Wellesley established the Fort William College at Calcutta because
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) he wanted to train British civilians for administrative purpose in India
Lord Wellesley founded the College of Fort William at Calcutta in 1800 as a training centre for the East India Company's British civil servants. Its purpose was to prepare officials for administration in India, not to promote oriental scholarship or to find work for particular individuals.
- ✗ (a) The official record credits Wellesley himself, as Governor-General, with founding the college; it does not present it as an instruction from the Board of Directors in London.
- ✗ (b) The stated role of the college was to train British civil servants. Reviving oriental learning is not given as its purpose.
- ✗ (c) Employment for William Carey and his associates is not the purpose recorded for the institution.
- ✓ (d) The National Archives of India describes it as a college founded in 1800 by Wellesley that served as a training centre for British civil servants.
Remember · Fort William College (Calcutta, 1800), founded by Lord Wellesley, trained the Company's British civil servants for Indian administration.
Sources
- National Archives of India, Publications catalogue (Catalogue of Books of Fort William College Collection) ↗ “the College of Fort William which was founded in 1800 by Marques of Wellesley to commemorate the British victory over Tipu Sultan and it was a training center for British Civil servants”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·