In June 1818, when James Silk Buckingham arrived in Calcutta as captain of the Humayun Shah, he did not anticipate that his seafaring career was about to end. The ship’s owner, the Imam of Muscat, ordered him to transport enslaved people from the East to Zanzibar. Buckingham, a committed opponent of slavery, refused outright.

The refusal left him stranded in Calcutta without employment. Rather than return to England, he decided to remain in India. The city’s European mercantile community, particularly those independent of the East India Company, were frustrated with Company corruption and administrative high-handedness. Buckingham, already politically inclined, found in journalism both a livelihood and a platform.

In September 1818, with financial backing from several merchants led by John Palmer, Buckingham founded the Calcutta Journal and began editing it. Initially an eight-page biweekly, the newspaper soon became a weekly due to its popularity.

The Journal distinguished itself by publishing sharp criticism of the East India Company. Letter writers using pseudonyms would reveal uncomfortable truths. A soldier complained of poor pay and lack of recognition. Another article described chaplains making long visits to the hinterland, leaving Calcutta without clergy for weeks. One report even disclosed troop movements that were ostensibly a government secret.

The Lives of the Illustrious, a periodical devoted to biographical sketches,...

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