On World Press Freedom Day, the story of India’s first newspaper – ‘Hicky’s Bengal Gazette’

However, Hicky’s paper also shed a light on government corruption, civic issues, and at times criticised the British East India Company. It was certainly under the radar of British authorities, and was sued for libel around two years into its publication, leading to its closure. Here is its story.

How the Bengal Gazette began

In his 2018 book Hicky’s Bengal Gazette: The Untold Story of India’s First Newspaper, author Andrew Otis writes that not much is known about Hicky’s early life. He was likely born in the 1730s in Ireland. The search for better prospects finally led him to India, then known as the “Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire”.

Several Englishmen attempted to make a fortune in India under the East India Company, through engaging in private trade in the subcontinent. However, Hicky stumbled into roadblocks early on when he arrived. Taking on debts that he was unable to pay, he ended up in jail.

Here, “He bought types and hired carpenters to make a printing press, smuggling these tools inside jail. He began working from his hut, often from six in the morning to one or two at night, printing handbills, advertisements, almanacs, paraphernalia, documents for the Supreme Court, and even insurance forms,” Otis wrote. At the time, inmates could engage in some kinds of work to pay for their food.

Once his printing business took off, Hicky thought of publishing his own newspaper upon seeing a real demand for it. “While Indians traditionally got their news from friends and contacts, Europeans were, and had been, reliant on newspapers for centuries. But their news came from Europe and America, arriving on ships many months after it had been published,” Otis wrote. Hence, the first newspaper in Asia – and India – was born.

James Hicky’s bill to the East India Company for a printing job. (Via Wikimedia Commons)

The early success of the paper was thanks to the paper’s novelty, and the fact that newsworthy events were happening at the time. For instance, “The British were fighting four wars on three continents: against the Americans, the French, the Spanish and the Marathas.”

What kind of stories did it publish?

Otis wrote that the paper was printed on Saturdays. “Each issue was four pages and cost Re 1, similar in price to newspapers in England at the time. Hicky dedicated the first two or three pages to news and opinion letters, with the remainder being for advertisements.”

Initially, Hicky said the paper would not cover political issues, seeing how newspapers back home sometimes got in trouble for their reportage on such matters. Instead, he focused on local issues such as road repairs and maintenance, and encouraged readers to send articles.

“He tried to be witty and satirical. He gave nicknames to the city’s most colourful characters. One that stuck was ‘Nosey Jargon’—an overly inquisitive jabberer—for the city’s surveyor and head of public works, Edward Tiretta,” the book said.

Beyond poking fun and reporting gossip, the paper also published articles “calling on the Company to invest more on infrastructure, road construction, and general sanitation”. Often, male writers opined that women should be chaste, faithful, and submissive – reflecting the largely conservative outlook of that time.

However, Hicky also “covered one issue that affected the poor more than any other: Calcutta’s terrifying fires.” Many poor households used grass to thatch their roofs. Coupled with high temperatures, it would often lead to fires.

Otis wrote that many people, including Company servants, read the newspaper. When Hicky published a call to action over a fire incident, Bengal’s executive authority acted on it. “The Supreme Council issued a proposal to forbid thatch houses within Calcutta, and to enact a 14.7 per cent property tax to repair the city’s roads.”

In recognition of this changing role of the paper, Hicky changed the masthead or the title on the front page to also say: “Open to all Parties, but influenced by None”.

Why did ‘Hicky’s Bengal Gazette’ shut down?

With the paper’s rising profile came some pushback from powerful people against its work. Several libel cases were filed by figures such as Governor General Warren Hastings and missionary Johann Zacharias Kiernander.

In an article, Hickey’s criticised Hastings’ expansion policy in the subcontinent during the 1780s. He described Hastings in an article as being Robert Clive’s “miserable successor”. In another, he called Hastings “Wild, Pusilanimous, disgraceful, and wicked”, and even “Despotic”. He was alleged to have even called troops to mutiny, “because their throats were ‘perhaps devoted to the wild Chimeras of a Madman’”.

Kiernander sued Hicky for an article where he ironically called Kiernander a ‘“pious Samaritan” who built “Warehouses on Holy Consecrated Public Ground”. Hicky was found guilty on some of the libel counts and jailed, but fighting the cases themselves led him to financial ruin. He attempted to run his paper while in prison for a few months. Even after his release, much of his final years were spent in search of money to sustain his family.

The legacy of ‘Hicky’s Bengal Gazette’

Otis regards Hicky’s brief stint as valuable. He acknowledged how many of the stories and allegations Hicky wrote about, despite containing the grain of truth, were founded on rumours. Still, he holds that the Irishman ended up playing a role in advancing the growth of journalism in India.

Many of Hicky’s associates at the printing press went on to launch their own newspapers. In response, the British government attempted a clampdown, again – newspapers were banned, the foreign founders of these papers were threatened with deportation, and advertisers were pressured to stop funding them.

“Calcutta’s press soldiered on despite the repression… The first Indian-owned presses were founded in the early 1800s… By 1820, it was estimated that Bengali presses had printed more than 15,000 copies of at least twenty-seven different works,” Otis wrote. In comparison, the 2021-22 period saw 1,525 new publications registered.

Indian papers would also go on to inform the masses in their own languages about the British rule and its criticisms, helping them learn about popular leaders and attach themselves to the anti-colonial movement.