Mutty Lal Seal

Who was Mutty Lal Seal?

Mutty Lal Seal (also spelt Motilal Seal or Motilal Sil or Moti Sil) (Bengali:মতিলাল শীল) (1792 - 20 May, 1854) was aIndian (Bengali) businessman and philanthropist. He was born in the Colootola neighborhood of Calcutta (now Kolkata) inBritish India. He had a working knowledge of English and Mathematics. He even worked as an inspector of Indian Customs at Balikhal.His first business involved supply of essential commodities to Fort William.Later he started exporting commodities and amassed as many as 13 trade ships. Mutty Lal Seal and Ramdulal Sarkar, another renowned shipping magnate, have become part of Bengali folklore as great merchant princes. Mutty Lal Seal lost his father, Chaitanya Charan Seal, a cloth merchant, when he was five years old. The death of his father virtually put an end to his efforts at education. However his life took a turn, when at the age of seventeen he was married to the daughter of Mohan Chand Dey of Surtir Bagan neighbourhood in Kolkata. Mutty Lal Seal accompanied his father-in-law on a pilgrimage tour to northern and western parts of India, and the experience greatly enlightened him. On return he started working inFort William, then the bastion of British power.He started his business career humbly by selling bottles and corks to one Mr. Hudson who was one of the most extensive importers of beer in those days. He traded in cowhides, was the founder and promoter of the first indigo mart which was established under the name of M/s. Moore, Hickey Co.. The English merchants used to hire him for his sound judgements on indigo, silk, sugar, rice, saltpetre etc. He started exporting indigo, silk, sugar, rice, saltpetre to Europe and importing iron and cotton-piece goods from England. He got appointed as banian to various agency houses including his own Oswald, Seal Co. He was the first person in the country to use steamships for internal trade, and he prospered in competition with Europeans. He made a vast fortune in a single generation through money-dealing, a phrase which does not merely refer to money-lending, bill discounting and other banking business. There was scarcely a speculation into which he did not enter, and for which he did not supply a portion of funds. From dealings in internal exchanges to contracts for station-building, for the erection of new bazaars to revival of transit companies, there was scarcely an undertaking in which he was not an important, though a quiet shareholder. He funded every promising enterprise he found and made profits in the shape of interest. Mutty Lal Seal was one of the founders of Assam Company Ltd. Under his influence, the then Oriental Life Insurance Company (later reconstructed as New Oriental Insurance Company in 1834) founded by the Europeans, being the first life insurance company on Indian soil, accepted to underwrite Indian lives. He was among the founders of Bank Of India. He was a board member of Agricultural And Horticultural Society Of India. In the course of time he amassed as much wealth as Rustomjee Cowasjee andDwarkanath Tagore. At one point of time he was in complete control of the paper trade in Kolkata. In 1878 Kissori Chand Mitra delivered a lecture on the life of Mutty Lal Seal calling him the Rothschild Of Calcutta.About him,Sivanath Sastriwrites - He never adopted unfair means for earning money. He was well-behaved, polite and helpful to others.As a philanthropist, Mutty Lal Seal founded a guest house atBelgharia (in the suburbs of Calcutta) and a bathingghat on the bank of theHooghly riverknown as Motilal Ghat. Perhaps he is best remembered as the donor of the land on which theCalcutta Medical Collegewas built. Mutty Lal Seal also offered a lack of rupees for the establishment of a female (lying in) hospital which started funtioning in 1838 under his benevolence. In 1843 he established Seal's Free School to provide for the education of the Hindus to enable them to occupy posts of trust and emolument in their own country. The...