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6 years ago
Fort st.george,chennai- A companion piece and a brief history
Fort St George (or historically, White Town) is the name of the first English (later British) fortress in India, founded in 1644 at the coastal city of Madras, the modern city of Chennai. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further settlements and trading activity, in what was originally an uninhabited land. Thus, it is a feasible contention to say that the city evolved around the fortress.The fort currently houses the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly and other official buildings. The fort is one of the 163 notified areas (megalithic sites) in the state of Tamil Nadu.
August 22nd 2015 marked the 375th anniversary of the land grant to the East India Company where today's Fort had its beginnings. After several visits to the site from the time of the grant, Andrew Cogan and Francis Day arrived on February 20, 1640 with about 100 or so men to lay the foundations for a settlement neighbouring a fishing village or two. The party included two factors, Humphrey Tompkins and John Browne, two writers, a surgeon, a gunner (at the time considered an all-round engineer of sorts), Lt. Jermin and Sergeant Bradford in charge of 25 aged soldiers, sundry carpenters, blacksmiths and coopers, and some domestic staff, all English. There were also a few Portuguese merchants and the only Indian appears to have been Nagabatthan, a gunpowder-maker. They landed from the Eagle and the Unity, both 100-tonners and each with a crew of 25 Europeans who pitched in with the early work, which comprised building temporary accommodation with local wood and palmyra thatch. Work began on March 1st to a plan drawn up by Cogan, Day and the gunner.
On April 23rd, 375 years ago this year, the construction underway was dedicated to the patron saint of England, whose Day it was, and named Fort St. George. The plan was for an almost square enclosure, with walls about 100 yards on each side, bastions in each corner and a central building diagonal to the square. All this was to be built without any foundations. By the end of 1640, the southeast bastion was completed. Work was far from complete when Cogan decided to transfer the seat of Agency from Masulipatnam to Fort St. George on September 24, 1641 and Madras became the chief factory of the Company on the east coast of India.
With delays for one reason or another no doubt the example followed to this day when Government construction or restoration is involved the final wall, the sea wall linking the eastern bastions, was put in place in 1653. The centre of the Fort at that time was 190 yards from the Bay of Bengal on the east and 110 yards from the North River, which in time was to become the Buckingham Canal, on the west. This fort, with what was called The Castle' in the centre, survived till 1714.
The completion of what later became known as the Inner Fort was during the Agency of Henry Greenhill. During his second Agency he built the far better defence-oriented outer walls round the Inner Fort, the work being completed in 1657. In an aside it may be said that Greenhill who succeeded to Day's mistress in San Thom completed what Day had started when the first sods for Fort St. George were turned. Within these walls lived the Europeans of early Madras, the Indian settlers outside them, in Chennapatnam.
n the year 1611, Machilipatnam became the first British trading centre in the Bay of Bengal. However due to the growing rivalry with the Dutch and the native ruler, the English looked for a secured place to carry on trade. The English not merely wanted a perfect place for a trade centre but beyond it a place which they could fortify. There was no chance of getting such a land in the territory of the Mughals. So basically they needed a place which would provide good anchorage for the ships, protection against raiding enemy armies, and it had to be within the profitable market region. The English found all these scopes in a place of land along the shore, a mile broad and six miles in length. It was certainly not the best place to be in, here there was brackish sea water quite unfit for irrigation and nasty smell of rotten seaweeds all along the coast. The terrain probably was inhospitable but scenic beauty of this place overrides all other seemingly unpleasant factors. The wide open sky above and the gorgeous sea below with all its turbulent and noisy waves was a treat for the eye. So inspite of all the difficulties and limitations the English finally made up their mind to settle on this land. On first of March 1639 they negotiated and signed a deal with the Raja of Chandragheri, the ruler of that place and the entire agreement was drawn upon a plate of gold. According to the agreement the English were to pay twelve hundred pagodas or six hundred pound sterling a year to the Raja. It was preserved carefully for over a century by the English until 1746 when they lost Fort St. George to the French, in which time the gold plate disappeared. The fortifications of the fort had began and by 1644 2294 pounds was spent over it still the company was falling short of 2000 pounds which would provide a garrison of 100 soldiers.
