News of Major Cameron's Defeat reaches Britain.

Major Cameron played an unwitting part in the story of Thomas Baber and this may have given an edge to Thomas Baber's later hunt for the Pyche Rajah.  The Major was the husband of Helen, who once widowed went on to become Thomas Baber's wife and who stuck with him throughout all his later troubles.

News of the Major's death which had taken place on the 18th of March 1797 reached Britain shortly  before the 28th of August 1797. It is a measure of just how serious an incident this had been, that the news was thought to warrant overland post.

Usually the dispatches to Britain went by sea, and would have taken many more months to have arrived in London. An overland dispatch had to go via the Red Sea to Egypt and on to London by ship via the Mediterranean, and would have cost approximately £400, a very large sum in those days, the equivalent of  annual salary of a senior official or Colonel, per letter.

The following report was picked up by the Reading Mercury, most probably from a London Paper published a day or so before.

Reading Mercury - Monday 28 August 1797

Friday and Saturday’s Posts.

EAST-INDIA INTELLIGENCE.

Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the East-India house, for the purpose of reading dispatches received over-land from Bombay.

Their purport is understood to be of a disagreeable nature, but by no means so hostile to the peace of India as had been reported.

In consequence of some dispute between Tippoo Saib and the Rajah of Cotiote, respecting elephants, a detachment of our troops, consisting of a thousand men, headed by Colonel Dow, marched towards that province, for the sake of ending the dispute by treaty or arms; when, on passing Wynaad into Cotiote, they were attacked by the refractory Rajah Pyche.  On the early retreat of Colonel Dow, the command devolved on Major Cameron, who after a gallant resistance, fell at the head of his troops.  In this unfortunate action we lost 300 men. And great part of our ammunition.

The following is a list of the killed and wounded.

Killed.  Major Cameron, Lieutenant Nugent, Ensign Mudge, Ensign Ruddiman.

Wounded.  Captain Budden, Ensign Fallow.

In consequence of the above unhappy contest, Governor Duncan, attended by General Stewart, proceeded from Bombay to Tellicherry, in order to confer with the Ministers of Tippoo, leaving Sir Charles Malet and Mr. Page, in charge of Government.

The latest advices from Bombay state the agreeable news of Tippoo’s return to Seringapatam, from what had been termed a hunting party; and of every prospect of tranquillity being about to be restored to the Cotiote Province.[1]

A full report of the action in which these men were killed is given in my Blog of Wenesday 27th December 2006, The Death of Major Cameron. [2]

[1] From the British Library Newspaper Collection.

[2] http://malabardays.blogspot.co.uk/2006/12/death-of-major-cameron.html

Tellicherry and its part in establishing the Silk Industries of Dharwar & Hubli

Thomas Baber was aware that the Malabar had become too dependant on the cultivation of pepper as a cash crop at the expense of other crops.

He knew also knew that the farmers could barely feed their families, even with the revenues from growing pepper and that they were unable to pay their taxes.

They badly needed other cash crops.

In 1813 he had seen the local families suffer famine brought about by the buying up of all the available rice. This had happened when the crops had failed in Cutch and the Konkan, leaving the inhabitants in and around Bombay in terrible difficulties.

Konkani merchants had descended on the Malabar Coast in order to buy up any available supplies of rice for sale in the north, and were moving inland up the roads from Calicut and Tellicherry buying up rice before it could enter the market in those towns driving up the prices and causing the townspeople to face severe shortages.

He appears to have decided to experiment with the growing of a number of alternative crops at Pallikunnu, the house he built in 1817 on the northern outskirts of Tellicherry in order to assess their potential, and as a demonstration of what might be possible.

This house built in 1817 stood in about ten acres of grounds, most of which were taken up with a large walled trial garden area on the northern side of the house facing the river.



From the kitchen garden looking into trial plantation area.

We do not know all the different types of plants that he experimented with, but amongst the trees ground at Pallikunnu were some Mulberry trees. Some of these trees survived until the middle of the twentieth century, before having to be cut down due to the arrival of a disease that affects Mulberry trees which had arrived in the town.



An abandoned processing building in the trial plantation area.


It is not clear where or when Thomas Baber first became aware of silk culture or Mulberry trees, but it is quite likely that this was during one of his many trips to Seringapatam, to which he had been travelling on legal business since 1806 connected with the trial of the adherents of the Pazhassi Rajah. Later as an Appeal Court judge he would go there once or twice a year.

Silk has been grown for many centuries in India, however Kerala was not one of the areas where silk was generally grown or produced.

Tipu Sultan had understood the importance of silk to the Indian economy, and it's potential as an export commodity to exchange for European goods.

As early as 1785 Tipu Sultan had sent Buhauddeen and Kustoory Runga from Seringapatam to Bengal to try to procure suitable high quality silk worms. Tipu had previously planted Mulberry trees near his palace in preparation for the arrival of these silk worms.

An area of land had been set aside behind the old palace at Seringapatam in which these trees and the worms could be developed.

Tipu had even sent emissaries as far as China and Muscat in his search for the best silk worms.[1]

I believe that Thomas Baber had become aware of the work that Tipu had done, and that he had managed to acquire Mulberry trees seedlings and silk worms from Seringapatam.

The experimental work at Pallikunnu began in 1815 and continued until 1817, as is described in Thomas Baber's evidence given to the House of Lords in 1830, and which appears below.

It would appear that Thomas had planted these trees before he had completed the construction of his house.

In the latter part of 1824, Thomas Baber was moved away from Tellicherry and into the South Mahratta Country to Dharwar where he became Principle Collector and Political Agent. Here he found himself responsible as part of his duties for the running of a large prison containing several hundred Mahratta prisoners.

