEC|title=Pickles to Relish|date=2008|publisher=Pelican Publishing Company|isbn=978-1-4556-1043-3|page=151|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Green|first=Mary Elizabeth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m7U2AQAAMAAJ|title=Food Products of the World|publisher=Hotel World|year=1902|edition=3rd|location=Chicago|page=101|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Treasury|first=United States Dept of the|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bOoWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA713|title=Treasury Decisions Under Customs and Other Laws|date=1902|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=713|language=en}}</ref> and was marketed by different traders under that name.<ref>{{Cite news|date=5 January 1863|title=Chutnies and Indian Condiments (advertisement)|work=Allen's Indian Mail|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hWtDAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22bengal+club+chutney%22&pg=PA23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=8 March 1924|title=David Spencer, Limited: Special Offerings (advertisement)|newspaper=Victoria Daily Times|url=https://archive.org/details/victoriadailytimes19240308/page/n3/mode/2up|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Harrods and Eaton's also sold versions of the item.<ref>{{Cite book|last=|url=https://archive.org/details/harrods-for-everything-images/page/1238/mode/2up|title=Harrods For Everything|publisher=Harrods Ltd|year=1912|location=London|page=1238|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=T. Eaton Co|url=https://archive.org/details/eatonscatalogue36teat/page/138/mode/2up|title=Eaton's Fall and Winter Catalogue|publisher=T. Eaton Co|year=1896|volume=36|location=Toronto|page=138|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref>
In modern times, various books have discussed the club's culinary history and shared some of its signature recipes.<ref name=":26">{{Cite book|last=Marks|first=Copeland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7F6KCgAAQBAJ|title=Indian & Chinese Cooking from the Himalayan Rim|date=1999|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-59077-449-6|pages=304–339|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Dasgupta|first1=Minakshie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btECzLTe6kMC|title=The Calcutta Cookbook: A Treasury of Over 200 Recipes from Pavement to Palace|last2=Gupta|first2=Bunny|last3=Chaliha|first3=Jaya|date=1995|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-046972-1|pages=61, 159, 266, 345|language=en}}</ref> ''Condé Nast Traveler'' has listed the Bengal Club's orange soufflé as one of eight recommended recipes from colonial Indian clubs,''<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2020-08-06|title=8 gymkhana and club recipes from across India to bring home|url=https://www.cntraveller.in/story/8-gymkhana-club-recipes-india-home-food-mumbai-kolkata/|access-date=2021-09-24|website=Condé Nast Traveller India|language=en-IN}}</ref>'' and mentioned its biryani as one of the best examples of home-made Kolkata biryani.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ail |first=Arundhati |date=2022-04-24 |title=Best biryani in Kolkata according to the city's foodies |url=https://www.cntraveller.in/story/best-biryani-in-kolkata-according-to-the-citys-foodies/ |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=Condé Nast Traveller India |language=en-IN}}</ref>
== Relocations and architectural history == <gallery heights="100"> File:Bengal Club Calcutta Esplanade 1833.jpg|The Bengal Club in 1833 (Gordon's Buildings) File:Thomas Babington Macaulay2.jpg|Thomas Macaulay File:Bengal Club Calcutta (Kolkata) - Mid 19th Century.jpg|The Bengal Club c. 1850 (Macaulay's former residence) File:Bengal Club te Calcutta in India, KITLV 152328.tiff|The Bengal Club's Chowringhee building, designed by Vincent Esch File:Plaques of kolkata.jpg|Plaque at the club's entrance File:Bengal Club evening view.jpg|Tower at the club (designed by Esch) with cobra emblem </gallery> In 1827, the Bengal Club was housed in a four-storeyed building in Esplanade, known as Gordon's Buildings (now demolished), for a rent of Rupees 800 every month.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H.R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/page/n21/mode/2up|title=A Short History of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|pages=9–10|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> The "Agency House Crisis" (a major financial crisis of the 1830s, linked to the indigo trade)<ref>{{Cite web|last=gateway|date=2018-05-03|title=Indian banking's chequered history|url=https://www.gatewayhouse.in/indian-banking-history/|access-date=2021-08-29|website=Gateway House|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rothermund|first=Dietmar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpSJAgAAQBAJ|title=An Economic History of India|date=2002-11-01|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-87945-8|language=en}}</ref> affected the club severely. Unable to pay rent, the club shifted to a house in Tank Square (later renamed Dalhousie Square).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H.R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/page/n29/mode/2up|title=A Short History of the Bengal Club 1827–1927|publisher=Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|page=20|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> In 1845, with its finances improving, the club shifted to a building in Russell Street, which had served as the residence of Thomas Babington Macaulay.<ref name=":0222">{{Cite book|last=Mukherjee|first=Rudrangshu|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf|title=The Bengal Club in History|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=2006|editor-last=Sarkar|editor-first=Malabika|location=Calcutta|page=32|chapter=The House Where Macaulay Lived}}</ref> The original owner of the land was Kaliprasanna Singha, a well-known writer and philanthropist.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H.R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/page/n35/|title=A Short History of the Bengal Club 1827–1927|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|page=23|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The club later expanded to a new, adjacent building in Chowringhee.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|last=Jack|first=Ian|date=2017-01-28|title=The big white men of Brexit are a throwback to Britain's imperial past|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/28/white-men-brexit-britain-imperial-past|access-date=2021-08-30|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> The new building was designed by Vincent Esch, superintending architect of the Victoria Memorial, and formally opened in 1911.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/mode/2up|title=A Short History Of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|pages=40–41|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Esch also dismantled and redesigned the Russell Street building.<ref name=":3" />
