Portal:West Bengal/Selected biography/16
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John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune (1801 – 1851) was a pioneer in promoting women's education in 19th-century India. 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. It was the first such effort in Kolkata and had a major impact on society.
A brilliant student, he first qualified as a wrangler from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and later qualified for the Bar. In 1848, he was sent to India as Law Member of the Governor General’s Council. He prepared a draft to bring the British-born subjects of the crown under the jurisdiction of the courts and laws of the British East India Company.
