Pallikunnu House

Pallikunnu House from the southern side.

In my excitement at finding the house, at which I had arrived during that first deliciously cool hour following a perfect Malabar dawn, filled with bird song, but otherwise peaceful, in the absence of traffic noise, I did not feel that I could with decency turn up on their front door whilst they were still probably eating their breakfast.

As the house looked very grand, and I had previously been told by the owners of my hotel that it was the home of a very important official, possibly the Collector. I was in some trepidation over what sort of reception I might get when I introduced myself.

Returning with my son at an altogether more social hour, we approached the house, and as we entered the porch, a man came to the door. We explained that we were hoping to be able to look at the house, which we believed had been built by my great great great great uncle.

Would this be possible?

He said, please wait here, leading us into the first formal room, before going off to find his master.

Durbar Room

Waiting in this room, I was immediately fascinated by its design. It was quite unlike any early 19th century room I had ever seen before, but its function seemed immediately to be clear to me. It appeared to be a room designed to be accessible not just to European visitors, but to have been designed to also be comfortable and suitable for Indian visitors.

At the time Thomas Baber was building this house, he was both a magistrate and Third Judge. In 1815 the court buildings in the town centre of Tellicherry had not been built. Magistrates would hold court wherever they happened to be. They would receive petitions, hold court, or transact business wherever they happened to be, and often this was when they were in their houses.

The size of this reception room, that could clearly hold many people at a time, was also significant, as were the stout doors leading into the rest of the private part of the house.

As spiral staircase, of relatively modest proportions led to the upper floors where the family had lived. Perhaps these details had been carefully designed with descrete security in mind, in the event of trouble in the reception room.

It was becoming clear already that Thomas Baber had applied a great deal of thought to the construction of the building, and that in many ways this was a unique attempt to build a building functional in India, rather than trying to build a facsimile of a European building in India.

Unlike the formal court room in the East Hill complex at Calicut built at about the same time, or perhaps two or three years earlier, on a European model, derived from a Roman villa.

This room was built so that the Indian's could cluster around the Magistrate in a circle, just as people do on such occasions to this day in India, at events held in the open air.

Much like the East Hill building, it had a central room, surrounded by a columned wall, separating an outer passage or area. East Hill is square, but Pallikunnu is circular.

This central space is in turn was surrounded by wooden doors that could be opened to allow ventilation, or so that people outside the room could look into the central part of the building, where no doubt Thomas and his assistants would have been attending to the business of the day.

Waiting as I was, a total stranger, for an audience possibly with the Collector, I could easily imagine what it must have been like for a nervous Indian having arrived at this house, desperate to advance his cause, or to present his petition to the Magistrate., accompanied by his friends and family.

Here was an attempt to develop a court room suitable for holding meetings where Indian's would feel at home.

We know that Thomas and his wife invited Indian's to visit and stay in the house, because members of the Travancore Royal family are recorded as having stayed in the house in 1818.

Moments later the butler returned, and said "follow me.. "

As he led us up the stairs onto the first floor, I was expecting to find our host in the first room.

I was clearly in a house lived in by a Muslim, and yet it had many surviving features from British times. As we went further and further into the house, I was getting more and more nervous, and surprised, because we were going deeper and deeper into the private part of the house.

As we turned right into a small study packed with books and papers, the owner of the house was sat behind his desk.

"I have been expecting you for three years..." he said.

Introducing himself as Mr. Haris, this dignified gentleman explained that his teenaged niece had previously found postings that I had made on the web about Thomas Baber.

He had in fact tried to contact me.

Soon we were swapping stories and information.

Mr. Haris went on to explain that his family had acquired the property in the middle of the 19th Century from an elderly bachelor Englishman who had in turn bought the property from Thomas Baber in the 1840's. Apparently the bachelor had agreed with Thomas Baber that he would pass the house on to the most appropriate Indian family he could find, and that had been Mr. Haris forebears.

Englishmen had offered higher bids for the property, but the bachelor had determined to sell the house on to Mr. Haris family for a lesser sum, in order to meet Thomas Baber's express wish.

The house had been build on top of Pallikunnu hill in the centre of a large area of ground that extended north to the river and for perhaps a mile along the river. It had a 10 acre experimental garden, and a saw mill with a workers village attached to it. The school I had passed on my way to the house had also been built in the original estate grounds.

It appeared that the original site of the house had been used as one of the outlying bastions, fortified against the besieging army under Sirdar Khan sent by Hyder Ali against the town from 1st November 1779 until January 24th 1782. These lines had been strengthened again in 1788, in fear of Tipu's army during Tipu's invasion of the Malabar Coast.

Indeed, the high walls and terraces in the grounds of the house, might have been designed to aid any future defence of the house in the event of the town being attacked.

Mr. Haris was kind enough to show us around the inside of the house. Much of the house is still as it was when Thomas built it. However the front entrance porch is a later addition, as is the second floor room over the Durbar Room. This was added by Mr. Haris family many years ago to keep the driving rain out during the monsoons when it penetrated the veranda that Thomas Baber had designed.

This newer bit can clearly be seen to have a tin roof, and the remains of the previous roof in tiles can be seen retained as a fringe over the veranda in the first photo at the top of this article.

In the roof was a very curious bit of floor let down, in level below the rest of the floor. The beautiful smoothly planed tropical hardwood floors which are used throughout the house have been chipped with an adze in this small section of floor. On either side of the passage there are large wooden cupboards of no obvious purpose. Mr. Haris asked if I had any idea of their purpose. At the time, I was at a loss to suggest any purpose at all, but in a future blog, I will bring forward an idea.

We were shown a very heavy hardwood spear that had been kept in the house. This spear which was very carefully balanced must have been a formidable weapon in the hands of an experienced Nair.

Thomas Baber had collected or confiscated many hundreds, if not thousands of weapons from Indian's during the course of the suppression of the rebellions between 1795 and 1805 and in 1812.

It appears that he had kept many of these at the house. Mr. Haris explained that during a disturbance in the region in the early twentieth century, perhaps in 1925, his grandfather fearing that his house might be attacked to enable the insurgents to get at these weapons, took the rest of these arms and threw them in a nearby river, to put them out of harm's way.

Our host had to visit his saw mill business, and was kind enough to take us down to the mills located near the river. These and some large logging ponds had all been built by Thomas Baber, to harvest hardwood in the interior and to bring it down to the coast for sawing.

He appears to have been trying to develop sustainable forestry because in the grounds of his house he had built an arboretum or trial garden that he had filled with plants and trees.

These had included Mulberry trees, but sadly they had to be cut down during Mr. Haris childhood due to a disease that was killing Mulberry trees in the district.

In a future article I will look at the contents of this garden, and at Thomas Baber's views on conservation and forests. We think that concerns about deforestation are modern ideas.

This is not the case, forward thinking people recognised the impoverishing effect of forest clearance as far back as the 1820's.

At Palikunnu Thomas Baber, was trying to set an example of what could be done to right many of the mistakes that had been made inland of Calicut and Beypore, and that would inevitably spread north into the Wayanad and districts inland of Tellicherry.

Pallikunnu House today is a private property, lived in by a very private man. I would ask that you would respect this house and man's privacy. It is not open to the public.

Arriving at Tellicherry in the 1830's.

Tellicherry in 1778

For most people travelling to Tellicherry, [or Thalassery as it is now known.] in the 1830's, the usual arrival route was by sea.

Henry Bevan, an officer from the 27th Regiment of the Madras Native Infantry, describes the town in the 1830's his book "Thirty Years in India: Or A Soldier's Reminiscences of Native and European in the Presidencies from 1808 to 1838".

Bevan had commanded the Wynaad Rangers in the 1820's, and knew the area well. He like Thomas Baber, gave evidence in the House of Lords to the Select Committee on the Affairs of the East India Company in August 1832, which enquired into conditions in India, and it is very likely that they knew each other well.

