Dhaka College is one of Bangladesh's most important as well as earliest higher-secondary educational institutions. It was established by James Taylor Wise (civil surgeon at Dhaka) in 1835 as an English Seminary School (present Dhaka Collegiate School). Wise organized a local Committee of Public Instruction with the help of district magistrate Grant. The school building was built partly out of public donations on the grounds of an English factory. On 18 July 1841, the school got its approval from the college. On 20 November 1841, the foundation stone of the college was placed and buildings were completed in 1846, with the aid of the Bishop of Calcutta. In the first graduating class there were both Muslim and Hindu students, as well as a number of foreign students, mainly from Armenia and Portugal.