BIRTH AND FAMILY BACKGROUND

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO DEROZIO FAMILY 

The Derozio family was actually descended from a respectable Portuguese family DeRozario, but they lived in India since many years & so far we came to know that at least four generations of them had lived in Calcutta before Henry’s birth. Their residence was a big (stood on at least six bigah land) & well-decorated house at the Lower Circular Road, near Entally (presently 155 Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road). In this house the Master of Young Bengal was born, lived & died. This historical house recently has been listed as one of the prospective city buildings to be given the status of a heritage building, on Derozio’s 200^th birth anniversary.                              .

Mr. Michael Derozio, the grandfather of Henry Derozio, was a well-known Portuguese merchant at that time & was referred as “A native Christian” in the Church records. The most important fact that can be known about him is, he was a Protestant, while the Portuguese community in India was almost entirely Roman Catholic. Michael & his three sons were converted to Protestantism on 6^th October, 1776. From the Church records we can also find proofs regarding a good relation of Michael with the Serampore Baptist missionaries, Carey, Marshman & Ward. Perhaps he was converted to Protestantism due to their direct influence. He had no orthodoxy regarding religion but a deep faith on God, while his second son Francis Derozio (the proud father of Henry) was neutral enough about any subject regarding religion & God. Even it is known that Francis was absent from the Serampore mission in 1807 when Michael’s initiation was going on. Perhaps he liked to keep a distance from religion & so we will see, he would not hesitate to send his son to so-called atheist David Drummond’s School.                 

Francis was not a trader or merchant, but a salaried employee. He was chief accountant in the Messrs James Scot & Co., a respectable firm at that time. He had sufficient earnings to run his family, & used to spend a respectable life among the East Indian community.

In 1806, Francis married an English woman named Sophia Johnson. Sophia means, ‘Divine wisdom’! How appropriate her name was! Only divine wisdom can give birth to such a genius!

 

APPEARANCE OF THE PRECEPTOR: PRE-SCHOOL CHILDHOOD

The initiator of nineteenth century Renaissance was born as the second child of Francis & Sophia Derozio on 18^th April, 1809. He was lovingly named ‘Henry’.

Francis & Sophia had five children; elder son Frank, then Henry Louis Vivian, youngest son Claudius Gilbert & also two daughters, Sophia & Amelia.

Our hero’s life is full of tragedy from the very beginning. When he just opened his little eyes first to have a sense of this mortal world, the world hurt him severely. He lost his mother! Leaving behind husband & five babies, Sophia Derozio passed away on the year 1815. Henry was then merely a boy of six!

             The unfortunate infant received this agony of separation as the first gift of world, & could never forget it. One can easily point out a deep sense of death in Derozio’s poetry mostly written within the years 1825-1826. At the tender age of 16-17 what can be the source of such painful feelings? Why would a young poet think about death’s darkness instead of bright & colorful dreams? It seems that he was very much moved with his mother’s untimely death which was reflected in his poetry.

Father Francis married again. He had no other option. All the children were too little to be looked after by a single father who was extremely busy with his office works. The youngest daughter Amelia was just two years old! Circumstances need a mother for them.

          A well-educated English lady named Anna Maria Rivers came as their step mother. She had no children of her own, & she started to love her five step children as a real mother does. Her behavior towards Francis’s children really demands unbound praise. She became able to fill the loss of mother in the family. The children too never treated her as a step mother. On later days, Henry Derozio once wrote in a letter, in protest against the charge that he taught his pupils to disobey parents, “…but my mother can testify how utterly inconsistent it is with my conduct,” This line proofs how Henry loved & respected Anna Maria. Even in his last will written in death-bed, Henry took great care for Anna Maria’s future, & tried to provide her an economically stable life. The noble mother deserved this love from her children. She was intelligent & amiable. Even Francis used to depend on her to take any decision in family matters.   

Little Henry was the eye-pupil of his family. He had an in-born attractive nature which made him a darling to everyone! He too, from his side, was an obedient son & loving brother. He loved all his siblings but the youngest sister Amelia was dearest to him. Amelia became an inseparable companion & best friend of Henry. The bond between this brother & sister was too heavenly to watch!

At an early age Henry was sent to Dhurrumtollah Academy, the most well known School of those days, neglecting all the rumors about Mr. David Drummond, the rationalist teacher of the School who was marked as an infidel by most of the Englishmen of Calcutta. Those parents used to think that their children might be a non-believer in Drummond’s touch. From here we can guess about Mr. Francis Derozio’s nature, he didn’t fear to send his son to that School which was almost neglected & rejected by the then English parents of Calcutta, & besides Henry, he arranged the best education that was available in Calcutta for his other children too. This indicates us a courageous mind of the father which might has influenced little Henry even before he met Mr. Drummond.