municipality known as the 'Village Committee', with Ole Bie was its Governor.
Marshman and Carey
The beginning of the nineteenth century can be considered the most significant period in the history of Serampore, with the arrival of four English missionaries - Joshua Marshman, Hannah Marshman, William Carey, and Willam Ward - who between them were the architects of the Serampore renaissance. Although they came chiefly for the purpose of preaching Christianity, they dedicated themselves to the service of ailing and distressed people in and around the town, spreading education, social reforms and social reconstruction.
They established more than a hundred 'monitorial' schools in the region. Hannah Marshman established the first Girls' School at Serampore, which received much public approval. Carey made an outstanding contribution by founding the Serampore Mission Press in 1800 where the wooden Bangla types made by Panchanan Karmakar were installed.
Perhaps the crowning work of Carey and his two associates was the establishment of the Serampore College in 1818 which acts both as a university through the Senate of Serampore College (University) and as an individual college, Serampore College. The founders had to spend their last farthing on the construction of its magnificent buildings. It was also the first college in Asia to award a degree.
Carey became famous as the father of Bangla prose. The Mission Press published three books - the Bangla translation of the Bible, Hitopadesh and Kathopakathan. Munshi Ramram Basu, the pundit appointed by Carey, brought out Pratapaditya Charit and the Bangla versions of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The first issue of the second Bangla daily, Samachar Darpan came out in 1818 under the editorship of Carey.
At the same time, the Serampore Mission Press brought out the English daily, A Friend of India (precursor to The
