26. James and Elizabeth Hogan of West Bengal, British India

Hogan is an Irish surname, originally O'Hogain, deriving from the Middle Irish for a youth. Fleming means someone from Flanders, which is interesting given previously mentioned, if loose, family connexions based on name, place and trade.

James Radley Hogan (1803) married Elizabeth Fleming (1796, Calcutta) in Calcutta, West Bengal, British India in 1820.

Calcutta is the seventh most populous city in India and has its own Megalopolis. In the late 17th century, the three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading licence in 1690, the area was developed by the Company into an increasingly fortified trading post. Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah occupied Calcutta in 1756, and the East India Company retook it the following year. In 1793 - only three years before Elizabeth was born there, the East India company was strong enough to abolish Nizamat (local rule), and assumed full sovereignty of the region. Under the company rule, and later under the British Raj, Calcutta served as the capital of British-held territories in India until 1911.

Bengali billboards in Calcutta, under British rule (credit)

James's father was James Hogan perhaps born in India. However, there is a possibility that James Jr. was the James Hogan who was transported from London for life in 1819 for stealing a handkerchief! Apparently, it was possible to commute a transportation sentence to a period of service with the East India Company. This is probably fanciful as, at the time of his wedding, James was a Corporal with the Royal Scots. Elizabeth's father was Charles Fleming (1796, Calcutta).

They had one known child:

• 45.2.1 - Elizabeth Hogan (1821)

More on this individual in Chapter 45.

James died in 1832 at age 32, at which time he was a Gunner with the 2nd Battalion Artillery.

EIC Coin (my collection)

Reverse

For an annotated map of British India, see Chapter 48.3.

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