[3] The college was founded as the Calcutta Female School in 1849 by John Elliot Drinkwater Bethune,[4] with the financial support of Dakshinaranjan Mukherjee.

The school started in Mukherjee's home in Baitakkhana, with 21 girls enrolled.

[6] In November, on a plot on the west side of Cornwallis Square, the cornerstone for a permanent school building was laid.

The name "Hindu Female School" was inscribed on the copper-plate placed in the stone and on the ceremonial silver trowel made for the occasion.

[4] In 1879 it was developed into Bethune College, the first women's college in India and Bethune school was Second (First being in Bhidewada Pune, by Jyotirao Phule) women's school in whole Asia.