THE CHURCHES
To return to St. John's Church, Calcutta, in the days while it was still the "New Church." By a curious arrangement the galleries of the church were reserved for the leading officials and their ladies, while the floor of the building was left for subordinates and their families, and the poor members of the community. Even more curious was the arrangement by which the ladies and gentlemen sat apart In the centre of the northern gallery were the seats of the Governor-General and his Council, and behind them were arrayed the ladies of the settlement. In the southern gallery, facing the Governor and Council, sat the judges of the Supreme Court, and with them sat the gentlemen; while in the western gallery, flanking the organ and choir, were the respective pews of the churchwardens' and the chaplain's families.
In this latter pew sat, at the time the church was consecrated, a very notable personage—the lady of Chaplain William Johnson, known to more than one generation of Calcutta residents as Begum Johnson. It was in a great measure due to the sustained efforts of Mr. Johnson that the erection of the church was undertaken and carried through, but, beyond the fact that he was an ardent Freemason, there seems little to record of him of interest,
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