These were often men who had spent all their formative life as Pindaris engaged in raiding and who had been opposed to the EIC during the Mahratta Wars.

They had no craft or way of making a living, as they did not possess any other skills besides those associated either with crime or war. They would of necessity return to their former violent means of earning a living if they could not be provided with an alternative.

Thomas appears to have decided to try to occupy them in gaol and to teach them a trade so that they could support themselves when they were eventually released.

At this time in Britain Penal Reform was a relatively new idea, and I have no idea if Thomas Baber took his inspiration from John Howard (1726 - 1790) who had published a book called The State of Prisons in England and Wales, in 1777, the year in which Thomas Baber had been born, or whether he had just reached similar conclusions to Howard from his experience of living directly over the gaol inside Tellicherry fort.

From whatever cause, he soon had approval from his colleagues.

William Chaplin, Tom’s superior recognised and encouraged his efforts. Writing from Poona he said: -


18th July 1825.

You will see from my official letter, that your cloth manufacture is very much approved. I should like much to get a model of one of your looms, if you could supply me, though I am not sure, when I have got it, that we should know how to use it, without sending some people to be instructed.

The origin of the models he had used to build these looms is fascinating. Thomas Hervey Baber's brother Henry Hervey Baber was Keeper of the Printed Books at the British Library, as well as a member of the Royal Society. This gave Henry Baber access to all the books in publication in Britain. He also was responsible for meeting, assessing and getting to know anybody who used the library.

At this period the scientic community was very small, and Henry must have known a great many of them. This must have enabled him to obtain a suitable model that would allow full scale versions to be built inside the gaol.

Thomas had written to his brother to ask that 1/5th scale models be made of the most efficient looms being produced at that time in Britain.

Having spent fortunes on developing silk weaving technologies and factories in Britain over the previous decades, it is highly likely that the British textile manufacturers would have objected very strongly had they realised that these models were intended to be transported taking their advanced technologies out to India.

Thomas Baber appears to have been setting out to redress the balance in favour of India.

Forover two hundred years highly Indian skilled handloom operators had produced silk cloth, which had been greatly prized in Europe.

These handcraft workers living in the Coromandel, Orrissa and Bengal regions had been profitably engaged in the market for centuries.

However after about 1760, they had lost their dominance, first because of the wars in India, and then because of the Industrial Revolution in England, which had seen water and then steam powered looms replace Indian textile workers in the production of silk cloth.

This had caused huge social and economic disruption in India where many thousands of weavers had lost their livelihoods.

It appears that Thomas Baber had realised this, and had decided to take matters into his own hands and to set up new factories in India that would allow the disadvantaged Indian's to regain their former industry.

Thomas later wrote in 1829: -


“I introduced European looms, and manufacture of numerous fabrics, quite new to the people. Vide my evidence before the Committee of the House of Lords. I also introduced Silk-worms, and European reels for winding the silk…..


He also set about using his prison labour force to grow and plant Mulberry trees: -


Large Plantations of which I had commenced upon, and also numerous manufactures, such as paper, canvas, carpeting, blankets etc, etc, all by means of my convicts.

His 1830 account given in evidence to the House of Lords Selct Committee on Indian affairs is set out below.

Are there any Silk Establishments in the Part of the Country with which you are acquainted?

Thomas: Not where I have been in Authority. I introduced one myself while I was at Dharwar, which succeeded remarkably well; it was entirely conducted by the Convicts of my Gaol.

Is the Soil suited to the Growth of the Mulberry?

Yes, the White Mulberry.

How long was it before you left India that you established it?

Two Years; that is, in 1815, 1816 and Part of 1817.

Does it continue to this Time?

I am afraid that my Successor has not taken the Interest in that and other new Manufactures and Cultivation I introduced; such as Indigo and Bourbon Cotton; also in weaving Cotton, Woollen and Hemp by means of English Looms, &c. &c.

Is there any Obstacle arising out of the Regulations of the Government to the Extension of Cultivation?

None whatever; but I do not think sufficient Encouragement is held out to the People.

It requires a considerable Capital to carry it on extensively, does it not?

No, I did not find that the Case with either Silk or Indigo; they appeared to me to be attended with very little Expence.

How long is it before a Mulberry Plantation is sufficiently productive in Leaves to make it repay for the planting?

A Year or Two, it will produce. After the first Year, I have had them gathered in my own Garden, and those Gardens planted by the Convicts; watering regularly every Day during the hot Months, they produce an abundant Supply.

Did you ever endeavour to induce any Persons having Property to undertake the Cultivation of the Mulberry?

I held out all the Encouragement I could, by inviting the People to look at my Plantations and Manufactures; I also sent Specimens of the Silk I had made all over the Country. I had periodical Sales of both Silk and Indigo. Whenever I went on Circuit through my Districts, I took with me Two or Three of the English Looms, to instruct the People in the Use of them. Those with the Flying Shuttle were made by Two Soldiers out of the European Regiment at Belgâm.

What do you conceive to have been the Cause that prevented Individuals embarking in it?

For Want of sufficient Encouragement, and competent Persons to undertake it.

Do you think it would answer to any British Subject possessing Capital to undertake upon a large Scale the Cultivation of the Mulberry?

I think it would be a very advantageous Speculation. My periodical Reports of the Labour of my Convicts, to the Government of Bombay, will shew the Extent to which I carried these new Speculations.

In what Part of the Country was it that you established this?

At Dharwar, in the Southern Mahratta Country.

Is that the Seat of the Local Government?

It is.

If any Individual had proposed to take Land on Lease for the Purpose of trying an Experiment of that kind, would he have obtained a Lease for that Purpose?