"Tellicherry ,a large town, with a good open roadstead, is about fourteen miles south of Cannanore. It has a considerable trade with Bombay and the Persian Gulf, to which it exports shark’s fins, rice pepper, arrow-root, cocoa-nuts, and coir; importing in return horses, dried fruits, and Chinese and European goods. It is a civil station, and consequently the residence of ten English functionaries. It was famed at this period for the hospitality and good feeling which prevailed in its social circles. But European society in India is subject to sad vicissitudes; death, and an anxiety to retire with the fruits of long toil to the parent land, soon break up the communities formed at the stations; and of those who, in 1824, rendered Tellicherry one of the most delightful stations to visit, scarcely one remains." [1]

Lieutenant Robert Mignan, a much travelled officer serving in the Bombay European Regiment, arrived by sea at Tellicherry during April 1833, to try to recover both his own health, and also that of his wife. Travelling with four small children, he was heading for the Nilgiri Hills which were becoming popular as a health resort, where officials and soldiers could recuperate after several years in the plains or on campaigns.

Arriving in a Pattimar [2], a fast fore and aft rigged Indian coastal sailing vessel off the coast.

“At the mellowed sunset of an April evening, we caught a glimpse of the coast of stretching in a fine outline from North to South. The prospect of land to a “sea-sick landsman,” is an event with which few others in this chequered life can be compared. We had been for seven monotonous days, tossed about with fair wind one day and foul the next -- our chief comfort being tea without milk, and a basket of Leggett's musty bread. Is it then to be wondered at, that lying on deck the last morning of our voyage, I should feel a great accession of pleasure, when I saw the sun rise from behind the hills of Malabar, in place of rising from the level ocean? But we were still ten or twelve miles off shore, with little prospect of nearing it; for it had fallen a dead calm -- in vain we whistled to the winds --in vain when a puff of air at times curled the water, was the sail “let fall” no ripple was heard at the prow and a current which was setting from the eastward gradually increased our distance from the land but as I was ever fond of the sea I could not much regret being thus becalmed.

A light breath of wind which stole off in the afternoon in occasional unsteady flaws, carried us within half a mile of the shore, and anchoring directly opposite Tellicherry -- Signalized a boat, in which we were soon seated with the little luggage we had brought with us, and to our great satisfaction, saw the distance between us and the town every moment diminish.

With the appearance of Tellicherry itself we were rather disappointed, Viewed from the most favourable point, nothing is seen but a dead mass of mean looking buildings, and irregular rows of smoking huts, intermingled with the cocoa nut, palmyra, plantain jack, and other trees of the tropical broad leaved tribe, rising above their dingy roofs. And so low do many of these dwellings lie on the water's edge, that a stranger almost fancies a high spring tide would overwhelm them. A very strong tide does sometimes set in, and there is often a heavy swell, but the waves are partially broken before they reach the landing place by a reef of rocks, which extend like a dike in front of the beach, nearly opposite to the Custom House. The entrance into this natural port of security is very narrow, but the water thus sheltered from every wind, is as smooth as glass; and the basin, or harbour, spacious enough to contain a great number of boats. We counted no less than thirty, lying all in a row -- touching the inner ledge of the black rocks, and as still as if a dead calm prevailed beyond them, as still as if a dead calm prevailed beyond them, notwithstanding the heavy swell, which rolled inwards to the very verge of the reef, and along the whole line of coast.

The anchorage for shipping, is upwards of two miles from the shore, which makes it fatiguing for boat's crews -- especially those from a northern climate, to pull so far under the rays of a vertical sun. A harder duty can scarcely devolve on a seaman, than being obliged to row against a heavy swell in taking off cargo, or provisions, to the roadstead.

The boats used along this part of the Malabar Coast, are long, narrow, and flat bottomed; with high sides formed of planks sewed together with koir rope. They are used not only in fishing, but also in carrying considerable cargoes to the ships. Dozens of them are always hovering about sometimes with only a boy to manage them. I have seen a couple of black urchins go out to fish and they worked away in a rough sea, apparently with more ease than a Deal boat's crew could have done. They are not afraid to venture out in the stormiest weather, for although the boat may overset, they say she will never sink. It is very to amusing to watch them in a stiff breeze, they sail so easily, and so beautifully. The boys seated on the stern, ride away over the billows with helm in hand, managing their skiff like a practised rider on d smooth plain, would curb his steed: and after they have spent the day, and not unfrequently the night also, in fishing; they return to the shore, seated in their chair of state high above the water, laden with their spoils, and drying their wet clothes in a tropical sun.

We were also disappointed at the first view of this part of the continent of Southern India. The country in the neighbourhood of Tellicherry lies very low, and as far as the eye can reach, the horizon is bounded by wood. The gloomy waving of the trees, overshadowed by the dark and lowering clouds which announced the speedy approach of the Southwest Monsoon, made the landscape peculiarly dreary, and although we were assured that the phantoms of gloom with which we had peopled these impervious jungles would be dispelled upon a more intimate acquaintance with their recesses.

I never experienced a more delightful reality, than the consciousness of being stretched in a snug camp cot on shore, after having been cramped up for a week or two in a dirty pattamar. At first it is a reality that we hardly believe in; because the heaving and pitching to which we had been for some time accustomed, seems communicated to every surrounding object: the walls totter, the roof bends, and the bed creaks; and it absolutely requires one to be thoroughly awake, in order to have a perfect conviction of the reality, and the deception. As to the children, they all dreamt both long and loud, and we even, fell asleep in the belief that we were rocking about in Neptune's car, and slept soundly, and much longer than we had intended.[3]

Robert Mignan and his family had arrived at the beginning of the hottest part of the year, as the temperature rose during this period before the onset of the monsoon.

"The climate of Tellicherry, during our stay, was excessively enervating, and therefore any thing but agreeable. In the day-time the thermometer ranged from 88 (degrees) to 92 o; and at night frequently from 89o to 93o. On the 25th of April, Fahrenheit's thermometer in the coolest part of the shade at two o’ clock, P.M., indicated 91 o, and in the sun 121 o; giving a difference of 30o. At midnight it was 88 o, giving a difference of only 3 o between the temperature of mid-day and midnight. A thermometer plunged into the sand, indicated a temperature of from 130 o to 135 o. Between half past four, and nine in the evening, the heat was sometimes suffocating. If the morning broke with a clear sky over head, and the sun rose unconcealed by haze; and when also the horizon was broken in a dark tremulous line, a northerly wind was sure to set in about half past eleven o’ clock, and dissipated the bodily and mental exhaustion caused by the hot nights, and sultry mornings, of this low latitude. About sunset, the breeze gradually died away, and was succeeded by a calm which lasted throughout the night. From sunrise till the when the sea breeze commenced, there never was a breath of wind; or, if the surface of the ocean was occasionally ruffled, it was only here and there, by those little tantalizing puffs, which we all know so well by the name of “cats paws".

On a few occasions, the morning broke with dark clouds, and the sun was dimmed by vapours; then a strong south-westerly wind followed during the day, and we were always covered with sand and dust. Heavy rain sometimes accompanied these brisk gales, and a high swell, which rolled in from the sea, and raised so high a surf on the beach, that it cut off all communication between the shore, and the vessels at anchor".[4]

With the final capture of Cannanore in December 1790, and domination by the East India Company, of Calicut by 1793, Tellicherry's usefulness as a port subsided. Mahé was also captured from the French on the 16th of July 1793. Most of the East India Company merchants and officials based in Tellicherry, under Mr. Torin soon moved out to Mahé, and Tellicherry ceased to be a factory.

The town however remained the centre of justice for the area, however the former garrison moved away to the extended fort and cantonment at Cannanore, leaving just a small Lieutenant's guard for the prison in the fort.

Henry Bevan recognised the importance of these courts to Tellicherry, when he arrived in 1833.

