ABSTRACT
The mongrel name of Barrackpore carries in it the whole romance of British India; it could be the title of a story by Kipling. This mixture of English and Indian makes it a particularly apt name for the old Viceregal country house some fifteen miles from Calcutta. The military cantonment which gave Barrackpore its name was first established in 1775, and ten years later the Government acquired a property adjoining it of seventy acres with two bungalows. The Indian Princes, who stayed so often with the Viceroys of later years, were rarely seen at Barrackpore in its heyday before the Mutiny. Provided there was no storm, the river afforded a most convenient way of travelling between Barrackpore and Calcutta. Barrackpore was certainly unkind to the Amhersts; but for most of the other people who lived, it had pleasanter memories. '.