Certainly not, if he was an European.

Did any European ever apply for Permission to have Land on Lease for that Purpose?

The Two Soldiers, whom I had employed, and who had been Glasgow Weavers, after having been, I think, a Month, and just as I was sending them back to their Regiment, intreated of me to write to the Commanding Officer to obtain their Discharge, that they might carry on the Silk and Cotton Works. Those were the only Europeans I had an Opportunity of seeing. [2]

In addition to these plantations in his gaol Thomas also established schools founded for youths at Dharwar and Hoobly, where upwards of 150 youths were given an education, to fit them for public employment. Thomas wrote proudly in 1829 that twenty of these young men had already entered public employment.

At the time when Thomas Baber gave his evidence in 1830 he appeared to believe that his efforts had been in vain, however Thomas Baber's efforts seem to have borne fruit because Hubli and Dharwar have become and remain one of the largest textile manufacturing centres in India.

Hubli – Dharwar city in 1991 and a population of 648,000. The cities of Hubli and Dharwar, which were 13 miles apart, have grown to such an extent that they were incorporated as one city in 1961.

Dharwar is the district administrative centre for a rice- and cotton-growing area. Hubli is a trade and transportation centre, with cotton and silk factories, railway workshops, and a major newspaper industry. [3]

Dharwar is now the largest area of production of silk outside China, and Tellicherry played a significant part in starting it all off.

I would be fascinated to learn if either the original gaol survives in Dharwar, or any of the Mulberry plantations survive to this day. If you live in Dharwar, and know anything about these events, please contact me at Balmer.nicholas@gmail.com


[1] Mohammed Moienuddin, Sunset at Srirangapatam, published 2000, page 8.

[2] From: British History Online Source: Affairs of the East India Company: Minutes of evidence: 06 April 1830. House of Lords Journal Volume 62.

[3] The Columbia Encyclopaedia, Fifth Edition 1994, 1995 Columbia University Press.

Murdoch Brown, (1750-1828) the early days.

Murdoch Brown was a fascinating character, and one who played a central role in most of the major events that took place in Northern Malabar between 1790 and 1828.

Opinions differ widely over his conduct, and had he lived in this modern politically correct world, he would most probably have been condemned for his actions, as he was by Thomas Hervey Baber in 1811. However to most of his contemporaries, he was probably seen as a man of affairs, and as somebody who was highly capable, and who got things done, often in very difficult circumstances.

In the course of following two articles, I will try to outline his life and times, as well as his conflict with Thomas Baber. I will also explore his impact on the wider issues surrounding his part in the war with the Pazhassi Raja.

Originally a Scot born in Edinburgh in 1750, Brown travelled first as a young man to continental Europe, visiting Lisbon, where he is thought to have found work.

It is not entirely clear when he first determined to go out to India, or indeed why, but without any obvious source of patronage, he would not have stood much chance of acquiring a position in the English East India Company.

Like many other Scots trying to make their way in the World at that time, opportunities at home in Scotland were limited, and he decided that he needed to look outside the United Kingdom.

By 1770 several East India Companies besides the English one,[the East India Company, EIC.] had been formed in Europe, including the Dutch,[Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie,VOC.], French, Ostend, Danish, and Swedish East India Companies.

Many of these companies already employed substantial numbers of Scots. In some cases, these Scots played such an important roles, that there were frequent complaints from the Directors of the E.I.C. and the British Government that these foreign companies, were in effect flags of convenience, run by Scottish interlopers as a way to get around the EIC's monoploy of trade between Britain and India.

Colin Campbell (1686 - 1757) was typical example of these highly enterprising Scots, originally an E.I.C. employee, he became a director of the Swedish East India Company from 1731 to 1757. H did this as a way of re-entering trade with India following his dismissal from the East India Company.

It would appear that Murdoch Brown, decided in about 1775, to emulate these earlier Scots. He joined the newly formed österreichisch-ostindische Handelscompagnie. [Austrian Ostend Trading Company.] This company was a newly formed company, which followed in the footsteps of an earlier company that was originally based in Ostend, which was then part of the Austrian Empire. During the 1720's this earlier Ostend East India Company, had operated very largely as a flag of convenience for many excluded English and Scottish merchants who wanted to trade to India as interlopers, outside the EIC monopoly.

The new company had been founded in 1775 by William Bolt, a Dutch man who had been dismissed from the British East India Company in Calcutta in the 1760's for corruption.

Edward Baber, Thomas Hervey Baber's uncle, had been a Writer in Calcutta at that time, and it was Edward Baber who Bolt had tried to persuade to return bonds, so that Bolt could alter the documents, to suit his own purposes. Bolt had subsequently been dismissed as a result of these events, and had returned to Britain where he published a highly critical book "Considerations on India Affairs: Particularly Respecting the Present State of Bengal and its Dependencies..." on the affairs of the EIC.

Bolt commanded a ship called the 'Joseph und Theresia’ which sailed from Livorno on the 24th of September 1776 bound for India, intending to go first to the Portuguese settlement of Goa.

Livorno was known as Leghorn at this time by the British who used the port as their main trading centre in Italy. As Leghorn, the port appears in many accounts from the period as the preferred seaport for travellers on the Grand Tour trying to avoid the Alpine passes.

It appears that the British in India used diplomacy to obstruct the ships trade along the coast of India, so that Bolts sailed onto the Nicobar Islands where on the 12th of July 1778 and he claimed one of them as a settlement which he named as 'Theresia' in honour of the Austrian Queen, Maria Theresia.