"The judges of the circuit-court at Tellicherry generally employ half castes, or Anglo-Indians and Portuguese, in such subordinate offices as do not require a knowledge of Hindoo or Mohammedan law. There is a large half-caste population round Tellicherry, principally descended from the Portuguese settlers, who came out here soon after the discovery of India. A large portion of the fortified factory erected by the first Portuguese colonists still remains [5]. It is surrounded by a high wall, secured by towers, and is now used as a court-house and gaol. Most of the half-castes speak English with great fluency, and all are anxious to have their children instructed in that language. There is a very good English school at Tellicherry supported by voluntary contributions of the officers and by the small stipends paid by the natives the teacher however when I visited it was a Portuguese but he was perfectly competent for his situation. I found also that he was a good mathematician, and the answering of some of his pupils whom I examined would not disgrace an European academy. There were several Hindoo and Mohammedan children at the school, and they joined in the studies and sports of their Christian fellow pupils without ever quarrelling on account of their religious differences."[6]

See http://malabardays.blogspot.com/2007/12/founding-of-tellicherry-schools-in-1817.html

An anonymous writer, whose article appeared in 1854 in the "Home friend, a weekly miscellany of amusement and instruction; By Society for promoting Christian knowledge", described a trip to Tellicherry. This trip appears to have taken place many years before the article was written. It is perhaps the most comprehensive description of life and conditions in the town available.

"Tellicherry Proper, or the town of Tellicherry, is built on a low ground, almost on a level with the sea. The town consists of some two hundred-irregularly built European houses; the bazaars; the market-place; a few so-called shops; an immense prison built on a lofty bastion facing the sea, which prison includes the dens for criminals and the debtor’s gaol comprising also a lunatic asylum; the Zillah Court, and a species of chapel. Besides these, there is a Catholic chapel and a Protestant church, and the burial-grounds of both creeds, situated on a high mound nearly overhanging the sea.[7]



The decaying Protestant Church at Tellicherry, between the Fort and the sea, taken in 2006 by Lindsay Gething, to whom I am indebted for this photo.

Outside of the town itself, and between it and Deramapatam, are a few straggling country-houses, and the court-house of the now no longer existing judges of circuit, who were three in number besides the registrar. Beyond these again, runs a rapid and deep stream, over which a couple of ferry-boats are continually plying; and on the other side of the stream rise the lofty cliffs and high tableland which constitutes that portion of Tellicherry styled by the natives Durhamupatnum, consisting of a few scattered villages, occupied almost exclusively by native fishermen and two immense mansions, more like palaces than private houses and heretofore the residence of two of the stationed at Tellicherry.”[8]

These two houses survive today. One is called "Ayesha Manzil," which was once he home of Mr. Stevens, the Judge. It is owned by a member of the Mousa family, whose ancestor's were the great pepper merchants in Tellicherry in the first half of the 19th Century. It is currently a very comfortable guest house. The current owners believe that it once belonged to Murdoch Brown, and that it was first built in 1862.

It is quite possible that the current building is on the site of an earlier building.

There appears to be some confusion also about who lived in the building, because this cannot have been Murdoch Brown, if it was only built in 1862, as Murdoch Brown had died on the 9th of January 1828 aged 78, so it was probably, in fact owned by his son Francis Carnac Brown, rather than by Murdoch Brown himself. Francis Brown was born on the 10th of November 1792, on Brown's plantation at Randattara, and died eventually on the 23rd of September 1868. [9] In future postings, the stories of both of the Brown's will feature prominently.

The other surviving Judges House is at Pallikunnu. It is in private hands and is not open to the public, but is described elsewhere in this blog.





The Dharmapattanam Ferry.

Most travellers remained in Tellicherry for only a few days before, either their ships moved on, or like Robert Mignan, he travelled inland. This was not always particularly easy to arrange, as the following passage illustrates.

In forming the plan of our journey through the interior, (no easy business, with four young children, and their female attendants,) we were most materially assisted by that intelligent and obliging Parsee, Darashah Cursetjee, who has resided on this part of the Malabar Coast for the last five and thirty years; and who will readily procure palankeen bearers, and baggage coolies, for the trip hence, to any inland station, without expecting, or even consenting to receive any remuneration, for such service. We were entirely guided by his advice; and it may not be unimportant to mention, for the benefit of those persons who contemplate a similar course to ourselves, that Cannanore in preference to Tellicherry, is perhaps the best point of disembarkation, as in addition to the assistance of their friends, they will experience little trouble in securing bullock carriage -- a desideratum, not so easily obtained either at Tellicherry, or Calicut.” [10]


I wish thank Google Books for making the following texts available online. Without this fantastic new service, it is highly unlikely that I would have been aware of more than a fraction of the above material.

[1] From Thirty Years in India: Or. A Soldier's Reminiscences of Native and European in the Presidencies from 1808 to 1838. By Henry Bevan. Published 1839 London. Pages 144 & 145.

[2] A Pattimar, was a singled masted lateen sailed vessel, much like an Arab dhow. They could sail very much closer to the wind than could the squared European ships. They were also more able to deal with the light winds encountered alond the coast.

A particularly fine pair of water colours of Pattimars by Thomas Cussans, and army officer active in Cannanore in the 1820's can be seen in the Collect Britain online collection at http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?uid=019WDZ000000484U00020000
and
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?uid=019WDZ000000484U00014000

It is to be hoped that Robert Mignan's vessel was slightly better provided for with sails than the latter vessel.

[3]Notes Extracted From a Private Journal Written During a Tour Through A Part Of Malabar etc. 1834. By Robert Mignan. Lieutenant, Bombay European Regiment. Pages 2 to 18.

[4] Mignan.

[5] Incorrect, the Portuguese had had no need for a fort, because of the proximity to Cannanore. The French in the 1670's are credited with building a mud fort on the site of the existing stone fort, which was actually built by the East India Company betwen 1690 and 1710.

[6] Henry Bevan.

[7]Home friend, a weekly miscellany of amusement and instruction; By Society for promoting Christian knowledge. Published in 1854. Pages 193 onwards. Although this article was only published in 1854, it appears to have been written by someone who was in Tellicherry during the 1830’s. It has proved possible to identify some of the people mentioned in the book.

[8] Home friend.

[9] Information from Madras, Lists of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments by Julian James Cotton, published Madras 1905.
See also Strange (Thomas Lumsden) 1808-84. Handwritten account of his life and times in India and Persia. Mss Eur J706 in British Library OIOC Computer Catalogue, Mss Eur D358 Page 131 –133.

[10]Robert Mignan.

Copyright Nick Balmer December 2007.

Arrival in Thalassery, Tellicherry.

Having read so much about Tellicherry in books and in manuscripts found in the British Library, it was with considerable excitement and interest that I finally arrived in the town.

As we had passed over the bridge into Thalassery from the north, I had noticed a tall stand of very old and magnificent trees to my left. I knew from my research that Thomas Baber's house had been in this general area.

In the rapidly failing light of an Indian evening, there would be no time to visit the house that evening.

The view out over the river estuary from our hotel room, to the sea was full of people scurrying home into the dark. Fishing vessels were returning to the port, and numerous bats were leaving the nearby palm trees for their evening feed. I couldn't help wondering what it must have been like for those early East India Company officials, when they first arrived in the settlement.

How very different it must have been to anything they had encountered at home in England.

Shortly after dawn, I was up and out of the hotel making my way towards the hill, with all of the trees. Knowing my families propensity for planting trees, and being aware of trees from Suffolk, to Berkshire and beyond that had been planted at even earlier dates, but which have survived from even earlier dates than 1812, I was increasingly confident that I would find his house.

What I had not however expected to find, was that it was not just his house, I would find, but an entire estate village.

First on my right was a school, and then on my left, a sawmill. The sawmill looked quite modern, but the school had several hallmarks of being an early colonial building, judging from its style. Subsequent research showed this to be the case, as it was built in or shortly before 1817.

