The Heritage
 
It was Colonel Finch who laid down the raison detre of the Club and the advantages it would “confer on the resident in Calcutta.” He found that nothing akin to a respectable hotel or a coffee house existed and that to form an institution like a club on a liberal scale needed a “command of character and friends.” Colonel Finch’s initial thoughts on the formation of the Club sums up the very character of clubs in general and the Bengal Club in particular: “ …Whilst those who constitute the society of Calcutta have no place where they can spend an idle half hour agreeably, those who are occasional visitants only too often find themselves utter strangers and forlorn.

To both classes, therefore, some one building which shall always be open to them, which they may securely and pleasurably visit, where, on reasonable terms, they may procure the accommodation they require, and where they may have a chance of meeting with old friends and acquaintances, without the trouble of searching for them perhaps in vain, and where the formality of interchanging cards may be substituted for more cordial greeting, will, I conceive, be an arrangement of such obvious advantages that to be successful it needs to be known.”

The original member and first Patron of the Club was no other than Sir Stapleton Cotton, sixth Baronet and first Viscount Combermere. His first connection with India dates back to 1796, when we find commanding his regiment in Madras at the tender age of 21. Tales of his distinguished military service and his subsequent career are the stuff of further historical lore.

At the Bengal Club, it is a constant harking back to the past, in the Heppelwhite, Chippendale and Sheraton, in its Queen Anne and Louis Quinze. And in its unique collection of the finer prints of the Daniells depicting old Calcutta, on the one hand, and the more grandiose Sir Joshua Reynolds originals, some of which have been replicated for posterity.

Everything at the Club has a history and a special significance. The present premises belonged originally to Lord Macaulay and even the dramatic logo of the Club, a cobra with its hood raised is part of an interesting legend. It was borrowed from the personal seal of Lord Metcalfe, although people have, over the years, attributed various stories to this. One such piece of lore has it that when labourers were digging at the site, there emerged a king cobra which refused to go away. It was propitiated by a priest and it finally left the site.

The refurbishment of the Club has been in the spirit of tradition, with modern amenities blending in tastefully with the elegance of the past.

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