On this day poet, editor and officer of the British East India Company David Lester Richardson passed away. His father was a Bengal army officer and scholar and had established the company’s staff training college at Barasat.

Richardson entered the company in 1819 as an ensign. From that time, he began to submit poems to James Silk Buckingham’s Calcutta Journal. His byline, DLR, became well-known. He wrote poems for publications both in India and in England. Several collections of his poetry were published.

Back in England, he founded the London Weekly Review in 1827, which published eminent literary names. It was taken over by Henry Colburn from Richardson, who had to return to India, where he still worked for the company. He increased his literary activities here, editing three journals between 1830 and 1839.

In 1836, he was appointed teacher at Hindu College, Calcutta. Here he inspired many, including the poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta, with his teaching of English literature. He became the first principal of Krishnagar Government College and principal of Hindu Metropolitan College.

He was an active Freemason. He returned to England later, where he passed away.

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