The road leading to the entrance to Pallikunnu House

Soon I was climbing up onto a steep little hill, topped with a very large walled garden, filled with mature trees, and surrounded with houses, often modified over time, but having a standard set of designs for the underlying structures, obviously drawn from the various vernacular styles used by the different castes and religions in the area. One in particular was very similar to an old house that Kocha Rama Varma had shown me on our route to Thrissur, that had belonged to his family.

House built in the padinjata style normally adopted by Nairs or farm owners.

A lower caste house.

It appears that Thomas Baber had been trying to create an ideal estate, in the same way that many estate landowners in Britain were doing at this date, but instead of constructing Cottage Ornée, Thomas had chosen to build high quality vernacular housing to suit the needs of his domestic, plantation and sawmill staff.

To the west of the main house there was a line of very large trees, and evidently very old trees. I knew from drawings held in the British Library and available on the Collect Britain website, that there had been very few trees on the hills surrounding Tellicherry by 1800, most probably as a result of the sustained seige of Tellicherry in the 1780's, when the town had held out against Tipu Sultan's forces.

I knew that this hill called Pallikunnu had been one of the five outer bastions against held against Tipu's army, surrounding Tellicherry and keeping his army at bay, and was bare except for a single large palm tree. So it was very likely that these trees had been planted between 1790 and 1817.

The full painting, thought to date from approximately 1790, can be found on the Collect Britain website at http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personalisation/object.cfm?uid=019WDZ000004355U00000000

On the 20th of August 1817, Colonel James Welsh visited Thomas Baber at this house, which had only recently been completed. Writing in the late 1820's he had recalled.

"Here I found every thing in status quo, excepting Mr. Baber’s residence, which was entirely new, and one of the loveliest spots in India; being erected on a small hill, five or six hundred feet above the level of the country, commanding a view, including the river and island, with both bridges, to the Periah Peak, and so diversified with hill and dale, that the eye never tired in surveying it.

This hill, when I was last in Tellicherry, was as wild as the rest of the hundreds with which this coast is studded; now a comfortable residence has arisen, and two good roads, up and down, had been made with much labour, whilst a young plantation was in embryo to complete the whole. It was about a mile inland, and the sea breeze blew over the tops of myriads of cocoanut trees; which however, obstructed the view of the shipping in the roads; the flag-staff on the citadel alone visible in that direction, though the more distant shore, on either side, was as distinct as the interior. The climate was also delightful, and I think Tellicherry one of the healthiest places in the East."


Following the public road on up the hill as it spiralled around the hill, it was quickly evident that there were more than a dozen, and quite possibly many more of these estate houses.

Eventually, I reached a set of imposing gates, at the bottom of a stone track. Taking my courage in my hands I started to climb the driveway to the house.

Entrance Gates

A veritable arboretum of trees was growing in the large garden surrounding the house.



The very finest and largest of these trees were at the very top.



Finally reaching the summit of the hill, I came into view of the front of the house.

It was definitely the one I was looking for.



Copyright Nick Balmer November 2007

The founding of Tellicherry Schools in 1817

Koduvally Higher Secondary School

In the years following the defeat of the Pazhassi Rajah, and following the suppression of the 1812 revolt in the Wayanad, the local East India Company officials based in the town began to try to develop the town of Thalassery.

With the end of the wars, the garrison had been greatly reduced, or moved to Kannur. The town was also losing out on trade to other nearby ports. It's major remaining function was as the centre for the courts of justice.

Besides building their own houses, the some of the senior officials also began to try to introduce improvements for the general Indian population as well.

One of the very first buildings to go up was a school. This school appears to have been the result of a private initiative, probably started by Mr. Oakes the Master Attendant at the port.

Thomas Baber had already commenced building his estate at Pallikunnu, and he appears to have provided the land for the school to be built on. It is at the western end of the land he had acquired, next to the main road to the ferry leading north out of Thalassery, on the way to Kannur.

This building was operational by the 25th of June 1817 when Thomas Hervey Baber wrote to Sir. Thomas Munro: -.


You will congratulate me in hearing of the success of our School, and that there is every prospect of it receiving a Public Blessing.

I enclose a note I have this day receive sic) from our Parson, because I am sure, the perusal of it must increase your approbation of our Plan, our School House has been finished and an excellent Building it is. 350 boys may be accommodated, at present we have 40 on the Foundation, and about 20 whose Parents pay for their education 1 and 2 Rupees per month – and would the Europeans forget their animosities and join in so laudable an undertaking we should soon have the school full- our funds amount to about 1500 Rupees including the Cost of the School, but no part has been contributed by any Europeans excepting the Parson, Mr Oakes, Edbert in Canara & Self. – The undertaking has however had the effect of producing a Rival School at Cochin, set in foot by Mr Vaughan & Pearson at Calicut, and supported by Stevens & Warden, all 4 of them declined to Subscribe to the one here. I immediately subscribed to that in Cochin, determined they should see I was above all such little feelings – never will I quarrel with them for endeavouring to rival me in doing a Public Good. [1]

The school in Thalassery must have been amongst the first to be built in Southern India for Indian children by European individuals. Missionaries had started other schools in the area fore instance at Kannur by this time, however they were much smaller.

Very few Indians received a formal education at this time. Private tutors were generally employed to teach the children of Brahmins or senior Nairs, and other instruction mainly on the Koran was going on in the mosques.

In many ways this school was a very modern idea for the time. In Britain schooling was only for the children of the richest parents. For most children and learning was done at home on through Sunday Schools. Universal education did not arrive until 1870.

The Mr. Oakes mentioned in the letter above was John L. Oakes who was Master Attendant at Tellicherry, and who later died in about 1819, leaving 20,000 Rupees of his own fortune for the relief of the poor of Tellicherry. John Oakes appears to have had a very highly developed sense of the need to improve the conditions for the hundreds of displaced and poverty stricken Indians living in the shanty towns on the fringes of Thalassery at that time.

This school still exists and operates today, and is called the Koduvally Higher Secondary School. It is on the lane leading up to Thomas Baber’s house and Pallikunnu Hill.




It would appear that the school was built in two phases, with the oldest bit being at the eastern end of the site. The change in construction between the oldest and the newer sections of the school can be seen where the roof pitch changes roughly half way along the length of the existing school building.




Tellicherry School. The junction between the oldest building, from 1817, which I believe is at the right hand end of this photo, a later phase of the building can clearly be seen on the left of the above photo.

From the letter above which lists “Parson, Mr Oakes, Edbert in Canara & Self” it is clear that Francis Spring, Mr. Oakes, Mr. Edbert and Thomas Baber were the main drivers behind the founding of this new school. Modern accounts of the establishment of schooling in Thalasserry suggest incorrectly that the earliest western school in Thalassery was the B.G.M. School founded by the Basel German Mission on March 1st 1856 by Edward Brennen and Herman Gundert, for 74 students.

The school at Pallikunnu appears to have been founded in 1817, and to have then been taken over by the Church Missionary Society in 1824. The Missionary Gazetteer published by Charles Williams in the late 1820’s, said of the school: -


“The C.M.S. commenced a mission here in 1817, which was for some years superintended by the Rev. Francis Spring, the chaplain. He prepared the church catechism and liturgy in Malaylim. A school of 50 scholars here has been highly useful, and formerly supported itself. Many who were educated in it are engaged in public offices, or useful occupations, and have done credit to the instruction they had received. Much opposition has been made by the Roman Catholics. Respecting this station, Mr. Spring writes:- “Something is almost daily occurring to animate us in our course. Here, flashes of heavenly light are continually gleaming through the darkening atmosphere. I hear that there is, on every side, a readiness amongst great numbers to receive the tidings of the Gospel.” A poor man’s fund was also established, which relieved 400 persons weekly; 20,000 rupees were bequeathed to it by a deceased friend, who was the principle agent in its establishment. This measure conciliated the natives, and gave them favourable views of Christianity.

In 1823, Mr. Spring left this station for England, having made the best arrangements in his power to secure the continuance of the school established by him, and now maintained by the Madras Corresponding Committee of the C.M.S. In 1824, since which no accounts of it have been published, it contained 59 children of various castes and classes.”


