British occupation of Serampore (1763)

1763 siege and occupation of Serampore

Siege of Serampore

Gateway to the Danish government house at Serampore, by Frederick Fiebig.
| Date| 4–15 April 1763

|

Location|

Serampore, Danish India
(present-day India)

22°45′N 88°20′E﻿ / ﻿22.75°N 88.34°E﻿ / 22.75; 88.34
Result|  British victory
Territorial
changes|  Serampore temporarily occupied by Great Britain
Belligerents
Great Britain|  Danish India
Commanders and leaders
Unknown|  Demarchis
Units involved
English forces|  Serampore garrison
Strength
Unknown|  Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown|  Unknown

* v
* t
* e

Danish colonial conflicts

Baltic Sea

* Wendish
* Rügen
* Pomerania
* Livonia
* Lyndanisse
* Tallinn
* Novgorod
* Veliky Novgorod
* Pskov
* Durbe
* Karuse
* Aizkraukle
* Estonia

* * *

North Atlantic

* Iceland
* Jakobshavn
* Reykjavík
* Faroe Islands

* * *

Africa

* Cape Verde
* Cape of Good Hope
* Carolusborg
* Cape Coast
* Fredericksborg
* Cape Corso
* 1st Osu
* 1st Christiansborg
* 2nd Christiansborg
* 3rd Christiansborg
* Gold Coast
* 2nd
* 4ht Christiansborg
* Crèvecœur
* Ningo
* 3rd Osu
* 5th Christiansborg
* Volta
* Dodowa
* Prinsensten

* * *

Asia

* Ceylon
* Coromandel Coast
* Trincomalee
* 1st Dansborg
* Bengal
* 1st Pipli
* 1st Bay of Bengal
* 1st Balasore
* 2nd Bay of Bengal
* 3rd Bay of Bengal
* 4th Bay of Bengal
* 2nd Pipli
* 2nd Balasore
* Hooghly
* 1st India
* 2nd Dansborg
* Strait of Malacca
* Phillipines
* 3rd Dansborg
* Karaikak
* 1st Tranquebar
* 4th Dansborg
* 1st Dannemarksnagore
* 2nd Tranquebar
* Tillali
* Anandamangalam
* 5th Dansborg
* 1st Serampore
* Nicobar Islands
* 3rd Tranquebar
* 2nd India
* 2nd Serampore
* 4th Tranquebar
* Nancowry
* 3rd Serampore
* 5th Tranquebar
* Porreiar

* * *

Caribbean

* St. John
* West Kay
* St. Thomas & Santa Cruz
* Caribbean
* St. Croix

The British occupation of Serampore also referred to as the English occupation of Serampore (Danish: Den engelske besættelse af Serampore) was a siege and thereafter a minor military occupation by the United Kingdom on the Danish trading post of Serampore (Frederiksnagore) in 1763.

## Background[edit]

In 1755 the Danes got permission from Alivardi Khan to establish a trading post at the Hooghly River near Calcutta.[1] The colony of Frederiksnagore was established as a result of this agreement. [1]

In 1756, the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, wanted the Danes to assist him in the Siege of Calcutta.[2] However, because of bad living conditions, the Danes refused to support the siege, and ud-Daulah thereafter fined the Danes 25,000 Indian rupees.[2][3] Later in 1757, the English would blockade the Danish vessel King of Denmark from entering Serampore, because of the Danish hospitality to the French.[3]

## Occupation[edit]

A more serious incident with the British happened in 1763.[2][3] Demarchis, the commander of Serampore, took office in 1762 and the British quickly took a hostile view of him.[4] This hostility only grew bigger when some English sepoys were changed with 25 lashes each, because of their assaulting on Danish peons.[3] As a response, a British force surrounded Serampore on 4 April and would besiege it until 15 April when the British could take over.[4] The occupation did not last long though, and already in the same year, the British withdrew the city because of a Danish apology.[2]

## Aftermath[edit]

As a result, this left Serampore being a rather impoverished colony in the first two decades of its existence.[1][2][3] Subsequently, Demarchis would be deposed from his post as commander three years later in 1766 and would return to Copenhagen.[4]

## See also[edit]

* Capture of Tranquebar – Capture of Tranquebar by British forces in 1801
* Carnatic wars – 18th century wars between the French and the British
* Gondalpara – City/town in West Bengal, IndiaPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
* Dano-Mughal War – Danish colonial conflict against the Mughal Empire

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c Rastén, Simon. "Handelsstationen Serampore (Frederiksnagore), 1755-1845". danmarkshistorien.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2024-06-06.
2. ^ a b c d e Bhaduri 2021, p. 144.
3. ^ a b c d e O'Malley 1985, p. 77.
4. ^ a b c Larsen 1940.

## Works cited[edit]

* Larsen, Kay (1940). Guvernører, Residenter, Kommandanter og Chefer (PDF) (in Danish). Copenhagen: ARTHUR JENSENS FORLAG. p. 61.
* Bhaduri, Saugata (2021-12-30). Polycoloniality: European Transactions with Bengal from the 13th to the 19th Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-93-89812-56-5.
* O'Malley, Lewis Sydney Steward (1985). Hooghly. Logos.

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