The Presidency General Hospital British Calcutta, 1900 Postcard
A 1900 postcard shows the Presidency General (PG) Hospital in British-era Calcutta (Kolkata). The first British hospital was built in 1664, in Fort St George, Madras (Chennai). The first British hospital in Calcutta, opened in 1707, was the Presidency General Hospital, shown here. Job Charnock landed in Calcutta, which was then a mere cluster of villages.
Charnock opened a British settlement on the banks of the River Hooghly, but the place reeked with malaria and diseases. Not surprisingly, human mortality was remarkably high. The East India Company’s council declared that a convenient spot be provided inside the old Fort to build a hospital. The old Fort, the predecessor to today’s Fort William, was also known as Fort William at the time.
The East India Company was responsible for the building of the hospital. Originally meant for Europeans, it was known as the Presidency Hospital. Non-European patients were allowed into the hospital only from 1770 onwards. It was then named the Presidency General Hospital (PG for short) and was so till 1954. After that, it was renamed Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, and it still functions as such to this day. Click image to enlarge.
Did you know – Calcutta did not become the capital of British India until 1772, when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad.
