On this day, Job Charnock, the British East India Company’s chief agent in Bengal, arrived again on the banks of the Hooghly after a brief stint in Madras, and dropped anchor at Sutanuti, or “Chutanutte”. He had first stopped at “Sankraul”, from where he “ordered Capt. Brooke to come up with his Vessell to Chutanutte”. Charnock found the “place in a deplorable condition, nothing being left for our present accommodation” and rain falling “day & night”.

He had been sent to re-establish a British factory in Bengal in this area.

August 24 was considered the foundation day of Calcutta, and Charnock its founder, till in 2003, when Calcutta High Court ruled that Charnock ought not to be regarded as the founder, as the place existed long before he did.

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