Black Hole of Calcutta

The Black Hole of Calcutta was a small dungeon in the old Fort William, at Calcutta, India, where troops of the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, held British prisoners of war after the capture of the Fort on 19 June 1756

John Zephaniah Holwell has written:

'A genuine narrative of the deplorable deaths of the English gentlemen, and others, who were suffocated in the Black-Hole in Fort-William, at Calcutta, in the Kingdom of Bengal, in the night succeeding the 20th day of June, 1756' -- subject(s): Biography, Black hole of Calcutta, Calcutta, Black hole of, Prisoners

146

The number of deaths in the famous mid-18th century incident at the black hole of Calcutta is a subject of dispute, figures seem to vary from low 40's to as many as 123 died.