The company was later transformed into the Asian Trading Company headquartered in Trieste in 1780 and was dissolved in 1785.[1]

It is very likely that it was as a member of the crew of the Joseph and Theresia that Murdoch Brown, then aged 28 first reached India.

In order to collect sufficient cargo from the ports along these coasts, it was usual for merchant ships to call at several ports along the coast to collect sufficient cargo to fill their holds. Ships could only spend a limited time on the coast due to the need to avoid the monsoon and to take advantage of the season winds that carried them back and forth with the rhythms of the weather patterns. This meant that is was usual to leave behind small shore parties to negotiate contracts for future seasons cargoes, so that these cargoes could be waiting on the shore when the ships arrived.

It would appear that Murdoch Brown was one of those intended to undertake this role for the new company. Brown may have in time also become Consul, in addition to his duties as a merchant or Supercargo.

The existing colonial powers and companies will have used their influence wherever possible to make his life as difficult as possible, by turning the local Rajah's and merchants against him.

However at this period some of the local rulers were still independant enough to command the respect of the East India Companies. Calicut for istance had at least three separate trading company compounds along its beach at this period. The British, French and Danish each had a factory or settlement.

It is not possible at this stage in my research to be sure where Brown first settled in India. However it appears that after 1785, with the failure of Bolt's company, Brown aged 35, found himself out without an employer.

He seems to have transferred his allegiance to the Danish Company, for whom it appears that he worked as their Agent initially at Alleppey. In the course of his business, Brown appears to have become fluent in several Malayalam languages and dialects.

The Danes had had an area of ground at Calicut awarded to them by the Zamorin for a factory [2][nowadays known as Kozhikode]as far back as the 17th April 1752.[3] This piece of land was called "Valappil Kadute" and was located just south of the French Factory, near the site of the old Jail or Market Rooms.

Ansen Bonsaco Governor of Tranquebar, had sent Jacob Christovo Suytman to negotiate with the Zamorin for right to a factory in that year. The Danish factory appears to have been maintained in Calicut until 1788[4] when the area became embroiled in a violent conflict whilst Tipu Sultan was engaged in trying to put down a rebellion by the nairs who were fighting to recover the town following Hyder Ali's earlier successful invasion.

Murdoch Brown is believed to have married a lady called Eliza King, who was educated in a convent at St Omer in 1790.[5]

Manuel Bernades, the Danish Factor fled from the Danish factory at Calicut, when instructed to do so by Fouzdar Arsad Beg Khan. It is at this point that Murdoch Brown reappears in the documentary record, when in 1792 and 1793, he wrote from Alleppey as the Danish Agent to the East India Company at Tellicherry requesting that they restore the Factory to the Danish Company.

Brown then moved to Mahé where he was living by 1795. Being denied a post within the East India Company, Brown if he wished to remain in India, must have been forced to move to the nearest available town that was not commanded by the EIC. Calicut had come under British effective control by 1792.

Mahé was only five miles from Tellicherry, and although it had been taken by the British from the French on the 19th of March 1779, it had had to be restored to France under the Treaty of Versailles on the 20th of January 1783.

Murdoch Brown set himself up as a merchant at Mahé, where with the assistance of Wallapagata Assen Ally [6], who he appears to have employed as his business manager, forming a business partnership that was to endure until at least 1811. Ally may have come to Mahé with Brown from Alleppey.

With the renewed out break of the Anglo French Wars The East India Company forces under Lieutenant Colonel Hartley, was able to capture Mahé again on the 16th of July 1793.

Mahé was one of the few ports open to Tipu Sultan in the period between his first defeat in 1791, and his final defeat in 1799. Tipu was trying to break the steadily growing stranglehold that the EIC. was establishing on the remaining trade and communications routes out of India. The French and the Ottoman's were Tipu's best source of external support, and these could only be reached through a sea port.

In French hands, Mahé provided a conduit for embassies to Isle De France, and via Suez to Constantinople. Weapons and ammunition, as well as French military advisers and adventurers, could also enter India via Mahé.

It appears that Murdoch Brown played an important role in providing these resources and also in selling pepper produced inland via a route that was outside the EIC's control. This is illustrated by the following correspondance captured and published after the fall of Seringapatam in 1799.

Your Minister Asheruff Ali Khan arrived at Mangalore in the beginning of the year 1793. He there received the fusees and was satisfied with them; I was paid only in part; he gave me an order for 14,000 Rupees upon Brown of Mahé who gave me a bill on another person, and I have not yet received payment but it is no longer your Highness who is responsible to me for the amount.[7]

Feelings ran high against Brown in Tellicherry amongst EIC military men,and some civilian officials in the aftermath of the second war with Tipu, because he along with other British merchants based in Bombay, had been instrumental in supplying Tipu with muskets, and other military supplies.

During 1796 Walter Ewer, an EIC. official was sent from Calcutta to the Malabar Coast to report on the state of affairs there. He wrote privately to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas (1742-1811), who was from 1794 to 1801 War Secretary, and was responsible for the colonies under William Pitt.

These letters which appear to have gone directly to Dundas bypassing East India Company channels, and they offer a very acutely observed set of observations on events in the Malabar area. Ewer thought that Brown was a cause of a lot of the difficulties that were arising in the region, as can be seen in the following extracts.

Murdoch Brown. As this gentleman’s name makes a very conspicuous Figure in the affairs of Malabar, it would not be doing him Justice to pass him over in silence; He is a Merchant at Mahé, a man of abilities, & perfectly acquainted with everything relating to the Province. He has given a great deal of useful information to Mr. Duncan, who in Return, has appointed him Malabar Interpreter to the Commissioners to the exclusion of some young gentlemen in the service who had applied themselves to the language.

