Chandernagore Goverment College

Chandernagore College had a long and glorious history before it arrived at its present avatar as a college run by the Government of West Bengal. It was originally established as St. Mary?s Institution by the French Catholic Missionary, Rev. Magloire Barthet in 1862; it received an affiliation to the University of Calcutta as a First Arts Level College in the year 1891. The institution was renamed College Dupleix in 1901, after the renowned Governor General of the French establishments in India Lord Joseph Fran?ois Dupleix. As the struggle for Indian Independence gathered storm and movements against the proposed Partition of Bengal consolidated the college became a political hotbed and centre of revolutionary activity with the support and inspiration of its illustrious sub-director, Professor Charuchandra Ray. Consequently it had to be closed down in December 1908. After a long hiatus of twenty-three years, the college was ultimately re-opened on 4 July 1931. I. A. and I. Sc Courses were also soon introduced; however, it received official recognition by the French government and was brought under the control of the French Education Directorate only in June 1938. On 13th September 1945 the college section of College Dupleix was renamed College de Bussy, after Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau, who had served with distinction under Joseph Fran?ois Dupleix in the East Indies Company. This was done in order to separate it from the school section of the same name.After India obtained independence, the freedom movement in the French colony of Chandernagore received great impetus and Chandernagore was finally declared a ?free city? on 27th November 1947. The new government of the free city of Chandernagore renamed the college as Chandernagore College on 17 May 1948, a name which remains till today. Chandernagore came under the Indian Union on 2 May 1950 and it was finally integrated with the state of West Bengal on 2 October 1954. Consequently, Chandernagore College became a college administered directly by the Government of West Bengal.