Board of Revenue Proceedings, 2nd to 16th December, 1788

About this text

Introductory notes

The early records preserved in the West Bengal State Archive pertains to the administration of the land revenue system by the East India Company. The Company attained the revenue rights of the Province through the Grant of Diwani in 1765. The records in the repositories of the Archive date back to the Select Committee Records in 1768. In the early the revenue administration was managed by various intermediary agencies, these committees reflect the early experiments and confusion of the East India Company over revenue collection.

The Court of Directors decided to reconsider the revenue administration in 1785. On this line the Court wrote in their General Letter, dated 21st September, 1785, that, there would be a Board of Revenue comprising of one of Junior Member of Council, and four other senior servants of the Company. The department would manage the whole administration of settlement, collection and receipt of every branch of the Revenue department together. The Board of Revenue at the Fort William operated from 1786 to 1822.

Selection details

The Court of Directors decided to reconsider the revenue administration in 1785. On this line the Court wrote in their General Letter, dated 21st September, 1785, that, there would be a Board of Revenue comprising of one of Junior Member of Council, and four other senior servants of the Company. The department would manage the whole administration of settlement, collection and receipt of every branch of the Revenue department together. The Board of Revenue at the Fort William operated from 1786 to 1822.

1.

[Page 160]

1.1. Read the following letter from Mr Day & Bebb

To John Shore Esq President of Members of the Board of Rev Fort William
Gentlemen,

We beg leave to submit to your Board the propriety [...] order to W Rewell of Patna to stop any further dispatches of Grain on account of the Hon'ble Company for the Relief of this District.

Being happy in informing you from the favorable prospect the crops now have, there is every reason to hope the Inhabitants meeting with relief from the resources of the District.

We have the Honor to be
M.Day J.Bebb

1.2.

[Page 161]
To Mr W Rewell Collector of Govt Customs at Monger Sir,

Mr Day and Bebb having informed us that from the favorable aspect of the crops there is every reason to hope that the inhabitants of the District will meet relief from their own resources. We desire you will [...]no further dispatches of Grain to them on the Company’s account.

This is a selection from the original text

Keywords

crops, grain, plenty, relief, supplies, support

Source text

Title: Board of Revenue Proceedings, 2nd to 16th December, 1788, Board of Revenue Proceedings

Subtitle: Vol-56

Original date(s) covered: 1788

Provenance/location: This text was transcribed from manuscripts at the West Bengal State Archives. Original date(s) covered: 1788 West Bengal State Archive

Digital edition

Language: English

Selection used:

  • 1 ) page 160
  • 2 ) page 161

Responsibility:

Texts collected by: Ayesha Mukherjee, Amlan Das Gupta, Azarmi Dukht Safavi

Texts transcribed by: Muhammad Irshad Alam, Bonisha Bhattacharya, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Muhammad Ehteshamuddin, Kahkashan Khalil, Sarbajit Mitra

Texts encoded by: Bonisha Bhattacharya, Shreya Bose, Lucy Corley, Kinshuk Das, Bedbyas Datta, Arshdeep Singh Brar, Sarbajit Mitra, Josh Monk, Reesoom Pal

Encoding checking by: Hannah Petrie, Gary Stringer, Charlotte Tupman

Genre: India > official correspondence > state archives > West Bengal

For more information about the project, contact Dr Ayesha Mukherjee at the University of Exeter.

Acknowledgements