In the 1960s, the club ran into heavy debt, as "class and race exclusivity had shrunk the membership".<ref name=":22" /> Rather than expanding the club's membership to raise revenues, the club took the decision to maintain its rarefied membership and sell the Chowringhee building to Grindlay's Bank, retaining only the Russell Street premises as before. Macalpine writes that the sale of the Chowringhee building to Grindlay's was "manna from heaven" for the club from a financial standpoint.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=122}}</ref> However, the Indian government unexpectedly refused permission to Grindlay's to use the Chowringhee building. The bank was compelled to sell the building ("reportedly for a song") to Benoy Kumar Chatterjee, a businessman with a controversial reputation.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last1=Mitra|first1=Sumit|last2=Sen|first2=Sumanta|date=15 September 1982|title=Maker of Calcutta's tallest building gets embroiled in investment scandal|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19820915-maker-of-calcuttas-tallest-building-gets-embroiled-in-investment-scandal-772163-2013-08-27|journal=India Today|publication-date=27 August 2013}}</ref>
Chatterjee, in violation of building laws,<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Saha|first=Sambit|date=3 September 2015|title=Landmark mired in rule violations|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/landmark-mired-in-rule-violations/cid/1216139|access-date=2021-09-02|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> demolished the Chowringhee building and built a skyscraper in its place, the Chatterjee International Centre. Historian David Gilmour writes that the Chowringhee building could have survived if the club had simply accepted Indians as members after Independence.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|last=Gilmour|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QzKwQEACAAJ|title=The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience|date=2019|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-197921-2|language=en}}</ref> In Britain, ''The Times'' reacted to the demolition by remarking: "The sun has set on the imperial splendour of the Bengal Club."<ref>{{Cite news|date=19 February 1970|title=The Times Diary: Bengal's Loss|page=10|work=The Times|location=London|via=Gale Primary Sources: The Times Digital Archive}}</ref> Meanwhile, heritage conservationists have criticised the demolition of the Chowringhee building (described by Ian Jack to be "as grand as the grandest seafront hotel")<ref name=":22" /> and called for greater government efforts to preserve architectural heritage.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chatterjee|first=Saibal|date=30 May 2016|title=Heritage showdown in Kolkata|url=https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/cities/heritage-showdown-in-kolkata/|access-date=2021-09-13|website=Civil Society|publication-date=29 January 2020}}</ref>
According to oral legend, a king cobra was spotted by construction workers when the Tank Square premises were being built. The workers, regarding the creature as the sacred guardian of the place, refused to continue their work. A Hindu priest was then brought to the premises to perform rituals and propitiate the snake with milk. The snake eventually left the premises and work resumed. In acknowledgement of the incident, the club adopted the symbol of a king cobra as its emblem in British India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|pages=150–51}}</ref> The emblem is visible in a lunette above a tower at the club.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bach|first=Brian Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dwBQAAAAMAAJ|title=Calcutta's Edifice: The Buildings of a Great City|publisher=Rupa & Company|year=2006|isbn=978-81-291-0415-1|page=233|language=en}}</ref>
== Notable guests and speakers == [[File:Léopold, duc de Brabant - Bocourt.jpg|left|thumb|91x91px|Leopold II]] [[File:Prince-Edward-Duke-of-Windsor-King-Edward-VIII.jpg|thumb|119x119px|Edward VIII]] [[File:Ferdinand_Schmutzer_-_Franz_Ferdinand_von_Österreich-Este,_um_1914.jpg|left|thumb|99x99px|Franz Ferdinand]] In British India, many high-ranking royals and politicians had banquets held in their honour at the Bengal Club (customarily hosted by the club's president) and some of them also stayed at the club. Various writings also mention important political meetings taking place at the club. Royal visitors to the club (in both British and independent India) have included Leopold II;<ref>{{Cite news |newspaper=Allen's Indian Mail |date=March 29, 1865 |page=1 |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/allens-indian-mail-mar-29-1865-p-1/ |title=Registration |url-access=registration |access-date=2023-05-06 |via=NewspaperArchive |language=en}}</ref> Prince Albert Victor;<ref name=":022">{{Cite news|date=11 January 1890|title=Dinner at the Bengal Club|page=5|work=The Times of India|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/498202053|id={{ProQuest|498202053}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Prince Arthur (twice);<ref name=":022" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=13 November 1920|title=Calcutta Exchange|page=9|work=Times of India|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/603289713|id={{ProQuest|603289713}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Archduke Franz Ferdinand;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ferdinand|first=Franz|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Tagebuch_meiner_Reise_um_die_Erde_-_1892-1893_%28IA_tagebuchmeinerr1fran%29.pdf|title=Tagebuch meiner Reise um die Erde – 1892–1893|year=1895|page=175}}</ref> Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich;<ref>{{Cite news|date=30 April 1902|title=Our Calcutta Letter: The troubles of the tea trade |page=4 |newspaper=The Times of India|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/233995420|id={{ProQuest|233995420}}|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Carol II;<ref>{{Cite news|date=22 May 1920|title=Crown Prince of Rumania|page=16|work=Times of India|agency=Associated Press|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/325165269|id={{ProQuest|325165269}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Edward VIII;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rushbrook Williams|first=L. F.