It appears that Oakes’ and quite probably Thomas Baber’s concept for the school was that it was to be open to all faiths and also to take bright boys of any race. However it appears that once the Revd. Spring was able to take over control of the school to a greater extent in the years after 1820; it began to try to convert pupils to Christianity.

Major Henry Bevan, an officer in the 27th Madras Native Infantry visited the school in its early years, and specifically describes its multicultural form.

The judges of the circuit-court at Tellicherry generally employ half castes, or Anglo-Indians and Portuguese, in such subordinate offices as do not require a knowledge of Hindoo or Mohammedan law. There is a large half-caste population round Tellicherry, principally descended from the Portuguese settlers, who came out here soon after the discovery of India. A large portion of the fortified factory erected by the first Portuguese colonists still remains. It is surrounded by a high wall, secured by towers, and is now used as a court-house and gaol. Most of the half-castes speak English with great fluency, and all are anxious to have their children instructed in that language. There is a very good English school at Tellicherry supported by voluntary contributions of the officers and by the small stipends paid by the natives the teacher however when I visited it was a Portuguese but he was perfectly competent for his situation. I found also that he was a good mathematician, and the answering of some of his pupils whom I examined would not disgrace an European academy. There were several Hindoo and Mohammedan children at the school, and they joined in the studies and sports of their Christian fellow pupils without ever quarrelling on account of their religious differences.


The first schoolmaster was a Portuguese called John Baptist or Bapiste, a “native catechist,” who had four native assistants. An edition of the Missionary Gazetteer by B.B. Edwards gives a congregation of 16, with 2 schools, with 144 boys, 13 girls, and 28 youths and adults.

John Oakes seems to have been the leader of many of the humanitarian efforts in Tellicherry, and it appears that he had originally begun these relief efforts entirely from his own resources, and in his own free time. He would go out into the shanty settlements around the fringes of Tellicherry where the poorest people came to live, and to have fed and nursed many of them himself. His efforts in time attracted the attention of the other European’s, who were prevailed upon to contribute towards not just a school but a public hospital as well.

John Oakes monument in St John's Church at Cannanore. Photo courtesy of John Roberts.

Extract from Fort George Public Consultations.
24th January 1820.

Read the following letter from Mr. F. Spring.

To D. Hill Esq.
No. 78 Secretary to Government
Fort St. George
16th December 1819.

Sir

Agreeably to the last will of the late Mr. J. H. Oakes, Master Attendant at this place, deceased, I have to request that you will be pleased to lay before his Excellency the Right Honourable the Governor in Council the subjoined extract from the will of the said deceased, and to beg his Excellency to take the same into consideration.

I have also to state to his Excellency in Council, that there is already in Bengal Securities more than sufficient to cover the Charitable bequest made in the aforesaid extract.

I have now therefore to request that his Excellency in Council will be graciously pleased to take into especial consideration the latter part of the extract, that the will of the deceased may be conformed to with as little delay as possible.

I must likewise beg you to state to his Excellency in Council that in virtue of the power invested in me by the subjoined Extract, I wish that the annual interest of the said Charitable bequest be made over to me as long as I may remain at Tellicherry, and afterwards to whomsoever I may think proper to appoint, to be disposed of agreeably to the will of the deceased.

Lastly, I beg leave to state to his Excellency, that there has been established at this place for about 3 years a fund for the relief of the poor, supported by voluntary contributions, to which the deceased annually gave Rupees 600, and that it is my intention to add yearly the interest of the deceased bequest, to the said fund; and for the further information of his Excellency I take the liberty of submitting the report of the said fund for the year ending September 30th 1819.

With all respect
Tellicherry I have etc.
16th Dec 1819 (signed) F. Spring.

The following extract from the will of the late Mr J. H. Oakes, Master Attendant, Tellicherry gives some idea of the extent of Oakes private efforts to improve things for the inhabitants of Thalassery.

After the legacies shall have been paid, I then bequeath the sum of Rupees Twenty Thousand in Company’s paper, or to be invested in that paper, should I not then possess any, as a fund for the poor of this place, the annual interest of which to go to the purchase of rice to be served out weekly: perhaps the disposal had better be placed in the hands of the Portuguese Church Wardens with the Padre at the head: no preference of cash in distributing the rice, poor of all descriptions equally included. No part of the funds at any time to be diverted to building or church affairs, but purely to Charity. The Clergyman of the Church of England, resident at this station being requested, and hereby authorized to demand yearly account of the managers of this expenditure shall should the disposal be placed as above suggested. Should, however, the Chaplain think any better plan could be adopted of ensuring a more faithful discharge of this trust, he is at liberty so to adopt it. I must request of Mr. Spring whether he executes to my estate, or not, that he will, at least, put this part of my will into execution that relates to the funds for the poor; that he will address the Government intimating the sum wished to be invested in Company’s paper to form a fund for the relief of the poor at Tellicherry, requesting it may be received into the Company’s treasury and continued there on the same terms, and under the same protection other charitable purposes meet at their hands, the interest to be transmitted, as it becomes due, to one of their servants at Tellicherry, and by him made over to those with whom the contribution is intrusted, and thus for ever.

A true Copy
Signed F. Spring


In his letter to Fort St George Francis Spring enclosed the following account of the first six months of operations of the newly founded Tellicherry Hospital, which appears to have grown out of Oakes work with the poor of Tellicherry.


