Diocese of calcutta

St. John’s Church majestically stands a little back from the road at the corner of Council House Street and Hastings Street.
The foundation stone of St. John’s Church was laid on April 8, 1787, by Warren Hastings, the then Governor General and was erected by the East India Company after Calcutta became the effective capital of British India. Lieutenant James Agg of Bengal Engineers offered his services as architect. The distinction of being the first Church in Calcutta however rests with St. Anne’s, which was unfortunately pulled down in 1756 by Siraj-ud-daulah. The Church was consecrated on the 24th of June 1787 by a special Committee/ Commission of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Warren Hastings headed the building committee. Lord Cornwallis presided over a historic meeting on the 7th of May at which two Church wardens and two sidesman took their oath of office before the Justice of Supreme Court.
In 1814 St. John’s Church became the Cathedral of the Bishop of Calcutta till St. Paul was consecrated in 1847. Bishop T. F. Middleton, the first Bishop is buried in the premises of the Church. The Church has received over the years several valuable paintings, the most famous being ‘The Last Supper’ by Zoffany, which he personally gave to St. John’s when it was consecrated in 1787. The East India Company presented a gift Communion plate, which is still being used. The second Dorosetshire Regiment presented a silver Cross and Candlesticks in memory of those who lost their lives in the Second World War. The Church itself is full of the most beautiful marble memorials erected in the memory of the faithful dead. The Churchyard comprises the old burial ground that had been in use from the foundation of the settlement till 1767; it includes the mausoleum of Job Charnok, the founder of Calcutta. Because of its stone tower, the Church was locally called “Pathar Girja” or Stone Church. The Church has a seating capacity of five hundred people.
It owes its origin not only to the initiative of the local leaders of the community but also to the munificence of the sea-faring people who called at the Calcutta post. Captain Alexander Hamilton informs us, “About fifty yards from the Fort William (now GPO) stands the church, built by the pious charity of the merchants residing there and the Christian benevolence of sea-faring whose affairs called them to trade there.” Its importance as a piece of architecture with its tall steeple, owes its origin to the spirit of comradeship and Christian spirit.