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108659/page/n99/mode/2up|title=The History of the Indian Tour of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 1921–22|publisher=Superintendent Government Printing, India|year=1922|location=Calcutta|page=81|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290/page/n55/mode/2up|title=A Short History of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|page=43|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Aga Khan III;<ref name="Current Topics: The Aga Khan">{{Cite news|date=26 February 1934|title=Current Topics: The Aga Khan|page=8|work=Times of India|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/323826512|id={{ProQuest|323826512}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Prince Philip (twice);<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 February 1959|title=Friendship Greater Than Pride|page=13|work=South China Morning Post|location=Hong Kong|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1532323060|id={{ProQuest|1532323060}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|pages=136–37}}</ref> Charles III;<ref name=":8" /> Prince Edward;<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 1997|title=Court Circular|url=https://www.royal.uk/archive/199703|access-date=2021-09-17|website=The Royal Family|language=en}}</ref> and Prince Andrew.<ref>{{Cite news|date=13 March 2010|title=Court Circular|language=en|newspaper=The Times|publication-place=London|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/court-circular-mar-13-qp7hm3nbvlq|access-date=2021-09-29|issn=}}</ref>
Political, diplomatic and military visitors have included Steen Andersen Bille;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bille|first=Carl Steen Andersen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TIhpAAAAcAAJ|title=Bericht über die Reise der Corvette Galathea um die Welt in den Jahren 1845, 1846 und 1847; aus dem Dänischen übers. ... von W. v. Rosen|date=1852|publisher=C. A. Reitzel|page=160|language=de}}</ref> Robert Ogden Tyler;<ref name=":452" /> several Governors General of India;<ref name=":122">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=100}}</ref> Edwin Montagu;<ref>{{Cite news|date=21 December 1917|title=Calcutta Letter: The Montagu Visit|page=6|work=Times of India|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/500757407|id={{ProQuest|500757407}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Sir Patrick Duncan;<ref>{{Cite news|date=1 October 1926|title=The South African Problem|page=10|work=Times of India|location=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/325262709|id={{ProQuest|325262709}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=29 September 1926|title=A Busy Day at Calcutta|page=12|work=Times of India|location=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/311500549|id={{ProQuest|311500549}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Sir John Simon and other members of the Simon Commission,<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=100}}</ref> Sir Stanley Jackson;<ref name=":14">{{Cite web|title=Sir Stanley Jackson|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152873.html|access-date=2021-09-19|website=Cricinfo}}</ref> Sir William Slim;<ref name=":13">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=108}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Slim|first=Viscount Field-Marshal Viscount William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VXHtDAAAQBAJ|title=Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942–1945|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=1956|isbn=978-1-4616-6093-4|edition=2000|page=156|language=en}}</ref> C. Rajagopalachari;<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=135|type=}}</ref> Jawaharlal Nehru;.<ref name=":94" /><ref name=":102" /> V.V. Giri;<ref name=":8" /> various British High Commissioners;<ref name=":93">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=135|type=}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Delhi|first=British High Commission, New|title=Sir James Bevan visits Kolkata 7–8 June 2012|date=2012-06-07|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinindia/7392950676/|access-date=2021-09-18}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Delhi|first=British High Commission, New|title=Dominic Asquith in Kolkata|date=2016-07-20|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinindia/28428755825/|access-date=2021-09-18}}</ref> and a British parliamentary delegation.<ref>{{Citation|last=Delhi|first=British High Commission, New|title=CPA delegation at Bengal Club|date=2015-02-19|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/ukinindia/16401346088/|access-date=2021-09-18}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=6 February 2015|title=Lord Speaker, UK CPA Delegation to visit Kolkata, Guwahati to further bilateral relations|url=https://www.corecommunique.com/lord-speaker-uk-cpa-delegation-visit-kolkata-guwahati-bilateral-relations/|website=Core Sector Communique|language=en-US}}</ref> Other guests have included cricketer Arthur Gilligan (while captaining the Marylebone Cricket Club during a historic tour of India);<ref>{{Cite news|date=1927-04-09|title=Cricket Fuss|work=Newcastle Sun|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163416257|access-date=2021-09-23}}</ref> mountaineers Sir Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay and Sir John Hunt (following the 1953 Mount Everest expedition);<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=136}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Crawford|first=C.E.J.|date=1997|editor-last=Kapadia|editor-first=Harish|title=In Memoriam: Vilhelm Schjelderup Risoe, M.B.E.|url=https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/53/19/in-memoriam-8/|journal=Himalayan Journal|volume=53}}</ref> and footballer Pelé (who played a match for the New York Cosmos in Kolkata).<ref name=":8" />