Association for the relief of the Poor of Tellicherry Report 1818 – 19.
The Superintendent of your association for the relief of the poor of this place in presenting the report of proceedings for 1818-19, meets the Society with mingled feelings of satisfaction and sorrow.
He has much grounds for rejoicing in the prosperity of the Society’s funds; in the reliefs afforded to the really distressed; in the general improvement of the executive department; and, last, though not least, in the establishment of a Hospital for the cure of the diseased.
But he has much cause for regret when he reflects upon the loss, which the association has sustained in the death of one of its undaunted patrons and finest supporters. Liberal as was the sum which he annually subscribed in support of the fund, it is the active part which he took in the Society’s proceedings, that must especially call for the feelings of regret at his sudden and premature departure.
Like another Howard and scarcely on a smaller scale, he visited the habitations of the destitute, and prevented the abuse of his charity by personal examination of the old and the sick, the lame and the blind. Thus was he better enabled, and it need not be said that he did so, with the greatest readiness to co-operate with your superintendent in discriminating, from amongst the numerous applications, the proper proportion to be afforded to each. His own humane heart always suggested a due liberality; his sense of the necessity of distributing judiciously, that every one might have a little, with held him from profusion. Like another Howard too he fell, speaking after the manner of men, a victim to his benevolent exertions. His tender constitution, probably so rendered by the sparing manner in which he lived in order to give more abundantly to the poor, was ill [entated?] to resist that dire disease, which hath, alas, with him, cut off so rising a flower of our country.
The association will not consider this tribute of respect to a departed member as irrelevant to the object of this report, or unconnected with its future proceedings, when they learn that he has bequeathed no less a sum than 20,000 Rupees in the Honourable Company’s paper, the annual interest of which is to be applied to the purchase of rice for the relief of the poor of this place for ever. Your Superintendent would now proceed to specify what has been done during the past year; and first with regard to the funds. At the close of the preceding year, there remained in the Trustees Funds a balance of Rupees 817.1.16. The last year has produced donations and subscriptions, and some small arrears paid up, the sum of Rs. 2111.2.80. making a total of rupees 2,928,3,96. From this sum have been expended in the purchase of rice Rupees 2201, 0, 20; for a writer and sundry expenses Rupees 115, 2, 40; on account of the hospital, of which a detail will be subjoined, Rupees 55, 3, 71, making a total of Rupees 2372,2,31, which, subtracted from the receipts, leaves a balance in funds of the Treasurer at the close of the year ending September 30 1819 of Rupees 556.1.65.
While however the Superintendent thus rejoices in the prosperity of the Societies funds, he cannot refrain at this stage of the report from suggesting to the subscribers the great necessity of their continued and liberal support.
The Hospital is a recent Establishment, and therefore has not yet drawn largely upon the funds. All things being take into consideration, upon a rough estimate formed from the disbursements of less than 3 months, the expenditure attached to this institution cannot be less than Rupees 300 or 400 annually. Besides this addition to the disbursements by the loss of our benevolent fund there is made in the receipts an annual deficiency of Rupees 600, the amount of his subscription, so that in fact a thousand Rupees are to be made up from our own resources. Tis true, that by the will of our departed friend, a much larger sum than what he subscribed is devoted to the very same purposes in which we are engaged, and at the same place. Yet it is to be supposed that he thereby intended to increase rather than lessen the number of objects to be relieved, and to set us an example that we might follow his steps. And it is rational to expect that many proper objects will apply to us for relief now that the streams of his personal charity are dried up.
The next object which this report embraces is the great relief afforded to the really distressed. It is quite needless to insist here upon the number of persons relieved, the nature of their wants, their destitute conditions, their particular infirmities. A visit to the place of distribution at the time appointed would set forth more eloquently than words the quantity, and quality of human misery to which by your liberality and generous sympathy some alleviation has been afforded.
There are two points of view, however, in which your Superintendent the utility of this institution eminently shine forth, the discouragement which is given thereby to common begging, and the help which is afforded to the deserving in distress. It is impossible wholly to prevent mendacity, but since it has been the established rule of this association only to give a scanty subsidence, and to them alone who stately reside at the place, common itinerant beggars can neither obtain nor retain a ticket. Many deserving persons, on the other hand, have been relieved, who, upon the recovery of health, and obtaining employment, have gladly relinquished their claims on the fund to earn an honest livelihood.
The third part of this report relates to the general improvements made in carrying into execution the objects of the Society.
To prevent abuse from fraud, and waste, is not an easy, is not an easy thing at any time; experience can alone conduct to the most effectual measures. There were considerations which, in the first instance, seemed t suggest the propriety of making a weekly distribution of rice at 3 different places.
The superintendence was thereby rendered more difficult, nor was the measure found productive of any good result. The plan therefore has been recently adopted of distributing the whole at one place. This, together with list of the persons relieved, the quantity given to each, the time of admission and removal, and the reason thereof, and also weekly returns of the quantity of rice absolutely distributed, renders the mode of distribution as perfect as the nature of the case will admit.
Lastly, the report has to advert to the establishment of an Hospital for the cure of the diseased. Several circumstances led to the forming of this institution, but mainly the consideration, that many objects, who, through sickness, were chargeable on the poor fund, might be easily restored to health, and again capable of providing for themselves. The opinion has even already been found to be correct, and the value of the Establishment, as an auxiliary to the poor fund, sufficiently shown. It is therefore very satisfactory to know, that out of 43 persons admitted to the Hospital, only 6 have died, 2 been dismissed as incurable, and 29 cured, the remaining 6 either went away of their own accord, or were removed for improper conduct. For general information it seems proper to subjoin that, on admission to the Hospital, each individual receives a cloth/ except there be especial reasons for the contrary / a mat to lie on, and an earthern vessel for food (which are not taken away, on dismissal / and, where requisite, a comley is lent. Every individual also receives daily rice and salt and 1 pice for the purchase of Curry stuff; a Tieta is employed to cook for and to attend upon the sick at 3 pice per day, and a Muckawata at 1 Rupee per month. By favor of the Zillah Judge carrying of water, and other labourious work for the Hospital, are done by the prisoners.

The Superintendent cannot close this report without expressing his Conviction that the association for the relief of the poor of Tellicherry will continue to flourish and abound yet more and more in usefulness, and that as in a certain place it is written the poor shall never cease from off the lands, so there shall never want persons, moved by the bounds of compassion, the common feelings of humanity, and the enlarged principles of benevolence to relieve them.
 
Contained within the report is the following list of subscriber’s towards the fund.

Account of Receipts and disbursements of the Poor Fund Tellicherry for the year 1818/19
Receipts Rs P Fns
Balance in hand Sept 1818 817 1 16 1252
J Stevens Esq 180
T Warden Esq 360
T H Baber Esq 360
J.S. Oakes Esq 600
Rev’d F Spring 240 Commencing 14 July 1819
F Hollond Esq
donation 100
H Laconby Esq
4 months 48
J Baggy 24
J Lapences 40
Mrs Lafenais 2
Do. 4
F M Lafenais 12
Leonado de
Rozario 12
A J Almeida
9 months 22 2
G X Affonso 4 3 20
A J Rodrigues 12
A Fernandes
1 month 1
Maria Suza 2 do 2
J Baptista 4 do 4
Chandamen
Jemmdar 8 do 2
Tolachu Moopen 1
Chatta Rootu
Moopen 4 do 3
Madaya Maunen
do 1
Arrears from last year Vizt.
G X Affonso
1 month 1 60
Ayalapa Ammafa
2 do 2
A Fernandes
2 do 2

Disbursements Rs P Fns
Moras of Rice 2201 “ 20
Cooly 17 2 40
Writers & Rice distribution 96
Stamp paper for contract 2
Hospital Account 2316.2. 60




Tellicherry School, with the trees of Pallikunnu Hill in the background.

If you go to this school, or have information about it's history between 1817 and today, I would be very interested to hear from you. My email is balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

[1]OIOC Private Papers IOR:MSS. F151 / 43 folio 50 – 54. Letters to Sir Thomas Munro.

Copyright Nick Balmer November 2007

St John's Church Cannanore & Jacob Joseph

St John's Church Cannanore

Much of the credit for founding the Anglican church in Cannanore should rightly go to Jacob Joseph, an Indian Christian. Originally from Trichinopoly, both his Grandfather and Father had been Christians. On a visit to his brother in Cannanore at some point in time before 1817, Jacob Joseph decided to stay on in Cannanore to set up a school and to start teaching local Indians Christianity. He founded a small school in his house, in which he taught seven children for between three and four rupees a month, which was sufficient for him to live on. Eventually he came to the notice of the local East India Company officials, who introduced him to the Revd. Spring, a chaplain who was serving at Tellicherry.

The European Regiments stationed in the garrison at Cannanore brought their own chaplains, who ran services, but as these regiments came and went fairly frequently, and had little to do with the local Indian's, these fluctuations gave difficulties with continuation of the Indian congregation.

                                                    The Front Door to the Church, sadly locked on the day I visited

"The Committee are happy to begin their report of the state of the Society's concerns under the Rev Mr Spring at this Station by mentioning that the Catechist Jacob Joseph of whom an account was given from a Letter Mr Spring's in their First Report has returned to Cannanore." "He had been detained from his Station by a long illness but had resumed his labours there among the Native Christians and his Heathen Neighbours in the month of March last when Mr. Spring again heard of him. His further acquaintance with this pious and humble man having confirmed the favourable impression formerly produced in Mr Spring's mind he has been taken by his recommendation into the service of the Society as their Catechist at Cannanore and continues steadily pursuing Society as their Catechist at Cannanore and continues steadily his successful endeavours, to build a few obscure Members of flock in their holy faith and conduct and in gathering from time to time fresh converts into the same fold pleasing testimony has been borne, different European Gentlemen at Cannanore to the good conduct of such of Jacob's Congregation as are in their service or come under their observation." “Last week, I went to visit the little flock at Cannanore, under Jacob Joseph and enjoyed a pleasure which was very reviving in this dry and barren land -- dry and barren from want labourers and culture. Pray, therefore, the Lord of the Harvest that He will lend forth more labourers In the month of August Mr Spring made a visit to Cannanore and reported as follows of Jacob's Church The day on which I went over was Wednesday -- the day on which the little flock meet at the Church in the afternoon for the purpose of devotion." "I attended in company with Lieut. В., and another young Officer. When they were performing the Service, which is selected from our Liturgy alternately reading praying and singing, in the most devout manner, both they and their wives and little ones, I cannot describe to you the sensation which I felt. So much real devotion so much warmth of heart seemed to reign among them --I had not seen the like in India before. After the Service was over, I spoke to them and encouraged them and exhorted them to be faithful to the Lord; and could scarcely restrain the tear from falling, at beholding the excellent spirit which seemed to pervade the whole body. “The chief man among them is by all report a most excellent man; conscientious, exemplary, and modest: he is looked up to by them all. Mr B informed me that his butler who is a chief man in the flock considers Jacob Joseph as a very able man. He certainly performed the Service a most admirable manner. I gave him his allowance; viz. five rupees for the month of July being the first payment on behalf of the Church Missionary Society.”

