Any Bengali starts his tour in general with three
tourist spots, namely Darjeeling, Puri and Digha. The history of Darjeeling and Puri
is recorded time and again by European and Indian scholars. But though Digha is an
equally popular place seldom we got any record about its history.
There is one colonial structure within Digha - the
Guest House of State Electricity Board. This is a two storied building with a
lush green lawn that holds the key to the history of this coastal tourist spot.
Its pre-independence name was Runswick House, property of one English family
having title Snaith.
John Frank Snaith.
Picture courtesy : Mr. Surath Maity.
Picture courtesy : Mr. Surath Maity.
Within this green carpet a small garden is surrounds a milky white epitaph, It states:
In
affectionate memory of John Franc Snaith. The First Resident of Digha
Born
At Middlesbourough, England
14th
August 1882 and died at Digha
On
18th December 1964.
The
Colonial British Rulers throughout eighteenth century searched some tourist spots
within their Indian domain for refreshment from madding crowd. These
spots as well served as sanatoria against a few tropical ailments. With this notion the
Himalayan terrain of Shimla and Darjeeling became popular hill resorts.
Similarly,
Warren Hasting, the first Viceroy and Governor General of India found a
brilliant sea spot at Beercool, near Contai (today’s Kanthi) in the eighties of
eighteenth century. The blue sea having a spacious sandy sea-beach attracted
Hastings. The nearby mangrove forest was paradise for hunting. As per his note
– It is the Brighton of East. This Beercool is today’s Digha. One of the
earliest English newspapers published from Calcutta, Hicky’s Gazette on 19th
May 1780 wrote:
“ We are informed that the following
persons of figure and consequence arrived in Beercool for the benefit of their
health from Calcutta. Henry Great esq, Major Camac, Dr Allen, Captain Kilparick
of 31st legion……….. And we have the pleasure to assure the friends
of honorable party and the public in general that they have received the most
essential benefit from the salubrious air of the admirable spot, which we have
no doubt will make the place a fashionable resort.”
Hastings made this beach popular during his service
life in Kolkata. It is recorded in history that the entire Midnapore District
was gifted to East India Company by Bengal Nawab Mir Kashim as a token of
gratitude. British East India Company‘s Calcutta administration was
instrumental for changing the nawabship of Bengal in favour of Mir Kashim from
Mirjafar in 1760. Hastings became the administrative head of Calcutta zone
since 1763. Hence he had repeated exclusive tour of the coastal area adjacent
to Bengal Orissa border; may be one of these tours he had found
Beercool. In one of his letters to Mrs.
Hastings he had declared (Reference- The Letters of Warren Hastings to his Wife
by Sydney C Greyer):
Beercool was the sanitarium, the Brighton
of East. ….. and the news paper and council’s records mentioned constantly that
so-and-so gone to Beercool for his health……..It
already has advantage of beach which is free from shark and all noxious
animals except crabs & there is proposal to erect convenient apartments for
the reception of the nobility and the gentry and organize entertainment.
Hastings had erected his own bunglow at Beercool.
But after Hastings, for the time being Beercool had not continued its famed
status within the European nobility. Firstly the transportation to the place
was quite tiresome due to non availability of proper roads & bridges over
numerous water bodies of lower Bengal. The other problem was the repeated
coastal cyclone, against which the structure erected at shore became flimsy.
In 1796 when Jorge Chapman visited the site it
contained some ruins of the structure. Afterwards in 1823 when another party
visited Digha, it looked like a deserted site having thick bushes, an ideal ecology
for wild dogs and reptiles. Hastings' “Brighton of the East” continued in
this pathetic condition for another century.
Old Runswick House
Picture courtesy : Mr. Surath Maity.
Hamilton & Company of Kolkata became an ultimate
Jewelry House for all big shots of India during late nineteenth and early
twentieth century. The owner of this heritage business was a typical aristocrat
British – John Snaith, bachelor, sensible, romantic and keen nature lover. Many
of his distinguish clients, the landlords of Bengal, business tycoons and Rajas being well aware of his travelling zeal used to invite him to some forlorn
spots.
Propeller
Gramophone Box
Probably one of the famous “Baro Bhuians” of Bengal,
landlord of Balishahi,a client of Hamilton, elaborated the nature lover Snaith
about the sea beach of Beercool near Contai. John Snaith was already familiar
with the name of Beercool from the age old publications. He wanted to visit
Beercool at once. John Snaith reached Contai from Belda and from there to the
village Beercool on elephant in 1921. The waves of Blue Sea and golden long
beach mesmerized John Snaith. The location of the sea was almost 4km away from
today’s modern Digha.
