https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=John_Elliot_Drinkwater_BethuneJohn Elliot Drinkwater Bethune - Revision history2026-07-31T20:40:38ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=John_Elliot_Drinkwater_Bethune&diff=506449&oldid=prevVineettandon at 15:39, 11 April 20262026-04-11T15:39:58Z<p></p>
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{{Short description|British educator, mathematician and polyglot in British India}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = <!-- use common name/article title -->John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune<br />
| image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] -->John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune.jpg<br />
| alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune<br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> John Elliot Drinkwater<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1801|07|12}} <br />
| birth_place = [[Ealing]], England<br />
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> {{Death date and age|df=yes|1851|08|12|1801|07|12}}<br />
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency]]<br />
| other_names = <br />
| occupation = Lawyer<br />
| years_active = 1848–1851<br />
| known_for = Advocating for education of women in India during the 19th century, Founder of Bethune college<br />
| notable_works = <br />
| relatives = [[John Drinkwater Bethune]] (father)<br />
}}<br />
''' John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune''' (1801–1851) was an English educator, mathematician and polyglot known for promoting women's education in India.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVOFAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA96|title=Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis|last1=Chakrabarti|first1=Kunal|last2=Chakrabarti|first2=Shubhra|date=2013-08-22|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810880245|pages=96|language=en}}</ref> He was the founder of [[Bethune College|Calcutta Female School]] (now known as Bethune College) in Calcutta,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fw-3QC98d_UC&pg=PA21|title=A Catalogue of Notable Middle Templars: With Brief Biographical Notices|last=Hutchinson|first=John|date=2003|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=9781584773238|language=en}}</ref> which is considered the oldest women's college in Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c79aDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT161|title=Limca Book of Records: India at Her Best|last=LBR|first=Team|date=2018-05-05|publisher=Hachette India|isbn=9789351952404|pages=161|language=en}}</ref> He started his professional life as a lawyer in England and came to India by his appointment as a law member of the Governor General's Council of Ministers.<ref name="Bagal1"/> His efforts to further women's education were actively supported by [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar]] and other members of the [[Bengali Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Es6x4u_g19UC|title=The History of British India: A Chronology|last=Riddick|first=John F.|date=2006|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780313322808|language=en}}</ref><br />
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== Early life ==<br />
Bethune was born in [[Ealing]], England, the elder son of [[John Drinkwater Bethune]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POcxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA319|title=Annual Register|date=1852|pages=319|language=en}}</ref> He studied at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], after which he received employment as the Counsel of the Home Office. He drafted many essential reforms in this position, including the Municipal Reform Act, the Tithe Commutation Act and the County Courts Act. In 1848, he was appointed as a member of the [[Supreme Council of Bengal|Supreme Council of India]] and subsequently became the President of the Council of Education.<ref name="Bagal1"/><br />
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== Founding the Bethune College ==<br />
Supported by Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee, [[Ramgopal Ghosh]], [[Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar|Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar]], and [[Madan Mohan Tarkalankar]], Bethune founded the Calcutta Female School in 1849.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MFFCPgAACAAJ|title=Calcutta: The Living City|last=Chaudhuri|first=Sukanta|date=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195636963|pages=87|language=en}}</ref> The school started in Mukherjee's home in [[Bowbazar|Baitakkhana]] (now known as Bowbazar), with 21 girls enrolled.<ref name="Bagal1">{{cite book|title=Bethune School & College Centenary Volume, 1849–1949|last=Bagal|first=Jogesh Chandra|publisher=Bethune College|year=1949|editor1-last=Nag|editor1-first=Kalidas|editor1-link=Kalidas Nag|pages=11–12|chapter=History of the Bethune School & College (1849–1949)|author-link=Jogesh Chandra Bagal|editor2-last=Ghose|editor2-first=Lotika|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/BethuneSchoolAndCollegeCentenaryVolume18491949/page/n31}}</ref>{{rp|11–12}}<br />
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The following year, enrollment rose to 80.<ref name="Forbes1999">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA39|title=Women in Modern India|last1=Forbes|first1=Geraldine|last2=Forbes|first2=Geraldine Hancock|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-521-65377-0|volume=4|page=39}}</ref> In November, on a plot on the west side of Cornwallis Square, the cornerstone for a permanent school building was laid. The name "Hindu Female School" was inscribed on the copper plate placed in the stone and on the ceremonial silver trowel made for the occasion.<ref name="Bagal1"/>{{rp|15–16}} Support for the school, however, waned after Bethune's death in August 1851.<ref name="Forbes1999" /> The government took it over in 1856, renaming it Bethune School after its founder in 1862–63.<ref name="Chaudhuri19902">{{cite book|title=Calcutta: The Living City|last=Acharya|first=Poromesh|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-19-563696-3|editor-last=Chaudhuri|editor-first=Sukanta|editor-link=Sukanta Chaudhuri|volume=I: The Past|page=87|chapter=Education in Old Calcutta}}</ref> In 1879, it was developed into Bethune College, the first women's college in Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7u4JAAAAMAAJ|title=Higher Education in India in the 19th Century: The American Involvement, 1883-1893|last=Bose|first=Anima|date=1978|publisher=Punthi Pustak|pages=249|language=en}}</ref><br />
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== Death and burial ==<br />
John Elliot Bethune died in [[Calcutta]], West Bengal, India, in 1851. He was buried in [[Lower Circular Road Cemetery]].<ref name="Bagal1" /><br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
* {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/BethuneSchoolAndCollegeCentenaryVolume18491949|title=Bethune School And College Centenary Volume 1849 1949|last=Kālidāsa Nāga|date=1949}}<br />
* {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmZuAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA156|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh|date=2003|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh|isbn=9789843205773|pages=156|language=en}}<br />
* {{Citation|last=Arbuthnot|first=Alexander John|title=Bethune John Elliot Drinkwater|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bethune,_John_Elliot_Drinkwater_(DNB00)|work=Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900|volume=04|access-date=2019-11-11}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
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* {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=John |title=A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices |date=1902 |publisher=the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple |location=Canterbury |page=21 |edition=1 |chapter=[[s:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices/Bethune, John Elliot Drinkwater|Bethune, John Elliot Drinkwater]]}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethune, John Elliot Drinkwater}}<br />
[[Category:1801 births]]<br />
[[Category:1851 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century English educators]]<br />
[[Category:Women's education in India]]<br />
[[Category:Founders of Indian schools and colleges]]<br />
[[Category:British people in British India]]<br />
[[Category:People from the Bengal Presidency]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Educators from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge]]</div>Vineettandon