14) THE TOMBSTONES FROM THE OLD EUROPEAN BURIAL GROUND (OLD ST. MARY'S CEMETERY) OF CALICUT-Curently preserved in the compound of St. Mary's C. S. I. Church (English Church), Nadakkavu, Kozhikode.

Tombstones from the old European cemetery of Calicut, now on display in the premises of St. Mary's CSI Church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikkode

 St. Mary's CSI or English church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikkode 

In Calicut (Kozhikode), near the Government General Hospital (former Beach Hospital) was an European cemetery. Known variously as old Dutch cemetery, old English or Anglican cemetery, old St. Mary's cemetery-Zillathodie etc., the graveyard became defunct by 1878 and was eventually closed. A new cemetery was consecrated in the compound of the current St. Mary's CSI or English church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikkode on 1880. Today, in the site of the old cemetery is a park named after the famous British administrator, Henry Valentine Connolly. Conolly was the Collector and Magistrate of Calicut, who held the post for 14 years before brutally murdered by four Mappila insurgents on 11 September, 1855 and was buried in the same graveyard of Calicut. 

 Conolly or Kanoli Park, Kozhikode- the site of former old European cemetery today.

Tombstone of Henry Valentine Conolly

The earliest recorded burial in the cemetery is that of Richard Harrison, son of Edward Harrison-Governor of Fort St. George, who died on 14 April, 1717 at the age of 20. The site is assumed to be a Dutch cemetery before the British, but no records of Dutch burials are known. According to William Logan (1887), the earliest inscription in the cemetery goes back to the 17th century; whereas Charles A Innes (1908) assigns an even earlier date (16th century), but none of them have come with any specific burial records. Roberts and Chekkutty (2017, pp. 17-28) have collected an inventory which lists 149 burials in the cemetery, the oldest are from the 18th century. In addition to Richard Harrison (d. 1717), the inventory gives the names of three more from the 18th century, viz. William Burchell, d. March 1793 (1794 is the date on the actual tombstone); John Stevens Agnew, d. May 1793 and Alexander Porter, d. May, 1795. According to the list, the last person to be interred in the old cemetery is an infant named Sidney Smith, dated 28 December, 1879. Ironically, in 1905, when Julian James Cotton surveyed the cemetery, he enumerated only 14 graves, which surprisingly, include all the four burials from the 18th century. Another noted burial in the site is Ensign Robert Anderson Wyse, who was killed by the Mappila rebels at Manjerry in 1849 (see my previous posts on his burial monument). Robert Hodges Peirce (d. 28 November, 1878), co-founder of the famous Peirce & Leslie Co, and two of his infant children were also buried in this cemetery. 

Tombstones of Robert Hodges Peirce and his two infant children inserted to the walls of the St. Mary's CSI Church, Kozhikode

In 1958, the Calicut Municipality removed all the crumbling gravestones and converted the place into a Conolly Park. However, it is not clear if the tombstones were shifted to the St. Mary's English church immediately or it was done later. In a report (see here), the transfer of the tombstones to the English church happened only in 1997. Today, 22 tombstones from the old cemetery are on display in the premises of the St. Mary's CSI Church (English Church) at Nadakkavu, Kozhikode. Out of which, 18 tombstones are arranged horizontally on a slanting concrete platform facing the western compound wall of the church, which are positioned south to the western gate of the church. Conolly's tombstone is however preserved in a vertical standing position and is separately kept in the small garden, north to the western gate of the church. The tombstones of Robert Peirce and his two infant children are inserted to the walls on either side of the main (west) door of the church. Even in 1879, many of the inscriptions on the tombs have become wholly obliterated or illegible. 

Only 22 tombstones have survived from the old cemetery, and yet not all these epitaphs are complete, because many inscriptions have worn away with time and the letters are faintly legible. The eulogy written in some of the epitaphs are beyond recognition. Nevertheless, usually they contain elements of Biblical verses, Latin phrases etc., and hence by identifying a few key words, the missing texts are fully retrieved. The biggest challenge was to identify the illegible or obliterated numerals representing dates, ages etc. Thanks mainly to the inventory in Roberts and Chekkutty (2017), I could fill the missing numerals from the difficult grave markers. I am hereby uploading the close-up images of all the 22 tombstones. Among the 4 oldest tombstones from the 18th century, only that of William Burchel (d. 8 March 1794) has survived. Interestingly, it is the only non-rectangular (oval shaped) tombstone in the lot and also one of the best preserved. The latest tombstone displayed is for an infant named George Andrew Frederick Daniel dated March, 1882, but according to Roberts and Chekutty (2017) the last recorded burial in the cemetery took place on 28 December, 1879. It is therefore not certain if the 1882-headstone was brought from a different cemetery. The youngest interred in the cemetery are the two children of Robert Hodges Peirce, both died at the age of 6 days! I have decoded the epitaphs of all the tombstones and the complete inscriptions are added along with the corresponding images. 