In the present century, the Bengal Club has hosted well-known authors and scholars as part of a "Library Talk" series, such as Nobel laureates Amartya Sen,<ref name=":72">{{Cite web|date=25 August 2021|title=Amartya Sen at launch of memoir: Mere tolerance not enough|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/people/amartya-sen-at-launch-of-memoir-mere-tolerance-not-enough/cid/1827875|website=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2 January 2012|title="Wonderful translation of a very exciting novel": Amartya Sen|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/wonderful-translation-of-a-very-exciting-novel-amartya-sen/cid/1279137|access-date=|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> Ben Feringa,<ref name=":192">{{Cite web|last=Basu|first=Anasuya|date=21 March 2019|title=Focus on basic science|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/focus-on-basic-science/cid/1687253|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> Abhijit Banerjee<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mitra|first=Debraj|date=22 June 2021|title=Covid: Nobel winning economist calls for global solution|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/calcutta/covid-nobel-laureate-calls-for-global-solution/cid/1819603|access-date=2021-09-24|website=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=1 September 2011|title=MIT economist on why policies fail in India|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/1110901/jsp/calcutta/story_14447685.jsp|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928121606/https://www.telegraphindia.com/1110901/jsp/calcutta/story_14447685.jsp|archive-date=2011-09-28|access-date=2021-09-24|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> and Esther Duflo;<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Niyogi|first1=Subhro|date=14 August 2021|title='Kolkata needs to retain its vibrant neighbourhoods', says French economist and Nobel laureate Esther Duflo|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/kolkata-needs-to-retain-its-vibrant-neighbourhoods/articleshow/85313104.cms|access-date=2021-09-24|website=The Times of India|language=en}}</ref> authors Amitav Ghosh<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amitav Ghosh's firm ecological concerns are prevalent in his new books |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/books/amitav-ghoshs-firm-ecological-concerns-are-prevalent-in-his-new-books-the-nutmegs-curse-the-living-mountain/cid/1864696 |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=www.telegraphindia.com}}</ref> and Jeffrey Archer;<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 March 2011|title=Interaction and dinner at Bengal Club|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/interaction-and-dinner-at-bengal-club/cid/414130|access-date=2021-09-24|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> postcolonial theorist Gayatri Spivak;<ref name=":212">{{Cite web|last=Basu|first=Anasuya|date=25 May 2019|title=Reviving love for the language|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/reviving-love-for-the-language/cid/1691218|access-date=2021-08-21|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> and economist Kaushik Basu.<ref>{{Cite web|date=16 June 2018|title=Hurdle trio for India's growth|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/hurdle-trio-for-india-s-growth/cid/1419038|access-date=2021-09-26|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> The club also organises an annual lecture in the memory of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, delivered by a former international cricket captain. Past speakers have included Imran Khan, Brian Lara, David Gower, Greg Chappell, Sir Clive Lloyd, Kapil Dev, Mike Brearley, Courtney Walsh and Sourav Ganguly.<ref name=":222">{{Cite web|date=29 February 2020|title=Rewind: Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lectures revisited|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/sports/rewind-tiger-pataudi-memorial-lectures-revisited/cid/1749950|access-date=2021-08-21|website=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Thakur|first=Sankarshan|title=Captain as unifier, Lloyd reveals secret of conquering the world|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/sports/captain-as-unifier-lloyd-reveals-secret-of-conquering-the-world/cid/1810572|access-date=2021-11-13|website=The Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Marik |first=Priyam |date=30 November 2023 |title=Brian Lara on the front foot, hails Kohli, Tendulkar, Kapil, Gavaskar and Pataudi as India's best |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/sports/cricket/brian-lara-on-the-front-foot-hails-kohli-tendulkar-kapil-gavaskar-and-pataudi-as-indias-best/cid/1983737 |website=The Telegraph}}</ref>
== Members and presidents == [[File:Charles_Theophilus_Metcalfe.jpg|left|thumb|125x125px|Charles Metcalfe, Bengal Club president from 1827 to 1837]] [[File:J_Stocqueler.jpg|thumb|164x164px|JH Stocqueler was controversially expelled from the club in 1835. ]] By the 1850s, the Bengal Club's membership remained confined to a few titled noblemen, senior government and military officials, and judges.<ref name=":33">{{Cite book|last=|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.40281/page/n27/mode/2up|title=Rules of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1853|location=Calcutta|page=24|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> In the 1880s, the club's membership was, by contrast, described as comprising "chiefly barristers, merchants, and bankers, with a sprinkling of civilian and military men."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Buckland|first=Charles Thomas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RIcIAAAAQAAJ|title=Sketches of Social Life in India|date=1884|publisher=W.H. Allen|location=London|page=89|language=en}}</ref> Notable club presidents in British India included serving or future Governors-General of India and other countries (such as Metcalfe, Lord Ellenborough, Sir John Peter Grant, Sir Henry Bartle Frere and Sir Hugh Lansdown Stephenson); serving or future Chief Justices and Advocates General (such as Sir James William Colville, Sir George Claus Rankin and Sir James Tisdall Woodroffe); senior military officers (such as Sir Willoughby Cotton and Sir James Outram); senior civil servants (such as Sir Clement Hindley); and presidents of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (such as Robert Steel, John Johnstone Jardine Keswick and Sir Apcar Alexander Apcar).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Panckridge|first=H. R.|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.38290|title=A Short History of The Bengal Club|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=1927|location=Calcutta|pages=10–44, 57–60|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite web|title=Former Presidents {{!}} The Bengal Club|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/former-presidents/|access-date=2021-09-05|language=en-US}}</ref>