However in between victory and defeat are number of things to be said and told. That part of Madras was gradually becoming cosmopolitan. There were number of Portuguese, Indo-Portuguese born here in India, acting as interpreters to the Europeans and the native businessmen. They sort of acted as a middlemen between the "English buyer and the Hindu producer. Gradually the Portuguese also built their houses inside Fort St. George virtually under the shelter of English guns. A Governor's house was already established where all the company's servants took dinner. Some of them were older folks living in separate houses with their wives. But, when it was dinner all of them gathered in the central dining hall. It was a thriving business and officers were deployed in various sections to oversee everything. There was a council consisting of the Governor, Book keeper, Warehouse keeper, and of course the Custom. All these officers, member of council met every Monday and Tuesday at eight o'clock for the transaction of the business. The secretary would meticulously record the discussions of the meetings and a copy of the record book was sent to England once in a year. The Court of Directors sitting in England carefully went through the entire document and sent their reply. However the salary was too low for the employees. The Governor would only get 300 hundred pounds a year, the second in council drew 100, the third drew 70 and the fourth only fifty. Writers received ten pounds and apprentices only five pounds. The accommodation and food was free for all. In addition to these people there was a priest who prayed every day and preached on the Sunday. There was school teacher at fifty pounds a year, who taught the Portuguese and the native children. So from these account perhaps you can understand that the English community was gradually growing and so was the periphery of the fort.
In 1652 the agent and council of Madras were raised to the rank of a Presidency. And with the growing sphere of British influence all sorts of problems were coming up in early 18th century. In 1701 there was a fear among the English that the natives would bribe the Arab fleets to attack the fort. In 1702 Daud Khan one of Aurangzeb's general was tormenting John Pitt the Governor of the fort. In 1708 the native employees fought over precedence; the right side caste demanded more authority from the left side caste and vice versa. However in spite of all these unique problems the revenue collection in 1709 touched 8,00,000 pagodas.
The English suffered the most in 1744 when the fort was besieged by the French from Mauritius under M. De la Bourdonnais, at that time the inhabitant in and around the fort were 2,50,000 souls. The English only numbered 300, out of which 200 were soldiers, on the 7th of September the assault kicked off and ended on the 10th. The French gained control of the fort and in 1749 they had to evacuateit under the treaty of Aix la Chapelle. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was result of the war of Austrian Succession in Europe by which France gave away Fort St George but regained Cape Breton Island. The French returned again in 1768 under Lally (Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally,) with 3500 French soldiers, 2000 sepoys, and 2000 native and European cavalry. It was a desperate attack to pull down the English fort defended by 1758 Europeans and 2220 native sepoys. During the siege the French fired 26554 shots from the canons, 7502 shells from the mortars, hurled 1990 hand grenades, and spent 2,00,000 cartridges! This battle was extension of the war going on in Europe, the seven year's war, from 1756-63, where France and Britain were belligerents. In those times whatever was happening in Europe, either war or peace was reciprocated in India as well. Nevertheless after just when the French had succeeded in making a breach in the walls a fleet carrying 600 Englishmen landed on the coast. Lally seeing the reinforcements wasted no time in lifting the siege and on the next day the French army retreated. The lessons learnt by the English from this siege was enormous, they immediately went on offensive and attacked the French strongholds of Wandiwash and Pondicherry, which was lost in no time. This was a very significant episode in the colonial history since by this move the English virtually checkmated the French. Rest will be only the British history in India!
Apart from the political lesson another technical lesson was learnt by the English which actually influenced the re-planning of the English establishments. During the siege the English had taken notice of the importance of an open field on the not-sea-facing side of the fort. Thus in 1760 they decided to "create an open esplanade extending 400 yards northwards from the walls of the fort to provide a clear line of fire. Wherever there is a fort there must be an open area to maximize the benefits of cannon shot. Calcutta too has its own esplanade surrounding Fort William but this is how Chennai got its own Esplanade!
Inside the fort there is a lovely church- St. Mary's church. During the governorship of Streynsham Master (1677-82) the initiative to build a church started, eventually it was designed and built in 1680 by Edward Fowle. Mr. Fowle was the master gunner of the fort which actually meant-chief engineer however in those times engineers and gunners were all the same. Initially it was a small stone and brick edifice with a rounded roof. The present tower that we see now is not the original one. In 1759 during the siege, the French under Lally fired so many shots that it collapsed the tower. The repair work was wanted and eventually after some delay for want of funds it was finally rebuilt and obtained the shape that we see now. The present tower is taller than the older. It was in this Church that Job Charnock's children were baptised, when he came down to the Fort St. George. There is an entry in the baptismal register book of this church which reads-"August 19th, 1689, Charnock, Mary, Elizabeth, Katherine, daughters of Job Charnock, baptised by J. Evans. Francis Ellis Godfather, Anne Seaton and Margery Heathfield, Godmothers. It is to note that it doesn't contain the mother's name which was not the usual custom. Could it be because Job Charnock and his Hindu wife were never really married, they just lived together? Whatever be their relation it is a fact that Mr. Charnock loved his wife very much, and even when she was dead and buried, he used to visit her grave in her every death anniversary and sacrificed a cock!
