John Clark Marshman

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Achievements

In April 1818, Marshman, together with his father Joshua, launched the first monthly magazine in Bengali, Digdarshan, which focused on educative information for the youth, and very shortly thereafter the weekly news magazine Samachar Darpan which was one of the two first Bengali newspapers (the other being Bengal Gazetti, published by Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya, in the first half of 1818). Subsequently, the Serampore Mission also launched the weekly Friend of India in 1821, which became so popular that Serampore was synonymous with Friend of India in European minds for much of the 19th century. The printing operations were so successful that they acquired their own substantial buildings by the river just north of the Mission Chapel.

In 1875, Friend of India amalgamated with another paper The Englishman, becoming The Statesman which remains one of India's leading English-language dailies.

Marshman also started a new paper mill at the Mission to manufacture a special new type of paper that had been devised by the missionaries to resist the virulent ravages of the local white ants. This became known as Serampore Paper and was used throughout the province.

In 1820, a steam engine was imported from Messrs. Thwaites and Rothwell, of Bolton, Lancashire, for the paper mill and was the first ever seen in India. Marshman's father Joshua was mesmerised by it and watched closely as the engineer prepared it for use.

Marshman joined the staff of Serampore College, which had been jointly founded by his father, in 1821.

In 1837, the last of the Serampore Trio, his father Joshua Marshman died. Following his death John Mack and Marshman struggled to carry on the work of the college, spending all their earnings and Marshman's income from his private concerns, including those from the paper mill. After he published The Friend of India, he stipulated that the proceeds should go to the college. It was reckoned that in all he contributed more than £30,000.

As the struggle to maintain the college was getting more onerous each year to try and fund privately, Mack and Marshman decided to turn the college over to the Baptist Missionary Society. The Society was unwilling to take over the burden fully, but did offer to support a theological professor on the college staff.

Marshman later rather unwillingly accepted the position of Official Bengali Translator to the Government, and thereafter was abused almost daily in the native newspapers as "the hireling of the Government". His salary of £1,000 per annum was passed to the college.

Works

An abridged version of Carey's Dictionary of the Bengali Language, pub. 1827.

Marshman, John Clark (1832). Guide Book For Moonsiffs, Sudder Ameens And Principal Sudder Ameens Containing All The Rules Necessary For The Conduct Of Suits In Their Courts Extracted From The Regulations Of Government, And Methodically Arranged. Serampore Press.

Guide to Revenue Regulations of the Presidencies of Bengal and Agra, pub. 1835

The History of India from remote Antiquity to the Accession of the Mogul Dynasty, pub. 1842

Marshman, John Clark (1848). Guide to the Civil Law of the Presidency of Fort William (2 ed.). Serampore Press.

Marshman, John Clark (1853). How Wars Arise in India: Observations on Mr. Cobden's Pamphlet, entitled, "The Origin of the Burmese War". London: Wm. H. Allen & Co.

Marshman, John Clark (1859). The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward. Vol. I. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts.

Marshman, John Clark (1859). The Life and Times of Carey, Marshman and Ward. Vol. II. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts.

Marshman, John Clark (1860). Memoirs of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B. London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts.

Marshman, John Clark (1869). The History of India from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie's Administration. Vol. I. London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. A transcription is available online.

Marshman, John Clark (1869). The History of India from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie's Administration. Vol. II. London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. A transcription is available online.

Marshman, John Clark (1869). The History of India from the Earliest Period to the Close of Lord Dalhousie's Administration. Vol. III. London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. A transcription is available online.

Marshman, John Clark (1862). "Notes on the Production of Tea in Assam, and in India Generally". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 19: 315–320. doi:10.1017/S0035869X0015659X. JSTOR 25228722.

Marshman, John Clark (1862). "Notes on the Cultivation of Cotton in the District of Dharwar; Past, Present, and Future". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 19: 351–360. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00156631. JSTOR 25228726.

Marshman, John Clark (1863). "On the Cost and Construction of the Railways in India". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 20: 397–405. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00165360. JSTOR 25581258.

John Clark Marshman

John Clark Marshman

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