During Metcalfe's presidency, the noted editor JH Stocqueler was controversially expelled from the club for writing articles criticising a fellow member (a senior military official).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sinha|first=Mrinalini|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RVbL4dUpl7AC|title=Britishness, Clubbability and the Colonial Sphere|work=Bodies in Contact: Rethinking Colonial Encounters in World History|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-8223-8645-2|editor-last=Burton|editor-first=Antoinette|pages=183, 189|language=en|editor-last2=Ballantyne|editor-first2=Tony}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|year=1836|title=The Bengal Club|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzcWAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA131|journal=The Meerut Universal Magazine|publication-place=Agra|publication-date=28 December 1835|volume=2|page=130}}</ref> The club subsequently made the following rule: "No editor of a newspaper shall henceforth be eligible for election as a member of this club."<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The Bengal Club|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8tGAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22the+bengal+club%22+stocqueler+lumley&pg=RA1-PA13|journal=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia| date=26 August 2023 |publication-date=1836|volume=20|page=75}}</ref> During Keswick's presidency, Keswick controversially founded the European and Anglo-Indian Defence Association and campaigned against Lord Ripon's Ilbert Bill at the club. Another member campaigning against the Bill was R.C. Macgregor, who Ripon attacked as "a small Calcutta Barrister...who knows nothing of this country or its affairs except what he picks up in the Bar Library and the Bengal Club."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hirschmann|first=Edwin|url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.12810/page/n1/mode/2up|title=White Mutiny: The Ilbert Bill Crisis in India and Genesis of the Indian National Congress|publisher=Heritage Publishers|year=1980|location=New Delhi|page=51|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref>
Dr William Earnest Fetherstonhaugh was the last club president in British India, as well as the first medical doctor to serve as club president.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1927–70)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd.|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=95}}</ref> However, many Britons served as club presidents even in postcolonial India, among them Sir Anthony Elkins, Sir Anthony Hayward, Sir Alec Ogilvie and Michael Graham Satow.<ref name=":02" /> Bharati Ray writes that the early generation of Indian Bengal Club members "were either educated in the United Kingdom or trained in British corporate ethics."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Bharati|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf|title=The Bengal Club in History|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=2006|editor-last=Sarkar|editor-first=Malabika|location=Calcutta|page=11|chapter=The Bengal Club in History: Birth and Survival}}</ref> Many were heads of important British corporations of the time.<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Jones|first=Stephanie|url=https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-349-12538-8%2F1.pdf|title=Merchants of the Raj: British Managing Agency Houses in Calcutta Yesterday and Today|publisher=Springer|year=1992|isbn=978-1-349-12538-8|pages=385–96|language=en}}</ref> In 1968, Dorab Pestonjee Maneckjee Kanga, a senior corporate executive and member of the Parsi community, became the first Indian president of the club.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lelyveld|first=Joseph|date=1968-04-10|title=Calcutta's Clubs Seek Indian Members as British Dwindle|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/04/10/archives/calcuttas-clubs-seek-indian-members-as-british-dwindle.html|access-date=2021-09-05|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A number of well-known Parsis subsequently became president, such as CR Irani and Dara Pirojshaw Antia, as did a prominent member of India's Armenian community, Pearson Surita.<ref name=":02" />
In the 1970s, ''The New York Times'' described the Bengal Club's membership as including "some of India's most powerful industrialists".<ref name=":152">{{Cite news|last=Borders|first=William|date=1978-02-01|title=Calcutta's Wealthy|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/01/archives/calcuttas-wealthy-a-glittering-isle-in-a-sea-of-poverty-concern-of.html|access-date=2021-08-30|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the present century, major Indian business newspapers have similarly described the club's membership as decidedly elite.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Weekend|first=B. S.|date=2011-05-07|title=The ivory league|work=Business Standard|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-ivory-league-111050700034_1.html|access-date=2021-08-24}}</ref>''<ref>{{Cite news|last=Tiwari|first=Dheeraj|date=15 October 2006|title=Club class|work=The Economic Times|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/money-you/club-class/articleshow/2172049.cms?|access-date=2021-08-21}}</ref>''<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mitra|first=Arnab|date=29 August 2004|title=Boxwallah Redux|url=http://archives.digitaltoday.in/businesstoday/20040829/books.html|access-date=2021-09-05|website=Business Today}}</ref> Like in British India, many modern Bengal Club presidents have served as presidents of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry,<ref name=":43">{{Cite web|title=Presidents of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry|url=https://bengalchamber.com/agm14/pages/president.html|access-date=2021-09-05|website=The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry}}</ref> and some have also served as presidents of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM).<ref name=":42">{{Cite book|last=Ghatak|first=Aditi Roy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMEVAQAAMAAJ|title=Partnership for Progress: The ASSOCHAM Story, 1920-1995|publisher=Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India|year=1995|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":44">{{Cite web|title=CII|url=https://www.cii.in/PressreleasesDetail.aspx?enc=qlKx9sLX+Q03Bi+gdmyvtH1vZr651MHe/Y7btKxXTA+HkBS6ctXI44wuYZqkib4p5DcYiADt7Qb3mhKK2iij8mEymcOwntXs+GyVxpbT83x4xczIdJ39tIaYhM/JHhaqlkxKdl4M25qUhsU9yQVf51CPtoiVkvMTGRTKDl5yhG4=|access-date=2021-09-05|website=www.cii.in}}</ref> Outside of the corporate world, a small number of medical practitioners and barristers have served as club president.
