Dickenson Road
Student name: Kaustav Sen
Standard: 9-E
School: Sri Kumaran Children’s Home CBSE
Road Name: Dickenson road named after
Road Location: F M
Cariappa Colony
Famous
for/contributions towards society:
Summary:
Summary:
John Dickenson was the
son of a papermaker. He was not anxious to follow his father’s footsteps and
took up no career in his entire life. He was educated at Eton College, which enabled
him to become a great writer. He came to India and became a part of the India
reform society (IRS). Literature was the tool he used to reform India. He wrote
letters, books and designed many schemes to reach out to as many people as
possible. On 23rd November 1876, India lost a man with great
potential, whose contributions have made it worth naming a road after him.
Detailed Description:
Born
on 28 December 1815, John Dickinson was the son of the papermaker of Nash Mills in Hertfordshire,
England; and was educated at Eton College. He declined to take part in his father's business. Dickinson
travelled in Europe, and began to write on behalf of liberal causes.
Taking up Indian reform, Dickinson had support from his
uncle, General Thomas Dickinson, of the Bombay Engineers, and his cousin, Sebastian
Stewart Dickinson. A public works commission was appointed by Lord Dalhousie in 1852 to inquire into the deficiencies of
administration pointed out by Dickinson and his friends. On 12 March 1853 a
meeting was held in Dickinson's rooms, and a society was formed under the name
of the India Reform Society. Initially involved, besides Dickinson, were two
Members of Parliament, John Blackett and Henry Danby Seymour. John
Bright came into the committee, and his contacts gave the Society access to
many more MPs. Bright’s interests included Indian cotton as an alternative
source to the United States, and lobbying the British government to have Indian
infrastructure improved. Another activist was Francis Carnac Brown who had been
a committee member of the earlier British India Society.
The debate in parliament of 1853 on the renewal of the East
India Company's charter gave the society a short-term objective, and the
maintenance of good faith towards the Indian states a major theme. The Indian
Rebellion of 1857 made for another push, in efforts towards moderation,
and to prevent exclusive attention to penal and repressive measures, Dickinson organized
a series of public meetings. In 1861 John
Bright resigned the chairmanship, and carried a motion appointing Dickinson his
successor. By 1865 the Society had ceased to function.
On the death of his father in 1869, Dickinson inherited a
fortune, but was in weak health. On 23 November 1876 he was found dead in his
study in London.
Dickinson’s contribution towards Indian reform through
literature includes:
·
Letters
on the Cotton and Roads of Western India (1851) based on a series of letters appeared in The
Times in 1850 and 1851
·
India,
its Government under Bureaucracy,
London, 1852. It was reprinted in 1853 as one of a series of "India Reform
Tracts".
·
The
Famine in the North-West Provinces of India, London, 1861.
·
Reply
to the Indigo Planters' pamphlet entitled "Brahmins and Pariahs",
published by the Indigo manufacturers of Bengal, London, 1861.
·
A
Letter to Lord Stanley on the Policy of the Secretary of State for India, London, 1863.
·
Dhar
not restored in 1864.
·
Sequel
to "Dhar not restored", and a Proposal to extend the Principle of
Restoration, London, 1865.
·
A
Scheme for the Establishment of Efficient Militia Reserves, London, 1871.
·
Last
Counsels of an Unknown Counselor,
edited by Evans Bell, London, 1877; another edition 1883. A reply to
Holkar's critics.
Bibliography
1.
S. N.
Sen. (1 January 1997). History of Freedom Movement in India. New Age International. ISBN 978-81-224-1049-5.
2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickinson_(writer)
3.
https://www.facebook.com/Aturquoisecloud/posts/1005415769474066
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