This gives him great influence with the Commrs. This much I must mention on this “Gentleman’s" Behalf, as I do not wish to detract from his Merit. But I am firmly of Opinion, that if he had his Deserts, he ought to be hanged as a Traitor to his country, or sent Prisoner of War to Bombay. He is said to be, & really appears to be, a Scotchman, if he is, he is fortunate in having escaped the former of these Fates; He has lived at Mahe as a Dane, & an Austrian, & finished his career of Countries, by defending the Place in Arms, as a Frenchman, in which situation he was taken; Let him chuse his Country being found in arms, he is certainly a Prisoner of War; Tis said he was concerned in the War before last, with some Merchants of Bombay, in supplying the Enemy with Provisions & Stores; this is not so much to his Discredit as to theirs, & I only introduce it, because it is said to have given him Considerable Interest, both at that place and in England.

It is supposed he is to receive some great mark of Distinction, & to be taken into regular service of the Company. If this is done it will fix Disgrace on that Service which never can be wiped off. The Company are already indebted to him, for the loss of some very able young men who would have made a conspicuous Figure of it. He may do very well as an interpreter, with a check over him, but no persons at all acquainted with mankind, would put confidence in such a character. [8]

Walter Ewer returned to the subject of Murdoch Brown when discussing customs revenues.

There can be no doubt but the Customs on this Coast may be increased considerably, if properly managed, as at present immense Quantities of Goods, are smuggled, by Moupa, Murdoch Brown & other merchants at least tis so reported. It is whisper’d here, that Murdoch Brown is to be employed in the Customs, if it is on the Principle, that a reformed Thief makes a good Thief taker, it may be very proper, & I will engage that the Customs will increase, as he will take care that no one smuggles but himself. Though they will not increase so much, as if a Custom Master was appointed (with three or four European Writers under him on different stations) responsible only to Government, & not liable every moment to be worried by Commissioners, perhaps his juniors. [9]

However, other observers recognised Murdoch Brown's undoubted abilities, especially in regard of his knowledge of the local languages, and in the depth of his understanding of local conditions and cultures. In this respect, Brown was probably unrivalled at this period.

As Francis Buchanan describes in his book, "A Journey from Madras Through the Countries of Mysore, Canara, and Malabar."

From Cadrur Mr. Wilson was so good as to conduct me to the Companies plantation at Angara Cundy, where I was kindly received by Mr Brown, before mentioned. He has management of the Plantation, and collects the revenue of a small district named Randaterra, over which Mr Stachy is the magistrate. The country between Cadrur and the river on the banks of which Angara Cundy is situated, is almost entirely deserted, and overgrown with trees and bushes. It rises into small hills, intermixed with narrow vallies (sic) fit for the cultivation of rice; but the extent of these, in proportion to that of the hills, seems to be smaller than in most parts of the province. The whole seems to have been formerly cultivated; and the hilly ground is less steep than usual for Malabar.

The road all the way was good even for a cart.

The plantation has of late been much molested by the Nairs, and the eastern part of it has fallen into their hands; so that for the protection of what remains, it has been necessary to station a European Officer, with a company of Sepoys, at Mr Brown’s house. The Nairs are so bold, that at night they frequently fire into Mr Brown’s dwelling: and the last officer stationed there was lately shot dead, as he was walking in front of the house. Many valuable experiments are now carrying on in the plantation, which in an afternoon’s walk Mr. Brown was so good as to explain. [10]

The "Dictionary of Indian Biography" held at the Society of Genealogists' Library says of Brown.

"BROWN, Murdoch. Born at Edinburgh 1750; left Scotland for Lisbon merely for the voyage but never returned: found work in Lisbon, made his way through Europe: in 1775 went out as Consul to Calicut for the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria: engaged in trade, of which Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, wrote, 1792, as the most considerable of any British subject on that side of India: he lost eleven ships, East Indiamen, of 1,000 tons or more in the war with France: in 1798 he took over from Government as a plantation "Five Tarras of Randaterra" (The Anjrakandy estate) in Malabar: was granted, in 1802, a 99 years' lease, being the earliest English landholder in India: the natives regarded him as their Raja: none but the lowest caste would work on the estate, which was wasted by war: he educated his tenants and Christianized them by native catechists and German missionaries, raising them to the scale of civilisation: he spoke seven European languages and five or six Oriental languages: died at Tellicherry, 1828."[11]

How Murdoch Brown came to be running the plantation at Anjarakandy, and the serious consequences and events that followed, will be outlined in my next article.

If you have read this article and have any comments, or are able to offer additional information or corrections to anything I have written about Murdoch Brown's earlier life, I would welcome your comments by email to balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

Nick Balmer Copyright 30th December 2007.

[1]http://www.indianembassy.at/index.php?content=./content/austria/CultureBackground.php
[2]Factory, here is used in an older form of meaning, as a warehouse or Godown combined with living accomodation for the merchants, rather than a building where things are manufacturered.
[3]See William Logan's "A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and other Papers of Importance" published 1879, 1891, 1951, 1989, page 104. CXV.
[4] Logan gives two conflicting dates, in this book "Treaties", on page 106 he says 1778, and in "Malabar Manual" page 502, he gives 1788.
[5]From http://www.zip.com.au/~lnbdds/home/adasudeley.htm
[6]The Asiatic Journal July 1828, page 673.
[7]From Official Documents, Relative to the Negotiations Carried on by Tippoo Sultan with the French Nation etc. Published 1799, at Calcutta. By Neil Benjamin Edmonstone. Page 107.
[8]OIOC. IOR H/438 Walter Ewer Folio 148.
[9]OIOC. IOR H/438 Walter Ewer Folio 158.
[10] Buchanan Vol 2, page 546.
[11] From http://www.zip.com.au/~lnbdds/home/adasudeley.htm, and The Dictionary of Indian Biography, by C.E. Buckland.

