Lady Charlotte Canning (wife of Gov. Gen. Charles Canning)'s tomb memorial, Kolkata

Navrang India December 05, 2022

the monument at Barrackpore.victorianweb.org

Above image: Lady Canning's monument, Barrackpore, WB. Image source:  Hare, III:facing p. 168. Note the iron railings....On the other side of the headstone (as seen top right) is the text, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave," from Hosea 13, 14. Philip Davies noted in the 1980s that the inlaid marble was "pitted by the monsoon rains" .......................

Tomb of Lady Canning at Barrackpore', 1925.Alamy.co

St. John's Calcutta, tomb of lady Canning.  kolkatatourism.travel

St. John's Calcutta, tomb of lady Canning.  commons.wikimedia.org

Above two images: Tomb monument for Lady Charlotte Canning (1817-1861;daughter of Lord Stuart de Rothsay), the first Governor-General of India & after 1858 first viceroy of India)  wife of Charles, Lord Canning (1812-1862)  the first Governor-General of India & after 1858 first viceroy of India) in the north colonnade of St John's Church, Kolkata.  Made of inlaid and carved marble, it was designed by George Gilbert Scott, with sculptural work by John Birnie Philip. Lady Canning's elaborately decorated memorial is  on the Northern corridor of the St. John's Church................

Lady Canning's memorial at St. John's Church, Kolkata, India

A day ahead of the 160th death anniversary of Lady Canning, in 2021 West Bengal Heritage Commission (WBHC) members made a lasting  tribute to lady Charlotte  Canning  and her fascinating residence in Barrackpore from where she had tuned out so many landscape paintings, etc. On account of her weekend sojourn along with her husband Gov. Gen. Charles Canning in the the Government House or Governor general's House,  it became a hub of social activities among the high British officials of the English company. 
WBHC  members chose the residence on the bank of Hooghly  to   commemorate the world heritage week. They fixed the heritage tag on this historical  structure. In 2013, this mansion was included in the list of heritage sites in West  Bengal by the state government. 

Lady Charlotte Canning gettyimages.no

It was on site lady Canning was put to rest in the grounds of the governor's "country house" at Barrackpore  upon her  death  on 18 November 1861 after a long tedious journey from Darjeeling. it was the edict of god that she was laid to rest in the garden which she had loved  to take care. Cause of death: She on that trip contracted Malaria, then a dreaded disease.  

 When the monument was ready, it was shifted to the interior of St Paul’s Cathedral in Calcutta.  A replica of the monument minus  the inlay, was  set in the garden at Barrackpore. In 1913,  her tomb was relocated to the present site at  St John's where there are many memorials. The Viceroy's own words appear on the inscription on the front of the headstone:

''Honours and praises written on a tomb are at best but vain glory; but that her charity, humility, meekness, and watchful faith in her Saviour will, for that Saviour’s sake be accepted of God, and be to her a Glory everlasting, is the firm trust of those who knew her best and most dearly loved her in life, and who cherish the memory of her, departed''.

Lord Canning was so much in love with his wife who, like him, was a woman of good disposition in many aspects of human relationship. He never got over the pangs of separation from her and became so much preoccupied, he never recovered from her unexpected death. 

Lord Canning wrote. ''Since the cemeteries in Kolkata were “odious in many ways” ..It is a beautiful spot, looking upon that reach of the grand river which she was so fond of drawing, shaded from the glare of the Sun by high trees and amongst the bright shrubs and flowers in which she had so much pleasure.”