Once back to Calcutta, John Snaith wanted to
acquire land in Digha. His tenacity paid a dividend; Government allotted eleven
and half acres of land at Digha. Mr. H.A. Cloy was appointed as an architect to
construct a mansion at Digha- Runswick House. Building material were mobilized
through sea route. Bricks were locally manufactured. Snaith used to visit Digha
by his own two-seater plane, the hard sand of sea-beach acted as the runway.
Time was ticking, Snaith was not feeling the same urge
for day to day jewelry business, he had decided to keep the business under
supervision of his nephew Charles Andrew Flanigan and made Digha his dwelling
place.
Within his Digha property Snaith commenced some
firming by his people, put up exclusive generator set furnished the house as
per his fine test. Flanigan used to bring necessary household goods and
essentials during the weekend by air. He used to fly in a two-seater plane
every week from Behala Flying Club. Sometimes a few friends used to visit Snaith. Snaith was
always ready with good food and fine wine. His Christmas party at Digha was
quite an affair.
Charles Andrew Flanigan
Picture courtesy : Mr. Surath Maity.
At times Flanigan used to bring children from
Barisha orphanage. The garden of the Ranswick house became busy with the
sports, fancy dress competition and sit and drawing by those children. During his residency at Digha, Snaith was trying his level best to make the spot popular.
His close friend the Raja of Narajole made a beautiful mansion along with a
school at Digha. Tirelessly Snaith approached Indian Government to promote
Digha as a tourist spot. The British Government at that time was bogged down to
resist the Indian Independence movement. For this the promotion of a tourist
spot never became a Government priority till 1947.
The persistence of Snaith had an impact on the first
Chief Minister of West Bengal, Sree Bidhan Chandra Roy. Slowly development took
place at Digha. The construction of the cheap canteen, Bay Cafeteria, Sarada
Boarding and a Government Tourist Lodge commenced. From sixties it became a
tourist spot. With time, Digha become so dear to Snaith he had almost forgotten
his birth-place Middilesbrough, England. He had decided a green porch within
his property where the first sunlight used to shine every day as his last
resting place. On 18th December, 1964, when the sea breeze of Bay of
Bengal touched the Runswick House, his owner John Snaith travelled to eternity.
Afterwards, Flanigan continued to supervise his
uncle’s property, during his week-end air visits to Digha. Some of the friends
used to visit the Ranswick House during Flanigan’s weekly visits. But time was
changing. All white Europeans were leaving India. During seventies Flanigan
also followed their chore, the ownership of Ranswick House transferred to the State
Electrity Board against one lakh rupee.
In today’s Digha we have one of widest, hard plain
sea-beachs of the world, a brilliant Science Museum is established at New
Digha, Amaravati lake and Snake Garden, as well as a research centre of West Bengal
Fisheries at Junput, another marvelous beach Mardarmoni just 12 km away. The
State Government had taken lot of initiative to promote Digha as a class tourist
spot.
People in Bengal find Digha every year with some new
features but seldom have visited the last resting place of John Snaith, the
man whose relentless persuasion established Digha as a tourist spot. British had
gone but we have a public amnesia against this gentleman.
Only one Bengali is the exception, he remembers the birthday of his former employer Late Mr. John Snaith on every 14th of August inside the WBSEDCL Guest House by lighting a candle. This gentleman is a acting caretaker of WBSEDCL Guest House Shri Surath Maity. He is the only available missing link in between Snaith's Digha and today's most popular sea beach of Bengal. Anyone who had researched on Runswick House got invaluable authentic inputs from this gentleman.
Picture courtesy : Mr. Surath Maity.
Mr. Surath Maity.
Care-taker of Ranswick House.
Mr. Maity urges wholeheartedly that the property of his former employer which is currently a VVIP's resort under the patronage of State Government further turns into a heritage property; with that wish he light the candle every twenty four hours before our Independence day. We do not know whether Government will treat this property to be classified as a heritage one or not but we are sure that on 15th August Digha beach would be immensely crowded. Can this crowd observe silence for a single minute in the memory of the modern Digha's founder. British have departed seventy years back but the memory of Jhon Snaith should not go in oblivion - we should not have a public amnesia against that remarkable soul.Sources :
1. An article published in "The Stasman" on 19th October,1997.,
under the heading " Rediscovering Digha"
written by Apala Barat.
2. An article published in "The Hindustan Times" on 1st. June,2014.,
under the heading "On the waterfront"
written by Amitava Banerjee.
3. Bengal District Gazetteers. Midnapore- South Asia Archive.
Research : Abhijnan Basu, Sudip Ghosh and Santanu Roy.
Picture Courtesy : Sudip Ghosh, Santanu Roy.
