WILLIAM, FORT

citadel of Calcutta, named after King William III of England. The English East India Company's main Bengal trading station was moved from Hooghly to Calcutta in 1690 after a war with the Mughals. Between 1696 and 1702 the first fort was built in Calcutta, with the nawab of Bengal's permission. In 1700 Calcutta became a separate presidency accountable to London; until 1774 its governors, and thereafter until 1834 its governors-general, were given the added title of Fort William in Bengal. In 1756 the fort was taken by Siraj-ud-Dawlah, nawab of Bengal. After the recovery of Calcutta (1757), this fort was demolished and a new one constructed farther south, with an unobstructed field of fire. The latter fort, completed in 1773, still stands.