Bengal Heritage Foundation to commemorate Dwarkanath Tagore's death anniversary in London

Kolkata: The Bengal Heritage Foundation is organising a function at Kensal Green Cemetery, London on Saturday to commemorate the death anniversary of Prince Dwarkanath Tagore.

A close friend of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and King Louis Phillipe of France, Tagore was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

A bust of Dwarkanath and a plaque containing his contribution will be unveiled to honour the entrepreneur, philanthropist and the first successful businessman, who took up Indo-British trade.

The function will be organized jointly by the British Council, iLEAD College (Kolkata), Friends of Kensal Green (London) and London Sharad Utsav (London).

Sourav Niyogi of Bengal Heritage Foundation noted: "Very few Indians are aware of Prince Dwarkanath Tagore's tomb in London. From coal to banking to trading, he successfully set the foundation of an industrial Bengal and internationalisation of India. Our effort is a humble tribute to this great son of Bengal and to keep his heritage alive for the future generations. As a first step, the monument has been cleaned after 28 years using Thermatech technology using conservation principles."

The Kensal Green Cemetery stands on a land of 72-acre and there are over 65,000 graves.

Dwarkanath (1794-1846) was the first Bengali merchant-entrepreneur to set up an Indo-British business partnership (Carr, Tagore and Co.) that traded in salt, sugar, tea, coal, indigo and steam navigation. Tagore was a visionary, who believed in multi-racial collaboration with the British.

Tagore was a signatory to the anti-Sati petition along with Rammohun Roy, who died in Bristol in 1833 and lies buried there. Tagore visited Britain twice in 1842 and 1845 and was a personal friend of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and King Louis Phillipe of France.

Feted by literary giants Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and many others, Tagore was granted the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in a public ceremony in August 1842 for his 'anxious desire to promote happiness and prosperity of his fellow

countrymen'.

He died at Brown's Hotel in London on August 1, 1846 and was buried without ceremony three days later.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert sent four carriages for the funeral.