Northbrook Hall : public hall in Dhaka, named after Thomas George Baring Northbrook (1826-1904): Private Secretary successively to Mr Labouchere (Lord Taunton) at the Board of Trade, Sir George Grey at Home Office, Sir C. Wood (Lord Halifax) at India Office & Admiralty: Junior Lord of Admiralty 1857-8: Under Secretary for India 1859-1 & 1861-4: Under Secretary for the Home Dept. 1864-6, & for War 1868-72: Viceroy & Gov.-Gen. (1872-76), during which he refused the prayers of the Amir of Afghanistan for assistance & protection: “controlled with vigour & success” the Bengal famine of 1874, by refusing to prohibit British looter-farmers in India from exporting Indian grains to England & importing enormous quantities of rice to sell to poverty & famine-stricken natives forcing upon them “as relief work”, the low-paying labour of building railways & canals over which the heaven-born British always had control: had Malharrao, the Gaekwad of Baroda, tried & exiled on a trumped up charge of trying to poison the perverse Resident Col. Phayre: entertained the British Prince of Wales at Indian expense by abolishing Income Tax on British businessmen making the packets: “the business of the Govt. was never better performed than in his time”: for all of the charitable works listed here, grateful natives erected his statue in Calcutta & he, at their expense, “founded & presided over the Northbrook Indian Club in London”. [Buckland sieved]
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