John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune

John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune (1801 – 1851), previously John Elliot Drinkwater, a barrister and law member of the Governor-General's Council, was an Anglo-Indian lawyer and a pioneer in promoting women's education in 19th-century India. When his father added 'Bethune' to his name, he did likewise. In 1849, Bethune founded an institution for women's education in Calcutta (now Kolkata), then the capital of British India. The institute later bore his name and became famous as Bethune College. He was born in Ealing, son of Col. John Drinkwater Bethune of Salford, who had earned fame as the author of History of the Siege of Gibraltar. A brilliant student, young John was educated at Westminster School, graduated as a wrangler from Trinity...