author
J. Z. (John Zephaniah) Holwell
1711–1798
A surgeon, East India Company official, and brief acting governor of Bengal, he became one of the best-known British witnesses of 18th-century Calcutta. His writings also show an early European interest in Indian religion and antiquities, alongside striking views on vegetarianism and the treatment of animals.
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About the author
Born in Dublin in 1711, John Zephaniah Holwell trained in medicine and went to India in the service of the British East India Company. In Bengal he worked as a surgeon and administrator, eventually rising to senior office and briefly serving as acting governor of Bengal in 1760.
He is most often remembered for his account of the 1756 "Black Hole of Calcutta," an episode he survived and later described in print. That narrative made his name widely known in Britain and became deeply tied to the way the conquest of Bengal was later remembered.
Holwell also wrote about Indian history, religion, and antiquities, and is often noted as one of the earlier European writers to take a sustained interest in these subjects. He died in 1798, leaving behind a legacy shaped by medicine, colonial government, and influential—though often debated—historical writing.