Another man whose career in India began from Fort St. George needs a mention. He is of course none other than Robert Clive, when he was still seven his uncle mentions his temper as fierce and, "out of measure addicted to fighting. He left England in 1743 for India, which turned out to be most difficult journey as his ship was driven out of its course and landed in Brazil. He stayed couple of months there, utilised his time by learning Portuguese which turned very useful while commanding his Indo-Portuguese troops in India. He landed near Fort St. George after this long tiresome journey, once near the gate the sentry showed him his room. On the next day he was informed of his clerical job, a job he never found worth doing. Partly because of this and due to his hot temper he developed a quarrel with his immediate senior it turned into a fight and the matter was escalated up to the Governor. The Governor asked him to apologise because of his insubordination, and Clive did what was asked. His boss being a gentleman and understanding the boy's loneliness invited him for a dinner. Clive refused the invitation outright by saying, "the Governor did not command me to dine with you! It was in the Writer's building of the fort where Clive attempted a suicide. He triggered a loaded pistol in his own forehead, twice he fired and on both occasions it misfired. Clive jumped up exclaiming, "I am reserved for something. Inside this fort in 1752 he was married to Miss Margaret Maskelyn and soon after his marriage his health declined to such extent that he had sail back home. He came back in July 1755 and as the news of the English disaster at Calcutta reached Madras, he was despatched in early December 1756 to retake all that was lost. His forces arrived, attacked and won the fort at Budge Budge by 29th December 1756. Rest is all well known history, and Clive actually achieved more than what he was sent for; he not only snatched Calcutta but laid the foundations of the British Empire in India. He was perhaps destined to achieve this incredible task.
St Mary's Church is the oldest Anglican church in India. It was built between 1678 and 1680 on the orders of the then Agent of Madras Streynsham Master. The tombstones in its graveyard are the oldest English or British tombstones in India. This ancient prayer house solemnised the marriages of Robert Clive and Governor Elihu Yale, who later became the first benefactor of Yale University in the United States.
The Fort Museum exhibits many items of the period of English and later British rule. This building was completed in 1795 and first housed the office of the Madras Bank. The hall upstairs was the Public Exchange Hall and served as a place for public meetings, lottery draws and occasional entertainment. These relics are reminders of British rule in India. The objects on display in the museum are the weapons, coins, medals, uniforms and other artefacts from England, Scotland, France and India dating back to the colonial period. Original letters written by Clive and Cornwallis make fascinating reading. One set of quaint period uniforms is displayed for viewing, as well. However, the piece de resistance is a large statue of Lord Cornwallis.
The National Flag of India was designed by Pingali Venkayya and adopted in its present form during the meeting of Constituent Assembly held on the 22 July 1947, a few days before India's independence from the British on 15 August 1947. The first ever flown flag after the independence is stored in 3rd floor of the museum. Public are allowed to see but not to touch or take photographs.
The flag staff at the fort is one of the tallest in the country. Made of teakwood, it is 150 feet (46 m) high.
The entire complex is administered by the Department of Defence. The fort building is a three-storeyed one housing the offices of the chief minister and other ministers, the chief secretary, home ministry, treasury, etc. The remaining offices are housed in the 10-storeyed Namakkal Kavingyar Maaligai, which houses more than 30 departments.
Fort St George complex housed the administrative buildings of the Government of Tamil Nadu till March 2010. The Legislature of Tamil Nadu and the secretariat (with headquarters of various government departments) was situated in the fort. The fort itself was open to the public however only to a certain area. The main building or the secretariat was open only to government officials and the police. The cannons and the moat which guarded this old building have been left untouched. In 2010 the legislature and the secretariat moved to a new location and the old assembly complex was converted into a library for the Central Institute of Classical Tamil.Following the 2011 assembly elections and the return of J Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister of the State, the Tamil Nadu Assembly and the Secretariat have been restored to Fort St George.