== Racial admission policies == left|thumb|125x125px|In his autobiography, Gandhi recalled being humiliated at the Bengal Club [[File:Vivien_Leigh_-_Anna_Karenina.jpg|thumb|129x129px|The father of Vivien Leigh allegedly lost his membership of the Bengal Club on racial grounds ]] In British India, high-ranking Indians had been occasionally entertained at the Bengal Club. In 1910, following the Minto–Morley Reforms, Sir Guy Fleetwood Wilson hosted an important dinner for rulers of princely states appointed to the Imperial Legislative Council.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Guy Douglas Arthur Fleetwood|url=https://archive.org/details/letterstonobody00wilsiala/page/56/mode/2up|title=Letters to Nobody, 1908–1913|date=1921|publisher=J. Murray|location=London|pages=56–59}}</ref> In 1934, Aga Khan III dined at the club as a guest of Sir Edward Benthall, a Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly and former Governor of the Imperial Bank of India.<ref name="Current Topics: The Aga Khan"/> In the early years of independent India, C. Rajagopalachari and Kailash Nath Katju were hosted for tea by the club,<ref name=":9" /> while Jawaharlal Nehru lunched with the club's president and committee members at their invitation.<ref name=":94">{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1827–1970)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=135|type=}}</ref><ref name=":102">{{Cite book|last1=Biswas|first1=Oneil|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.149376|title=Calcutta And Calcuttans: From Dihi to Megalopolis|date=1992|publisher=Firma KLM|location=Calcutta|page=399|language=en|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> However, several anecdotes suggest that the Bengal Club otherwise practised racial discrimination towards Indians, even in postcolonial India. left|thumb|128x128px|Nehru criticised the Bengal Club's racial bias but later lunched there on invitation [[File:Portrait_of_Dwarakanath_Tagore.jpg|thumb|146x146px|Portrait of Dwarakanath Tagore at the Bengal Club]] In the 19th century, highly eminent Indians with ties to the British establishment, such as the industrialist Dwarakanath Tagore,<ref name=":82">{{Cite book|last=Banerjee|first=Sumanta|url=https://archive.org/details/parlourstreetsel0000bane|title=The Parlour and the Streets: Elite and Popular Culture in Nineteenth Century Calcutta|publisher=Seagull Books|year=1989|isbn=978-81-7046-063-3|location=Calcutta|page=40|language=en|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> lawyer Prasanna Kumar Tagore<ref name=":82" /> and professor of medicine Soorjo Coomar Goodeve Chuckerbutty,<ref>{{Cite news|date=19 May 1855|title=Editorial article|volume=19|page=314|work=Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce|issue=982|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/233834801|id={{ProQuest|233834801}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=1855-10-08|title=India|page=3|work=Sydney Morning Herald|location=Sydney|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12974615}}</ref> were denied membership of the club solely on grounds of their race. In another example, Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee had been invited to the club by Lord Minto, but the club erected a tent on the lawn for Mookherjee to dine in, rather than allowing him inside.<ref name=":232">{{Cite book|last1=Gupta|first1=Nilanjana|url=https://sk.sagepub.com/books/locating-cultural-change/n10.xml|title=Just for Fun: Changing Notions of Social Forms of Leisure|last2=Gopalan|first2=Devlina|work=Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process|publisher=Sage Publications.|year=2011|editor-last=Chanda|editor-first=Ipshita|location=New Delhi|editor-last2=Basu|editor-first2=Partha Pratim}}</ref> In 1907, the notable Baghdadi Jew merchant Sir David Ezra was refused membership.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Imber|first=Elizabeth E.|date=2018|title=A Late Imperial Elite Jewish Politics: Baghdadi Jews in British India and the Political Horizons of Empire and Nation|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/jewisocistud.23.2.03|journal=Jewish Social Studies|volume=23|issue=2|pages=48–85|doi=10.2979/jewisocistud.23.2.03|jstor=10.2979/jewisocistud.23.2.03|s2cid=158380996|issn=0021-6704|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
It has also been claimed that Ernest Richard Hartley, a British businessman and father of the actress Vivien Leigh, was effectively expelled from the club after marrying her mother, a woman of Anglo-Indian descent.<ref name=":422">{{Cite book|last=Vickers|first=Hugo|url=https://archive.org/details/vivienleigh00vick|title=Vivien Leigh|date=1988|publisher=Little Brown and Company|isbn=|location=Boston|page=27|language=en|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=":7" /> Another anecdote is one mentioned in the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi had been invited to the club by John Ellerthorpe, a correspondent of ''The Daily Telegraph'' who was staying at the club''.'' On Gandhi's arrival, Ellerthorpe was informed that Indians were not allowed inside the club's drawing-room. He thus took Gandhi to his bedroom at the club instead. Gandhi wrote that Ellerthorpe "expressed his sorrow regarding this prejudice of the local Englishmen" and apologised to him.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gandhi|first=Mahatma|url=http://archive.org/details/gandhisautobiogr01gand|title=The Story of My Experiments With Truth|date=1927|publisher=Navajivan Press|volume=1|location=Allahabad|page=445|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref>
Closer to Indian independence, Nehru criticised the Bengal Club, in his book ''The Discovery of India,'' for discriminating against Indians while still using the term "Bengal" in its name.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jawahar Lal Nehru|url=http://archive.org/details/DiscoveryOfIndia|title=Discovery of india|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1946|edition=1989|location=Delhi|page=291|language=English|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Echoing Nehru, the then Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten, conveyed that either the club ought to permit Indians or rename itself to the "United Kingdom Club".<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=Ziegler|first=Philip|url=https://archive.org/details/mountbattenoffic00phil|title=Mountbatten: The Official Biography|date=1985|publisher=Fontana/Collins|pages=479|language=en|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Yet, the club did not admit Indians as members until 1959.