A brief history of the Pazhassi Raja.

A Nair grave monument showing one of these fierce warriors, and dated about 1700 AD. [1]

Part 1

When the Pazhassi Raja finally decided to break with his English allies during the spring of 1797, it followed many years of conflict and encroachment into his and his family’s lands and entitlements by the East India Company.

Before about 1680, the Kolattiri family had controlled an area running inland from a point on the coast situated about twelve miles north of Cannanore [Kannur] and then in a line across heading in an easterly direction towards the base of the Ghats. Their inland territorial boundary had then run south along the base of the Ghats down to a point just north of the Kotta River, and from there along the northern bank back towards the coast.

Arab and Muslim traders had been visiting his ancestors coastal villages regularly for centuries, but these landings had tended to last for only a short duration whilst these overseas traders had bargained for pepper, cardoman and sandal wood.

The first European’s to arrive had been the Portuguese who were then followed by the Dutch. Although these traders had settled at Cannanore and had had posts at Calicut, they had not thought the Kottayam area important enough for carrying on these trades to have set up permanent trading posts or to have established permanent settlements in.

With the arrival of the French in the 1690’s this had all changed.

The Raja’s grandparents and great grandparents had been part of a divided family. Nominally headed by a matriarch, the real power was however wielded by the five senior men in the family. The Kolattiri had been the most senior, with the Tekkalankar (or southern regent) controlling the Mahe area, and the Vadakkalankur (the northern regent). These petty rajahs behaved like many modern day politicians constantly jockeying for power with their fellow rulers. They each had their own gangs of thugs and supporters, with whom they enforced their will on the local villagers.

To add strength to their cause during these power struggles, they had each individually begun to invoke the support of the powerful new arrivals along the coast. The Tekkalankar was one of first to do so, agreeing to a French request to be allowed to establish trading posts in his area.

The French built forts during the 1670 to 1685 period at Mahé, on Dharmapattanam Island, as well as a mud fort, sited on the beach located at a small fishing village that was later to become Tellicherry.

Due to lack of skilled staff, and because of its emphasis on building forts, they expended all of their trading capital, causing the French East India Company to be a poor trading partner. They had too high an overheads to be able to make a profit, and consequently the French company struggled to prosper and to extend its operations in India in the early years. Only the settlement at Mahé really succeeded to any great extent. This settlement was located in the Vadakkalankar’s territory, and he was the Tekkalankar biggest rival.

The English East India Company operated in a more commercial manner than the French in the early years, avoiding defended settlements with their expensive walls, whenever possible and garrisons that soon ate up any profits made.

The English had factories (warehouses linked to accommodation blocks) at Calicut, Cochin, and Anjengo, but faced with rapidly growing demand for pepper caused by the economic boom of the 1690’s to 1710 in northern Europe, they needed more and more supplies of pepper and spices, if they were to meet demand.

They could no longer afford to let the French gain unfettered control of the Kottayam pepper crop, and the valuable cardoman coming from the inland area of the Wyanad coming down the Periya Pass . Sandalwood from Mysore, was also reaching the coast from across the Wyanad.

The Tekkalankar had found the French poor allies, and needing a counter force to equal the Vadakkalankar’s French allies, he switched his allegiance to the English.

He reached agreement with the English and in about 1699 leased the site of the abandoned Tellicherry fort to the English. It was not however until about 1705 that the English started to built a fort on the site of the current fort.On the 20^th of August 1708, the Tekkalankar formally made over the fort to the English.

Over the following years the demand for pepper and other goods grew exponentially.

This caused huge tensions inside the existing Kolattiri family, as they fought amongst themselves over who should control the trade and the associated revenues.

The family’s retainers and attendant dependant castes were expected to adapt their cultivation to provide more and more cash crop pepper. This agrarian society with its strict caste system, and entrenched custom’s and practise based on subsidence farming, could not readily adapt to large scale agricultural practise required to meet demand. The trade and prosperity brought about by the protection of the English fort and ships increasingly attracted in large numbers of Muslim traders from the north.

The English East India Company officials received very low pay, and were expected to take part in their own country trade, to supplement their pay.

They were not allowed to ship directly to Europe, but the EIC did not mind them trading between different Indian and Asia ports.

Lacking the necessary capital and language skills to trade directly with Indian's, these officials allied themselves to Muslim’s from the north from Surat and Bombay.

In this way the Muslim’s benefited from English protection, as the Muslim merchants goods became “English”, thereby escaping many internal tolls.

The savings in tolls achieved were split with the English partner. In this way many EIC officials amassed a fortune far above their nominal salaries.

By about 1760, these Mopillas had become firmly established in Tellicherry as middlemen. They were establishing plantations and villages of their own.

They had discovered that there was an excellent way to force out the less well organised the Hindu farmers from their pepper gardens. These farmers would run short of cash for basic items like food in the run up to the pepper harvest.

The Mopilla merchants would lend these farmers cash based on the predicted forward price of the coming harvest’s pepper. If the money were not repaid, they would convert the outstanding amount into a mortgage on the Hindu’s land.

When that was in turn defaulted on, they would attempt to seize the lands.

In this way the Mopilla’s acquired more and more land beyond the boundary of the English settlement, and up towards the foothills of the Ghats.

The ousted destitute Hindu farmers would then appeal to their overlord or Rajah for support.

The Hindu’s lived in thinly scattered plantations, whilst the incoming Muslim’s built villages and especially Mosques.