I believe that the "Mr B" mentioned above, is Mr. Baber, a Judge from nearby Tellicherry. Thomas Baber had bought the two children in 1803 who had been offered to him for use as slaves by a man who he had encountered by the side of the road. Shocked and appalled Thomas had bought them to rescue them.[2] He recorded in 1832 that they were both given their freedom and were brought up in his house in Tellicherry.

The boy became his butler, and the girl an ayah. I believe that it is this butler who is referred to as "his butler who is a chief man in the flock considers Jacob Joseph as a very able man." At a later date Mr. Spring continued to make the optimistic reports of the progress of Jacob and his congregation.

On the 9th of September of he wrote: - “Last week I went over again to Cannanore I found all things well. Jacob Joseph is proceeding in his labours ,just as I would wish. I have every reason to believe that he is instant in season and out of season. I went to his house, and saw his Mother, Sister, and little School. Every thing was so clean and so orderly, that I was quite delighted; and what is matter of much rejoicing industry is not wanting The Mother and Sister earn a small pittance by knitting stockings. The Children were all reading their Tamul Books. What a ground of praise to God, and of thanks to you it will be when I send over your supply of Tamul Books! Their hearts will leap for joy. “Before you wrote any thing to me concerning an addition to his monthly allowance, I had determined to solicit an increase I trust therefore that you will approve of my having given him, for the month of August seven rupees and of my still continuing to give him the same." “At the present moment, however we are going to incur some extraordinary expense, for which a little money is already provided. The house, where Jacob Joseph at present lives and keeps his School, is very small indeed. There is no room at all for his present Congregation, to meet together for prayer and reading, of an evening, which they do: and he is besides, obliged to pay half-a-rupee a month for it. Being close to other houses it is also inconvenient for the purposes of devotion, in consequence of occasional noise. Hence be solicited me to get him allowed to build a small house on a waste piece of ground which he pointed out. I waited upon the Colonel, who immediately promised to let him have either the piece which he wanted ,or some other, if that were found to interfere with a road to a hospital at no great distance. He spoke well of Jacob Joseph, as a quiet and inoffensive man: and very highly of the chief man of his congregation, who has been his lascar for many years; and who, the Colonel says first sent for Jacob Joseph. Jacob Joseph continues to instruct the new Converts; and I am daily labouring at the Baptismal Service to be ready at the call of duty. Let us pray that the Lord may add daily to the Church such as shall be saved." “The Committee have since learnt that a suitable piece of ground has been finally appropriated for the erection of a Church and School for the Congregation, and a House for Jacob Joseph, and that the requisite funds would be raised by a few Gentlemen on the spot, -- an instance of liberality to be noticed, with the many others of the same kind which the Committee have had the gratification to record at other Stations." "A Tamul School, which contained at the end of the year twenty Children of the Congregation and of neighbouring Heathens, is attached to the Church at Cannanore; and another School there, under the care of a Protestant Schoolmaster of European descent and a Native Teacher, has been taken by Mr Spring's advice under the charge of the Society, in which English and Teloogoo are taught conjointly; the instruction being, like that of all the Society's Schools, of a decidedly Christian Character In this School which is frequently visited by Mr Spring, there were in the month of December, 41 Hindoo Children 5 Mussulmans 15 Roman Catholics Total 61 Much of Mr Spring's time has been occupied in perfecting his knowledge of the Malayalim Language, and in preparing translations of the Church Catechism, and parts of the Scriptures and the Liturgy of the Church." [1]

 Eventually, however with the wars moving inland and north into the Mahratta territory, and the coastal strip becoming a relative backwater, the garrisons were drawn down at Cannanore. The congregations dwindled away with the Christian soldiers departed for other cantonments. It was decided that Jacob Joseph would be more beneficially used under the care of John Sullivan at Coimbatoor, so he moved there. Unfortunately within a year he caught a disease and died there. It was not until the 1850's that the church became busy once more.

Side entrance; it would appear that these older Classical Greek style column bases mark the original church entrance. At a later date, an new larger entrance was built to provide the current front entrance to the building. The new front has much more utilitarian columns, possibly the product of the garrison engineer.

[1] "Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East...” published 1819 page 177 & 178. by the Church Missionary Society

[2] Thomas Hervey Baber “An Account of the Slaves Population in the Western Peninsula of India”, page 36.

 Copyright Nick Balmer December 2007 & August 2020

You can contact me on balmer.nicholas@gmail.com

 

Day 7 & 8, Kannur, Cannanore, the great church hunt

Early burial ground with mainly Catholic Anglo Indian burials, but possibly also those of Protestants and Lutherians. It is thought that a Lutherian church existed for a while in the early 19th century, immediately to the south of this cemetry building.

Following the interview at the Fort, we decided to try to track down the church where we believed Thomas Baber had been buried following his death at Cannanore in August 1843.

This search turned out to be a bigger task than we had at first expected. This was because it turns out that there are at least five Christian churches and at least two large Christian grave yards in Kannur.

When asked at the Fort about the location of churches in Kannur, the tourist policeman, who was a most helpful and intelligent guy, who had demonstrated a keen interest in the fort under his care, told us confidently that the church was at "Barnacherry", a place not far away to the north east. It was he said, near the hospital.

As we had already seen this hospital on our way to the Fort, this appeared to be a relatively easy task. Assuming that the church would have a steeple or at the very least a tower we set off to the north west, on a steeple chase.

However when we got to where we thought Barnacherry was, there was no sign to be seen of a church, although there was an old dispensary and another very large and old, and most probably East India Company period building standing behind the concrete 1950's or 60's hospital block.

I wondered if this old building had been the garrison hospital in 1843, and had perhaps been where Thomas had died, perhaps brought here in his final illness.

We asked again at the hospital, and were directed yet further to the north up the plateau. The trouble was that when after several false hopes, we found that church, Holy Trinity, it was obviously much too modern, and was Catholic, which made it unlikely that this was the church where Thomas would have been buried.

This northern Catholic church would appear to be a modern replacement for the church described in Lieutenants Ward and Conner's "A Descriptive Memoir of Malabar." [1]

Ward and Conner wrote that the cantonment had had at least two churches in 1824,

"the church a modern building is situated N. of the Fort on a elevated plain, there is here also a Roman Catholic Church at the back of the Cantonment Bazar."


The church we found was a new one, built out of reinforced concrete. Asking at the Catholic Church if there were any more churches nearby, we were directed towards another one nearby, which however turned out to be a Syriac church, which was also too modern.

Evening was beginning to descend, with that startling suddenness which catches out people like me, used to our much longer dusks in northern latitudes. We decided to have one last try.

As we had come into town along the main road, we had seen a Church of South India graveyard on the Thalassery side of Kannur. Perhaps the church was also there. So braving the traffic once again, we stopped the car, and crossed the road and arrived at its overgrown gates. Sadly these were locked and the was wall so high, and the grass so long that we didn't really fancy our chances of finding any graves, without deploying an army of grass cutters. It also looked ideal habitat for snakes as well, judging by the pair of mongoose who scuttled away as I peered in.

