Benjamin Lacam + post 1783
Benjamin Lacam , Full title: Lacam's new harbour in Bengal. Petition of B. Lacam Issuing Body/Bodies: Committee to Whom the Petition of Benjamin Lacam, Sole Proprietor of New Harbour in Bengal, Was Referred Chairman/presented by: Clerke, Sir Philip Jennings Abstract: "Sir Philip Jennings Clarke reported from the Committee,to whom the Petition of Benjamin Lacam, sole Proprietor of New Harbour in Bengal, was referred;That the Committee had examined the Matter of the said Petition; and had directed him to report the same, as it appeared to them, to the House; and he read the Report in his Place; and afterwards delivered the same, together with an Appendix thereunto, in at the Clerk's Table: Where the Reportwas read. Ordered, That such a Number of Copies of the said Report, with the Appendix, be printed, as shall be sufficient for the Use of the members of theHouse. The said Report is preserved amongst the other Papers of this Session. N.B. A printed Copy is with the Original" Series: Abbot Collection. Journals of the House of Commons (1803 reprint) Date published: 1783/07/08/ Volume number: 39 Start Page: 692 End Page: 692 Ford List Volume: 1688-1800 Ford List Page number: 62 Full-text URL: Not available Edited by: Brotherton Library, University of Leeds BOPCRIS Keywords: Trade - External and Colonial Trade - East India Company Library of Congress Subject Heading(s): Bengal (India) - History Harbors - Bengal (India) India - History - British Occupation, 1765-1947 East India Company (Great Britain) - History - 18th century URL of this record: http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bop1688/ref1185.html Full title: To consider the petition of Benjamin Lacam, proprietor of the new harbour at Bengal Date presented etc: Appointed 5 May 1783 Other features: report of a select committee Series: Reports of Committees Session: 1782-83 Date published: 1783/07/08/ Full-text URL: Not available Library of Congress Subject Heading(s): Petitions Harbors - India - Bengal Bengal (India) - History - 18th century Ford List Volume: 1761-1800 URL of this record: http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bop1700/ref7788.html To his most excellent Majesty George the Third; this plan of New Harbour in Bengal with the intended docks marine yards &c. for the accommodation of the British fleet, and of the ships in the service of the East India Company; is, with permission, most humbly dedicated, by his Majesty's dutiful and devoted servant, Benjamin Lacam. (G255:4/23) To his most excellent Majesty George the Third; this plan of New Harbour in Bengal with the intended docks marine yards &c. for the accommodation of the British fleet, and of the ships in the service of the East India Company; is, with permission, most humbly dedicated, by his Majesty's dutiful and devoted servant, Benjamin Lacam. Click on the image to see a larger version. Chart Details. Greenwich geographic classification code: 255:4 – Bay of Bengal We have 11 charts of Bay of Bengal online Maker: Lacam, Benjamin Title: To his most excellent Majesty George the Third; this plan of New Harbour in Bengal with the intended docks marine yards &c. for the accommodation of the British fleet, and of the ships in the service of the East India Company; is, with permission, most humbly dedicated, by his Majesty's dutiful and devoted servant, Benjamin Lacam. Cartographic data: [ca. 1:25 000] Published: ca. 1777 Physical description: Single sheet. Hand col. engr. Printed area 69.5 x 49cm, on sheet 79.5 x 58cm. Geographic coverage: Calcutta, Hugli River, Click on an area to see other charts of that region. Historical data: Lacam owned the land for the proposed docks, 63 miles downriver from Calcutta and 27 miles from the sea. Cartographic note: Ungraduated. Scales in nautic miles and yards. Soundings and shallows. Annotations note: In ink, verso: New Harbour Lacam Contents note: Proposed facilities include anchorage, dry docks, granaries, water tanks, deer park. Observations include list of previous surveys. http://www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/collectionsDetail.cfm?ID=G255:4/23 Benjamin Lacam set out to establish that it was possible to pass the Sand Reefs in the mouth of the Hugli River safely by a channel to the East of Saugor Sound. This he felt would enable the construction of "... Docks and Wharfs, with all the conveniences for repairing, victualling, and watering Ships... [which would be] productive of the most important advantages both to the East India Company and the Public, in a financial, and much more in a political and naval view." For whatever reason, and there is a sense as with many of these E.I.C. Reports that the sub-text is more important than the text, one of the Commissioners of the original Commission, an engineer, altered the soundings displayed on the chart that was passed to Cornwallis. This suggested that Lacam's scheme was "visionary and impracticable" and it was passed over, despite a number of testimonials from East India captains that the route was navigable at all seasons. The original committee was summoned in 1783, some twenty-three years later Lacam was still attempting to right the wrong done to him. As part of his memorial he publishes the letter written to him in 1789 by the rogue commissioner offering "most grateful thanks" for his "tender and humane forbearance" in view of the "unmerited injury" that he has offered him, but this does not offer the restitution that Lacam requires. He asks the Court to consider, "... the extent of my Losses in fortune and time, with the painful scenes of anxiety and distress, under which I have passed the last Thirty years of my life..." and also to bear in mind that "... had the Committee... in 1789, done their duty without concealing the truth from the Noble Marquis; you might by this time have had a little Portsmouth in the Ganges, raised without any risk to the Company..." The first-named item itself is scarce, it is not listed on NSTC, RLIN locates a copy at the University of Minnesota library, also listing the original Report of 1783, OCLC lists only the latter. BL holds it as Parliamentary paper No. 289 of Session 1806 (Vol. 3). No listings found for the other two privately printed items and BL have confirmed that they do not have them. " Mss Eur D546 Correspondence of the Fowke, Benn, Walsh and Maskelyne families 10 Letters to John Walsh from Margaret, Francis and Joseph Fowke, John Holland Benjamin Lacarn, Philip Francis and Edward Wheeler in India 1776-80
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Spouses
1. , , Bengal, India 25th Mar 1773
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Sources
- Family Archivists: see
Lacam
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