Quick Facts
Biography
Stephen Cassan (1758–1794) was an Irish barrister in Calcutta, where he was one of the founders of the Bengal Journal. He was High Sheriff of Calcutta in 1785.
Life
He was the youngest son of Stephen Cassan (1725–1773) of Sheffield House, Queen's County, Ireland. He went to Trinity College, Dublin in 1773, joined the Middle Temple in 1778, and was called to the bar in 1781.
Cassan founded the Bengal Journal, a weekly newspaper, in 1785, with Thomas Jones. In 1789 he owned two-thirds of the Bengal Journal, with James Dunkin. They brought in William Duane to improve the publication, and the circulation more than doubled in 1790.
William Hickey states that Cassan after marrying went to Bombay to practise in the Mayor's Court, but died spitting blood. He is also said to have died in Bengal, intestate, on 26 January 1794.
Family
Cassan married Sarah Mears, and was father of Stephen Hyde Cassan. Sarah Cassan was the daughter of Captain Charles Mears, of Coleraine and the Egmont East Indiaman, son of the minister John Mears. She published a book of poems in 1806.