A small building stood in sight in the middle of the graveyard. It was dated 1938, so that it was obviously all too modern, to be the one that we were looking for.

At this point a really nice elderly Indian man, pushing his bicycle came up to us, and asked in very halting English where we were from. Having explained this, and why we were searching around his neighbourhood, he became very interested, and most helpful. He told us that we were in completely the wrong place, and that the church was located much nearer to the fort, back where we had been earlier in the afternoon.

By now we were really tired and night was fast approaching. So we decided to call it a day, it was just not worth going any further.

This was a bit upsetting, but oddly enough it was Ramesh our driver who seemed to be the most upset. He had become really involved in the hunt, and seemed to take it as a personal disgrace that we had not found it.

On the following day and with a great deal of assistance from the detailed local knowledge provided by our unexpected host in Kannur, we found this church.

It turned out that the one I had been looking for did not in fact look like a church at all from a distance. We had been within a couple of hundred feet of it.

To the north of the Fort there is a large open area of rough ground, that has been the site of various buildings, on what was the glacis of the fort. The original fort had proved to be in defensible against early 19th century cannon with improved gun powder. The British appear to have built advanced works, possibly a Hornwork.

The outer edge of the beaten zone, was delineated by surviving buildings, and a cemetery. One of these buildings was the church we had been seeking.



St John's CSI Church turned out to be a Classical church in the Greek style. This in itself was very interesting, because we believed that it was quite possible that Thomas had played a significant part in it's construction.

Classical styled churches are quite rare in Britain and are confined to relatively few places and to a comparitively short building period between about 1635 when Inigo Jones first popularised the style by building St Paul's church at Covent Garden in London, and the Gothic Revival of the 1830's, when Medieval styles reasserted themselves. They Classical style had been a phenomenon of the "long 18th Century."

St Pauls, Covent Garden had been Thomas Baber's family church from 1652 to about 1720 and mauseoleum until about 1740, and so it is quite possible that this fact had influenced Thomas Baber.

The style was also proving popular with other Classically educated colonial officials, who were building many other Classical churches at this time between 1811 and 1820 across India and other colonies like Penang.

This interest in Classical building styles was a common theme amongst many young educated men at the head of the East India Company, and especially its civil servants at this period. As in so many things, Roman and Greek texts and artifacts were used for inspiration by East India officials like Thomas who had had a Classical education.




Sign outside the church.



Map from Google Earth marked up to show the locations of the churches in Kannur. Click on the map for a larger version.


[1] originally published in 1906 from a 1824 survey.

Copyright Nick Balmer 9th December 2007.

Cannanore, Kannur, day 7

The entrance to Kannur Fort

The pass of eleven bends turned out to be, if anything even more spectacular, and interesting even than the one that we had climbed up into the Wayanad on our way from Kozhikode.

At the top we met a tremendous gale of wind coming in from the sea, and being forced up as it climbed up and over the ghats. The trees growing at the summit were bent over in the wind, much like those along the coasts of the South West of England.

Indeed there was something almost alpine, about the views we could see, quite like the scenes one might expect to see when crossing one of Englands high moors, especially in the form of the plants and trees.



Soon however the road drops down through dense bush, formed or verdant palms, and tall trees, deeply furrowed by waterfalls and streams plunging down the slope. These slopes must be most spectacular during the monsoon, judging by the sheer size of the boulders that the streams are obvious capable of moving.

Small monkeys sat along the verge, and from time to time we passed workmen toiling away to keep the road open, in the face of landslides and monsoon water damage.

Soon we were dropping down through the bends into the coastal plain. I could not help wondering if this had been the Coteaddy Pass that Thomas Baber had fought his way up in 1812.

Colonel James Welsh had written about the part played by Thomas in 1812 with Colonel Webber in fighting up the ghats.

“by a force under Colonel Webber from Cannanore, accompanied by Mr. Baber, the Judge of Tellicherry, whose authority also extended to Wynaud. They had been opposed in the Coteaddy Pass, coming up from Cannanore, and had Captain Hunter and Lieutenant Inverarity severely wounded, with seventeen or eighteen men.”

The pass I was travelling was definitely not the Periya Pass, which I was travelling down, and I knew from discussions with local people that the Periya was a few miles to the north of the pass I was currently travelling down. However, I could not find out whats name was.

Can anybody identify what this pass is called today? Was it the Coteaddy Pass?

I believe that I have been able to pick its approximate location out on the following map.



Click on the map for a larger version.

When we got to the bottom of the pass, we were soon entering small towns and villages strung out along the sides of the road.

It soon became apparent that this area is just as fiercely contested today by the various political parties who's slogans and initials adorned virtually every available wall, and even appeared on the road itself. As it was when the Pazhassi Rajah and the Mappilas fought it out in the early 19th Century.

In one town, our driver told us that this particular area was known to be strongly Muslim, and that it was therefore potentially quite dangerous for him, and indeed any Hindu driver. In the event of an accident, it would be quite likely that he would be pulled from the car and badly beaten, if not worse.

That he was not exaggerating was confirmed by a report in the local paper only a few days later, of a bus driver to whom this had just happened.



We had arranged to meet a local journalist at Kannur Fort, so we passed through the outskirts of Thalasserry, and onto Kannur. We would be returning to Thalasserry in the evening.

Kannur would turn out to be a particularly fascinating place, and well worth a visit.

Located at a point where a large promontory projects out into the ocean, it provides a sheltered anchorage on the coast, as well as an ideal location for a fort of some kind.

Traders moving along the coast had recognised this for centuries. Most traders had however passed on to Calicut and Cochin. The best locations for trade had altered over the centuries. Cochin had been the preferred location for the Chinese fleets in the early 1400's, whilst Calicut had been the point where Muslim traders had tended to congregate.

Generally these traders came in quite small numbers, and although they could swing the balance of power, and often did, between the various local Rajah's, the effects were often short lived.

However, the arrival of the Portuguese was to change all that.

Leaving Melinde on the African coast on the 6th of August 1498, and making use of the south-west monsoon, Vasco da Gama's fleet, was being guided by a local pilot who was familar with the route. As the pilot had fortold, the first land to be sighted was Mount Deli.

This hill which is 286 metres high stands out over the otherwise low lying coast. It is also called Ezhimala. Many of the earlier voyagers like Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo record it when passing along this course.

Da Gama was well informed about the coast and its ports, and was making for Calicut, home of the Zamorins. They looked into the bay, and recorded that there was "a large town of thatched houses inside a bay."

It wasn't until Da Gama had fallen foul of the Arab and Indian merchants at Calicut, and had had to flee to Pantalayini Kollam, that the Portuguese first visited Kannur.

The Kolattiri Rajah was a bitter rival of the Zamorin, and they welcomed the opportunity to trade with the Portuguese, at the expense of their competitors in Calicut. The Portuguese stayed at Cannanore from the 4th of November 1498 until the 20th of November 1498 when they moved off to Angediva and eventually Portugal.

Over the following years further Portuguese fleets explored the coasts seeking out the best options for trade. Cochin, and Quilon as well as Calicut and Cannanore were tried. In November 1502 after fighting a fierce naval battle with a Moorish fleet, whilst voyaging from Cochin towards Cannanore, during which many Moorish vessels were sunk, or sent burning onto the coast around Calicut, Da Gama put into Cannanore.

He appears to have needed to lighten his ships, and to redistribute his cargoes. To do this he unloaded much of his artillery at Cannanore and buried it. He got permission from the Kolattiri to build a stockage and wall around the site.

Da Gama arranged to leave two hunfred of his men behind at Cannanore, and this appears to have led to the founding of the fort. [1]

Overtime this stockade developed into the current fort. This fort was named Fort St. Angelo by the Portuguese. The fort changed hands several times, being controlled by the Dutch, the Beebee of Arrakal,and Tipu Sultan before being captured by the British on the 16th of December 1790, following a battle to the south east of the town.



[1] From Logan's Malabar Manual

Copyright Nick Balmer November 2007