Macalpine writes that an extraordinary general meeting of the club was held in 1959, where "an overwhelming majority of members voted conclusively" to amend the policy, amidst "pressure from outside".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Macalpine|first=R.I.|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf|title=The Bengal Club (1827–1970)|publisher=The Bengal Club Ltd|year=1970|edition=1997 Reprint|location=Calcutta|page=116}}</ref> According to ''The Times,'' the then government of West Bengal had allegedly threatened to revoke the club's alcohol licence if it did not do so. The report also identified a few other colonial clubs in the city practising racial discrimination.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical press coverage of the Bengal Club: Pressure to end race-based membership in independent India |url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/historical-press-coverage-of-the-bengal-club/ |website=The Bengal Club}}</ref> In August 1959, the Home Minister of India, Govind Ballabh Pant, informed Parliament that the Bengal Club had "recently admitted some Indians as members."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://eparlib.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1769/1/lsd_02_08_10-08-1959.pdf|title=Lok Sabha Debates|date=10 August 1959|publisher=Parliament of India|page=1389}}</ref>
== Literary references to the Bengal Club == [[File:Rudyard_Kipling_-_Portrait.jpg|left|thumb|106x106px|Rudyard Kipling]] [[File:Maugham_retouched.jpg|thumb|101x101px|W. Somerset Maugham]] The Bengal Club has been mentioned in the works of many well-known authors.<ref name=":28">{{Cite web|title=The Bengal Club in Literary Fiction |website=The Bengal Club|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/the-bengal-club-in-literary-fiction/|access-date=2021-09-25|language=en-US}}</ref> Among favourable mentions, Lowell Thomas referred to the club as "one of the best in the world" in a travelogue,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lowell|first=Thomas|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.523961/page/n283/mode/2up?|title=India: Land of The Black Pagoda|date=1931|publisher=Hutchinson & Co|location=London|page=283|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> while Rumer Godden described the club as serving "the best food east of Suez" in one of her novels.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Godden|first=Rumer|url=http://archive.org/details/darkhorse0000godd_q7v3|title=The Dark Horse|publisher=Viking Press|year=1982|isbn=978-0-670-25664-8|location=New York|page=23|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> In contrast, W. Somerset Maugham claimed in a memoir that Prince Azam Jah had said to him: "In the Bengal Club at Calcutta they don't allow dogs or Indians".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Maugham|first=W. Somerset|url=http://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.16159|title=A Writers Notebook|publisher=William Heinemann Ltd.|year=1949|location=London|pages=227|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> Anita Desai also alluded to the club's racially exclusionary membership, in her novel ''Voices in the City.''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Desai|first=Anita|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208422/page/n215/mode/2up|title=Voices In The City|publisher=Peter Owen|year=1965|location=London|pages=213|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref>
In several novels and short stories, the club has been mentioned in a humorous or ironic way, as a meeting place for eccentric aristocratic gentlemen. Such examples include the Booker-prize winning novel ''The Siege of Krishnapur'' by J.G. Farrell,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Farrell|first=J. G.|url=http://archive.org/details/siegeofkrishnapu00farr|title=The Siege of Krishnapur|date=1976|publisher=Warner Books|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-15-182323-9|location=New York|page=44|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> ''A Division of the Spoils'' by Paul Scott,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Paul|url=http://archive.org/details/divisionofspoils0000scot_y9o5|title=A Division of the Spoils|date=1985|publisher=G.K. Hall|isbn=978-0-8161-3847-0|location=Boston, Mass.|pages=25, 56, 706|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> ''A Suitable Boy'' by Vikram Seth,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Seth|first=Vikram|url=http://archive.org/details/suitableboy0000seth|title=A Suitable Boy|date=1994|publisher=Penguin India|isbn=978-0-14-023033-8|location=New Delhi|pages=469|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> ''Sea of Poppies'' by Amitav Ghosh,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ghosh|first=Amitav|url=http://archive.org/details/seaofpoppies0000ghos|title=Sea of Poppies|date=2008|publisher=John Murray|isbn=978-0-7195-6895-4|location=London|pages=284–85|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> and ''Bribery, Corruption Also'' by H.R.F. Keating.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Keating|first=H. R. F.|url=http://archive.org/details/briberycorruptio0000keat_y5p3|title=Bribery, Corruption Also : An Inspector Ghote Novel|date=1999|publisher=Macmillan|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-333-74568-7|location=London|pages=108–09|via=The internet Archive}}</ref> Similarly, among non-fiction works, Rudyard Kipling caricatured the Bengal Club's patrons in his travelogues.<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|last=Kipling|first=Rudyard|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12089/12089-h/12089-h.htm|title=Letters of Travel|publisher=McMillan & Co|year=1920|location=London|via=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> Books like ''No Full Stops in India'' by Sir Mark Tully<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tully|first=Mark|url=http://archive.org/details/nofullstopsinind0000tull|title=No Full Stops in India|date=1991|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-0-670-81919-5|location=New Delhi|page=184|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> and ''Calcutta: Two Years in the City'' by Amit Chaudhuri<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chaudhuri|first=Amit|url=http://archive.org/details/calcuttatwoyears0000chau_u2g2|title=Calcutta: Two Years in the City|date=2013|publisher=Union Books|isbn=978-1-908526-17-5|location=London|page=67|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> provide both a more modern and personal description of the club.