These incoming Muslims were often aggressive and militant in their own right, and soon began to demand extra territorial rights.

This led to a series of wars, the overt ones between the Raja’s Nairs against the EIC, and a far more vicious low intensity conflict between the Moppilas and the Hindu Tiyars and Nairs in the villages in the fringes of the Jungles and plantations a few miles inland of the European settlements.

The Dutch, French, Ali Raja of Cannanore and Canarese all intervened in these conflicts, sometimes aiding one side and then another, and often trying to stop the wars because it meant that the pepper supplies often dried up.

In 1761 the Mysore Government also became involved in the dispute that had broken out between their co-regionists, and the Kolattiri Regent over a mosque built with a golden spire.

This golden roof was in contravention of a custom whereby only the Raja’s were allowed such roofs on pagodas. By 1766 the Kolattiri family’s possessions had been overrun.

Hyder Ali reduced them to vassals.

The European’s became involved in these wars, as first the Dutch, then the French and finally the English became intervened. In 1782 Tipu Sultan succeeded Hyder Ali.

Tipu was a very effective leader and a great reformer, and he intended to challenge the growing dominance of the English. He recognised that India had to reform many of its practises and industrial and agricultural methods if it were to develop to a point where it could beat off the European's.

As the French Revolutionary War’s commenced, the English were able to extinguish the other European powers factories one by one.

The Indian commodity producers now only had one customer, and this enabled the EIC to force the price paid to producers lower and lower in the confident knowledge that the farmer’s had no where else to sell their crops to.

Tipu understood the seriousness of the situation and aimed to break the EIC stranglehold on the Indian overseas trading routes.

Like Hyder Ali, he also understood that he needed to establish a viable route to the sea, and to do so he needed technical assistance, and alternative markets.

He first tried to force a route down to the Coromandel Coast, but in this he was unsuccessful, so he turned his attention towards the Malabar Coast and it's ports.

These routes had however to be captured from both the local Rajah's whose lands sat across the tracks down the Ghats to the coast, as well as from the European's who controlled the ports themselves.

A series of campaigns followed with attacks on Mangalore proving successful after a fierce siege.

Tipu needed support if he was to remain successful so he sent emissaries to the French at Isle De France, and to the Ottoman and Egyptian courts.

By doing this Tipu demonstrated to the British East Company that he represented a very real threat, and probably the only remaining credible threat to the EIC remaining in India.

This multinational company was expected by its shareholders to return a profit, but the constant wars were eating up any margin made on the trade.

The prices paid on pepper etc. had to be forced down if they were maintain a sufficient margin to be able to pay for these wars. Prices had to be maintained in Europe as well, and most pepper in Europe by now was travelling through London.

Competition had to be stifled if dividends were to be maintained.

The Director’s in London knew they had to destroy Tipu’s country before it became powerful enough to challenge their growing monopoly position.

It was the misfortune of the Pazhassi Raja that he and his subjects lived on the only alternative trade route from Tipu's Seringapatam to a coast.

When Tipu invaded the Wayanad and then the Malabar Coast, the English initially lacked the power to fight Tipu directly, and therefore sort to fight him asymmetrically by using local allies and by relying on the traditional defence of the peoples of the Malabar coast against the Mysorean’s and the other largely Muslim dominated inland people’s.

This defence was the forests of the Wyanad, and the Western Ghats. The monsoon and the rain shadow effect produced dense forests, ill suited to the cavalry dominated Muslim led armies. The Pazhassi Raja and his Hindu allies were ideally placed to fight a guerilla war of stockades, ambushes and forest warfare.

For previous generations, this had worked, for even if the armies of Hyder Ali had reached the coast, they could not remain there indefinitely due to their long supply chain, and the insurgent attacks on their posts and supply convoys in the rear.

Where Tipu differed from previous Muslim rulers was in his determination and ability to innovate. Learning lessons from the failure of his and Hyder Ali's previous campaign’s and learning from European advisers and deserters, he set out to build supply and gun roads across the forests, supported by a series of fortified posts like that at Sultan Battery. (The Sultan’s gun position).

By 1790 the situation for both the English and the local Malabar rulers had become critical. Tipu’s troops were raiding right up to the bounds of the settlements. Reinforcements were shipped down the coast and General Medows was appointed commander in chief.

Tipu’s rocketeers and cannon out gunned the Pazhassi Raja and the other Hindu’s.

Soon Tipu’s army, aided by intelligence from the indigenous and immigrant Moppila community was hanging Christian’s in Calicut, and slaughtering thousand’s of Hindu’s and brutally defiling many others. Hindu women were being gang raped and turned over as concubines to the Muslim troops.

On the April 25^th 1790 the English moved columns out of Tellicherry with cannon insupport of 3,000 Kottayam and Chirakkal Nairs. This force almost certainly included the Pazhassi Raja. Their target was the recovery of the stockade at Katirur and the Kottayam Raja’s Palace.

This palace was liberated with the assistance of a hurriedly brought up 18 pounder cannon used to smash down the stockade, where the lighter guns had tried and failed.

Throughout the following months leading up to the monsoon, the local armies increasingly supported by the East India Company took back town after town.

Tipu’s fort at Palghat was besieged by Colonel Stuart commencing on the 21^st of September.

With only two days provisions and an empty military chest, Stuart and his army was in a desperate condition. However the Nairs and others in the Malabar community realising that Stuart represented their best hope of ridding themselves of Tipu’s by now hated army brought in so much food that Stuart was able to capture the fort, and to leave its new garrison supplied for six months.

