On this day, a deed was signed to start the process of the construction of the new Government House (Raj Bhavan) in Calcutta.

Governor-General Lord Wellesley was dissatisfied with the Government House that he was occupying. It was in a state of disrepair and too small, not in keeping with the idea that India “should be ruled from a palace and not from a counting house”, as he had articulated. It had been built where the south-east wing of the present house stands and was rented from Nawab Dilwar Jung, says the Raj Bhavan website. Wellesley selected architect James Wyatt’s design.

On October 2, 1798, Nawab Dilwar Jung “signed a deed of release and assignment of the rented Government House for £13,450 and other houses and land were purchased in order to make the compound, the total cost of which, together with the £13,450 paid for the old Government House, was £71,437,” says the website.

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