In Bengali literature, Satyajit Ray referred to the club in three short stories, ''The'' ''Acharya Murder Case'',<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Satyajit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBTLCQAAQBAJ|title=The Acharya Murder Case|date=2015|work=The Complete Adventures of Feluda: Volume II|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-93-5214-116-6|location=London|language=en}}</ref> ''Ashamanja Babu's Dog''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Satyajit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H0qKROLb89AC|title=Ashamanja Babu's Dog|work=Indigo: Selected Stories|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2020|isbn=978-0-14-306809-9|location=New Delhi|page=66|language=en}}</ref> and ''Gagan Chowdhury's Studio''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ray|first=Satyajit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xE4WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT472|title=The Collected Short Stories|date=2015|publisher=Penguin UK|isbn=978-93-5214-081-7|language=en}}</ref>
== Art and antiques collection == The Bengal Club has gifted several paintings and artefacts to the Victoria Memorial museum.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last=Sarkar|first=Malabika|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf|title=The Fortune Teller: Reconstructing the History|work=The Bengal Club in History|publisher=The Bengal Club|year=2006|editor-last=Sarkar|editor-first=Malabika|location=Calcutta|page=76}}</ref> These include various portraits of Maharajas painted by Valentine Cameron Prinsep (gifted to the museum in 1936).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Willcock|first=Sean|date=2017-02-01|title=Composing the spectacle: colonial portraiture and the Coronation Durbars of British India, 1877–1911'|url=https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.12233|journal=Art History|language=en|volume=40|issue=1|pages=132–55|doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12233|issn=0141-6790}}</ref> Paintings that remain with the club include several portraits of officials in British India (some painted by George Duncan Beechey).<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Foster|first=William|date=1931|title=George Duncan Beechy|url=https://archive.org/details/bengalpastprese01socigoog/page/n6/mode/2up|journal=Bengal, Past & Present: Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society|publisher=Calcutta Historical Society|volume=41|page=101|via=The Internet Archive}}</ref> The club also holds a sizeable collection of silverware (including rare sporting trophies from British India) and antique clocks.<ref name=":10" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Art and Artefact Collection|url=https://www.thebengalclub.com/art-and-artefact-collection/|access-date=2021-12-05|website=The Bengal Club|language=en-US}}</ref><gallery heights="100"> File:William Bracken.jpg|Portrait of William Bracken, Collector of Customs, at the Bengal Club File:The Coochbehar Cup.jpg|The trophy of Cooch Behar Cup at the Bengal Club, which was one of the oldest football tournaments in Asia.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=http://www.jhsr.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/01-07-JHSRVOL-2NO-2A.-SHIL.pdf |title=Football Culture in Princely State of Cooch Behar |access-date=16 April 2023 |archive-date=16 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416171622/http://www.jhsr.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/01-07-JHSRVOL-2NO-2A.-SHIL.pdf |first=Amrita |last=Kumar Shil |journal=JHSR Journal of Historical Study and Search |date=15 May 2022 |issn=2583-0198 |volume=2 }}</ref> File:Antique Clock.jpg|Antique clock at the Bengal Club </gallery>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== '''Bibliography''' * Cohen, B. B. (2015). ''In the Club: Associational Life in Colonial South Asia''. United Kingdom: Manchester University Press. * Gupta, Nilanjana and Gopalan, Devlina (2011). ''Just for Fun: Changing Notions of Social Forms of Leisure''. Chanda, Ipshita and Basu, Partha Pratim (eds.). ''Locating Cultural Change: Theory, Method, Process''. New Delhi: Sage Publications. * Jones, S. (1992). ''Merchants of the Raj: British Managing Agency Houses in Calcutta Yesterday and Today''. United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan UK. * Macalpine, R.I. (1970). ''The Bengal Club (1927–70)''. ''The Bengal Club 1827–1970'' (1997 Reprint ed.). Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd. * Marks, Copeland (1999). ''Indian & Chinese Cooking from the Himalayan Rim''. Rowman & Littlefield. * Panckridge, H. R. (1927). ''A Short History Of The Bengal Club.'' Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd. * Ray, Arabinda (2000). ''A'' ''History of The Bengal Club (1970–2000)''. Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd. * Sarkar, Malabika (ed.) (2006). ''The Bengal Club in History''. Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd.
'''Other sources''' * {{cite web|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/events/glimpses-of-black-white-ginger-ale-non-alcoholic-carbonated-beverage-presents-the-telegraph-bengal-club-31st-nite/cid/1907933|title=Glimpses of Black & White Ginger Ale Non-Alcoholic Carbonated Beverage presents The Telegraph Bengal Club 31st Nite|first1=Sramana|last1=Ray|website=telegraphindia.com|publisher=The Telegraph India|location=Kolkata|date=5 January 2023|access-date=29 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101153937/https://www.telegraphindia.com/my-kolkata/events/glimpses-of-black-white-ginger-ale-non-alcoholic-carbonated-beverage-presents-the-telegraph-bengal-club-31st-nite/cid/1907933|archive-date=1 November 2023}}
== External links == * Panckridge, H. R. (1927). ''A Short History Of The Bengal Club.'' Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd. * [https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BC-1827-1970.pdf Macalpine, R.I. (1970). ''The Bengal Club (1927–70)''. ''The Bengal Club 1827–1970'' (1997 Reprint ed.). Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd.] * [https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Ray-BC_History.pdf Ray, Arabinda (2000). ''A'' ''History of The Bengal Club (1970–2000)''. Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd.] * [https://www.thebengalclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/The-Bengal-Club-in-History.pdf Sarkar, Malabika (ed.) (2006). ''The Bengal Club in History''. Calcutta: The Bengal Club Ltd.] * ''Rules Of The Bengal Club''. 1853. * [https://www.thebengalclub.com The Bengal Club official website] {{Kolkata topics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bengal Club, The}} Category:Clubs and societies in India Category:1827 establishments in British India Category:Culture of Kolkata