Tipu’s army was over stretched, and the East India Company was mobilising its Madras based forces, to the east of Seringapatam. He had to withdraw.

In February 1791 Lord Cornwallis led his army out from Vellore to Seringapatam.

Tipu was on the point of being defeated, when the EIC armies supply chain failed.

Cornwallis had to retreat, destroying his guns as he went.

When however Cornwallis and the Madras Army made a further attempt on Seringapatam in February 1792. Tipu submitted, rather than face defeat; he agreed to sign a treaty.

At this point the Pazhassi Raja along with the other Malabar local rulers had assumed that the English would return to their coastal bases, and that the situation would return to it’s previous state. The Raja hoped as the dominant new leader would become the Kolattiri and reap the rewards of power.

What he had not understood was that the East India Company was a multinational company, albeit one with a powerful government shareholder. It had to yield a dividend, and it had just expended a huge sum on driving out Tipu.

The Raja was just one of many petty rulers whose territory they had liberated.

The treaty with Tipu had handed over many of these rights to the East India Company. The EIC did not see why they should abandon these rights and lands that they believed they were entitled to by right of conquest.

Like a modern day oil company, whose oilfields have been the scene of war, and had to get oil back flowing again, the EIC had to get the pepper crop going again in this devastated land as fast as possible if it was going to recoup its wartime expenditure.

Due to the structure of the Raja’s community’s society, and the rigid caste system, it was impossible for the Raja to restore and re-develop the pepper plantations sufficiently fast, to meet demand. Only part of this Hindu population would consent to farming, whilst most would refuse for fear of losing their caste.

The EIC had obtained the rights to large areas of land in the treaty with Tipu including the Rangatarra district. This area had been the home territory of the Vadakkalankur (the northern regent). The Kurumbrand Raja was the Kolattiri, or most senior Raja. The Pazhassi Raja was his nephew, and under the complex traditions of the family, the person who was most likely to inherit the Kurumbrand lands.

The Pazhassi Raja may well have been trying to supersede the Kurumbrand Raja, who appears to have been disposed to pass the land on to his own children, in contravention of the customary practise.

The Kurumbrand Raja on more than one occasion seems to have gone out of his way to create conflict between the Pazhassi Raja and the EIC. The East India Company determined to get production up and going again, decided that their Muslim partners, with their more egalitarian society, and greater available working population, and access to capital, should be the means of increasing production.

Soon traders like the Mousa family began to take on more and more of the farms. This caused the Rajah and his increasingly marginalised community to greatlyresent both the EIC and the Mopillas. Soon reprisals commenced.

The Rajah used increasingly brutal ways to try to collect taxes from the Moppillas, and many of the later took to the forests on the foothills of the Ghats operating as bandits.

Kerala Varma Raja was by April 1793, Raja of the Padinyaru Kovilakam (or western palace).This was located at Palassi.

During this month he pulled down a Mopilla mosque recently built in Kottayam bazaar, and in September 1793, he went on to refuse the Mopillas of Kodolli permission to build a mosque.

When they went ahead anyway, he sent men to arrest the leaders. A fight broke out in which several of the Raja’s men were killed. The Raja in turn ordered all of the Mopillas in Kodolli killed.

A Commission had been appointed by the East India Company to try to administer the newly occupied lands. At first it tolerated the Raja, probably because of the fear of alienating him and his community.

They were aware that Tipu was preparing for another round of fighting, and did not wish to alienate the Hindu’s. The Pazhassi Raja was also connected by marriage to the Wyanad families who controlled the best of the pepper production.

The Pazhassi Raja realised that his only viable means of resisting the English was by passive measures. He was worried that the English were trying to arrest him, and so he refused to go to Tellicherry for talks.

In November 1793 he threatened to cut down all of his pepper vines if the EIC officials persisted in trying to count them.

Because the Kurumbrand Raja was more tractable, than the Pazhassi Raja, the EIC entered into agreements with the Kurumbrand Raja and ignored the claims of the Pazhassi Raja.

This proved to be a mistake because the Pazhassi Raja was in fact the younger and more able of the two. He was the emerging leader. By 1795 the Raja was being increasingly supported by people like Narangoli, a Iruvalinad Nambiar of the priestly caste, whose men had killed three Mopillas is response to a killing by a Mopilla of one of his retainers.

In June 1795 the Raja caused two Mopillas who had robbed the house of a Chetty to be impaled alive in the village of Venkad. Later that month he also shot a Mopilla through the body as he left a meeting where he had given the Raja a gift.

The EIC Commissioners finally felt that they had to act, and in August 1795, they issued orders for the Pazhassi Raja to be tried for murder.

Guarded by 500 Wyanad warriors, the Raja was too difficult to arrest, and despite troops sent to Kottayam and Manattana, he could not be seized.

Meanwhile the revenues that the East India Company had expected to raise were not coming in. The Kurumbrand Raja who had undertaken to collect them in return for a percentage, was unable to do so.

Tipu’s original assessment, which was being used, had proved to be far too high. The collections themselves were further alienating important sections of the community like the warrior Nairs, who had not previously been expected to pay tax.

The Pazhassi Raja acted as a focus to this opposition.

On April the 11^th 1796 a plan was formed to arrest the Raja.

On the 19^th of April this was put into effect when 300 men from the 3^rd Battalion of Native Infantry under Lieutenant James Gordon marched out from Tellicherry to arrest him. By chance, or possibly because he had been forewarned, the Raja had left for Manattana four days earlier.

The Raja no longer felt safe on the coastal plain so he moved into the fastness of the Wyanad.

[1] East Hill Museum, Calicut.

To be continued…. Nick Balmer 29^th December 2006. Revised October 2009.