Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/215

Rh Durga Charan Law was born on the 23rd of November 1822 at Chinsura. Receiving his early training at the Hindu College, which was started in 1817, through the exertions of David Hare, Ram Mohan Roy and others, was then the principal college in Bengal. From the first he was destined by his father to succeed him as head of the firm which he had founded and which already gave promise of its ultimate remarkable success. Leaving college while still in his seventeenth year Durga Charan was at once inducted into his father's office to be initiated into mercantile affairs. With true wisdom, Prawn Kissen insisted that his son should begin at the lowest rung of the ladder as an assistant, learning every detail of the business and working his way up through the various offices until he was fitted by experience to take the lead. Durga Charan at once exhibited business capacities that delighted his father's heart and promised well for the future of the firm which was yearly growing in importance. Rapidly mastering the routine of the office, he showed the greatest application and an eager desire to acquire a sound knowledge of business principles, and to such effect did he apply himself that on his father's death in 1853, he was fully competent to undertake the entire management of the firm. With him in the business were associated his two younger brothers Sham Charan Law and Joy Govind Law, and with their help during the years that followed