Chandramukhi Basu, a Bengali from Dehradun, which was located in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh), was one of the first two female graduates of the British India. In 1882, along with Kadambini Ganguly, she passed the examination of the bachelor's degree in arts (BA) from University of Calcutta. Their formal degrees were handed during the convocation of the university in 1883.
Ramchandra Vidyabagish was an Indian lexicographer and Sanskrit scholar. His Bangabhashabhidhan, the first monolingual Bengali dictionary, was published in 1817. He taught at the Vedanta College established by Raja Rammohun Roy, and later at Sanskrit College from 1827 to 1837. Closely associated with the work of Raja Rammohun Roy in Kolkata, he was the first secretary of the Brahmo Sabha established in 1828 and initiated Debendranath Tagore and 21 other young men into Brahmo Samaj in 1843.
Krishna Mohan Banerjee was a 19th-century Indian thinker who attempted to rethink Hindu philosophy, religion and ethics in response to the stimulus of Christian ideas. He himself became a Christian, and was the first president of the Bengal Christian Association, which was administered and financed by Indians. He was a prominent member of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio's (1808–1831) Young Bengal group, educationist, linguist and Christian missionary.
Prasanna Kumar Roy was an educationist and the first Indian principal of Presidency College, Kolkata.
Abala, Lady Bose was an Indian social worker and feminist. She was known for her efforts in women's education and her contribution towards helping widows.
Peary Chand Mitra was an Indian writer, journalist, cultural activist and entrepreneur. His pseudonym was Tek Chand Thakur. He was a member of Henry Derozio's Young Bengal group, who played a leading role in the Bengal renaissance with the introduction of simple Bengali prose. His Alaler Gharer Dulal pioneered the novel in the Bengali language, leading to a tradition taken up by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and others. Mitra died on 23 November 1883 in Kolkata.
Rasik Krishna Mallick was an Indian journalist, editor, reformer, educationist and a leading member of Young Bengal group. He had shocked the court in British India in the 1820s with the statement that he did not believe in the sacredness of the Ganges.
Jorasanko is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. It is so called because of the two (jora) wooden or bamboo bridges (sanko) that spanned a small stream at this point.
Sir Rajendra Nath Mookerjee Viswakarma of Bengal was a pioneering Bengali Indian industrialist.
Ram Brahma Sanyal was the first Indian superintendent of the Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata. He was a pioneer in captive breeding, and was one of the first zookeepers trained as a biologist. He was a corresponding member of the Zoological Society of London and wrote a handbook on keeping and breeding animals in captivity – A Handbook of the Management of Animals in Captivity in Lower Bengal (1892) which was reviewed in the journal Nature. This was the standard handbook for zookeepers for over 50 years until Lee Crandall published The Management of Wild Mammals in Captivity in 1964. His scientific methods led to the rare birth of a live Sumatran rhinoceros in 1889, an event that was not seen in captivity until 2001.
Gobindram Mitter was one of the earliest Indian officials during the Company rule in India, who earned reputation for his wealth and extravagance.
The Oriental Seminary started in 1829 by the educator Gour Mohan Addy, was the earliest privately ran, first-rate school for children of Hindu parents in Kolkata. It was open only to boys of Hindu parents. It was possibly India’s first fully private school, as even Hindu School, Hindu College, and Hare school had to abide by certain government guidelines. In earlier days, students wanting to study English had to go to the missionary schools, where they were subject to substantial religious influence. The establishment of a school for learning English, free from religious influences was a major contribution of Addy. Traditional Indian education centres which taught Sanskrit and/or Persian had started fading out.
Manmohun Ghose was the first practicing barrister of Indian origin. He is notable for his contributions towards the fields of women's education, for arousing the patriotic feeling of his countrymen and for being one of the earliest persons in the country in organised national politics. At the same time his Anglicised habits often made him a target of ridicule in Calcutta.He was one of the co-founders of Indian National Congress.
Deba Prasad Mitra, son of Jyotirindraprasad Mitra (1869–1918), was a renowned clinical pathologist and religious and social worker connected with the Brahmo Samaj. His life and work were greatly inspired and stimulated by the lives of his grandfather Braja Sundar Mitra (1820–1875), the founder of the East Bengal Brahmo Samaj at Dhaka and an inaugurator of the New Age in Dhaka and Eastern Bengal as a whole, and also his mother's grandfather Sib Chandra Deb (1811–1890), a pupil of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio at the Hindu College, the Founder-Secretary of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Kolkata, and pioneer of the modernization of his native village Konnagar, a few kilometers from Kolkata. Devaprasad's father Jyotirindraprasad was a qualified advocate and practiced law for some time, but when he found that one had to resort to falsehood for success in the legal profession, he gave it up and joined the service of the estate of the Tripura Native State at Comilla.
Maharaja Bahadur Sir Jatindramohan Tagore was a theatre enthusiast, art-lover, and philanthropist from Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent.
Raja Digambar Mitra (1817–1879) was an Indian businessman. He as one of the leading Derozians and first Bengali Sheriff of Kolkata.
Malati Ghoshal was an Indian Rabindra Sangeet singer and one of Rabindranath Tagore's 'Panchakanya' exponents.
Rasamay Dutt or Russomoy Dutt was a Bengali educationist of British India during the Bengali Renaissance. He was the co-founder of Hindu School, Kolkata. Bengali poet Toru Dutt was his granddaughter.
Raja Gopi Mohan Tagore (1760–1819) was scion of the Pathuriaghata Tagore family and noted zamindar and philanthropist from Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent.
