For a high ranking British military or Foreign Service officer in the later part of the 19th Century, there was no better assignment than India.

India was called "the jewel in the crown" of the British Empire. And Bengal Province was one of the best stations in that enchanted land. Many of these officers, upon returning to England, built country homes in the fashion of the homes they knew in India. They called them, affectionately, their "Bengalee" cottages.

This term became misconstrued by the workers who built and maintained them into the word we have today: "Bungalow". The term was adopted by the Arts and Crafts architects and exported to America.