Following is the list of the 22 tombstones arranged in the ascending chronological order of death (i.e from the earliest to the latest burial).

No	Name	Date of Death	Age
1	William Burchall	8 March, 1794	36
2	Eliza Babington	25 May, 1822	33
3	William Milnes	24 November, 1830	29
4	Daughter of Robert & Margaret Nelson	3 June, 1836	2 months
5	Samuel Adolphus Rehe	14 November, 1837	48
6	Jane Fraser	12 August, 1838	26
7	Christie Hewett	6 March, 1839	24
8	John Shaw Grieve	6 April, 1846	33
9	Harry Gough	22 April, 1846	27
10	Harriet Buchanan	7 August, 1846
11	John Fullerton Brown	30 January, 1848	47 years 9 months 4 days
12	Robert Anderson Wyse	28 August, 1849
13	Frank Arthur Bolton	29 May, 1855	16 days
14	Henry Valentine Conolly	11 September, 1855	48
15	William Ebery	6 December, 1859	57
16	Jessie Caroline	10 March, 1863	6 days
17	Thomas Gwynn	11 August, 1864	65
18	Sarah Montgomery	19 August, 1864	20
19	Charles Gore	17 July, 1871	6 days
20	David Joseph	16 June, 1878	9
21	Robert Hodges Peirce	28 November, 1878	51
22	George Andrew Frederick Daniel	21 March, 1882	4 months 27 days

WHERE WAS ENSIGN WYSE BURIED-MANJERI OR CALICUT (KOZHIKODE)?

In the previous post, I discussed about the burial monument of Ensign Wyse at Manjeri in the Malappuram district. What is odd about this grave is that the epitaph appears to be from a later period. Moreover, it is unusual that the first name of the deceased is not given in the tombstone. Interestingly, an 1879 document (Edward B. Eastwick, Handbook of the Madras presidency-with a notice of the overland route to India, 2nd edition, p. 295) gives the location of Wyse's grave in the English burial ground of Calicut (Kozhikode). In this report, we learn his full name as Robert Anderson Wyse, described as an Ensign who was killed on 28th august, 1849, while leading a detachment of the 43rd Regiment N. I. against some insurgents. Similarly, in the inventory collected by Roberts and Chekkutty (Malabar II Christian Memorials, 2017, pp. 51, 113), Robert Anderson Wyse was buried at the old St. Mary's cemetery in Calicut.  We learn that Wyse was appointed as an Ensign in the 43rd Regiment of the Native Infantry on 27 August, 1844 (East-India Register and Army List, 1849, p. 94). 

Although this burial ground of Calicut is extinct today, a few of the tombstones have survived and are preserved in the compound of St. Mary's CSI church (also known as the English  church) at Nadakkavu, Kozhikode. Fortunately, we have the headstone of Wyse in this precious lot. It is a riddle as to why the tombstone of Wyse is preserved in Calicut, while he was killed and apparently buried at the site of his death in Manjeri. The tombstone in Manjeri clearly states that his remains lie in the grave built over there. Could it be that the monument in Manjeri is only a memorial erected at the site of his death, and the remains were taken to Calicut and buried at the old Christian cemetery there. In the upcoming post, I will be focusing on the tombstones retrieved from the extinct old cemetery of Calicut, which include the headstone of Ensign Robert Anderson Wyse as well. The most famous burial at this lost cemetery was that of Henry Valentine Conolly, who was the Collector and Magistrate of Malabar from 1841 to 1855.

13) THE LONE BRITISH GRAVE MONUMENT OF ENSIGN WYSE (DIED, 28TH AUGUST, 1849), MANJERI, MALAPPURAM

 

Inside the compound of Government Boys’ Higher Secondary School (HSS) at Manjeri in Malappuram district is a solo grave monument. It is supposedly the tomb of Ensign Wyse from the 43rd regiment of Madras Native Infantry (M. N. I.). The regiment was under Captain R. P. K. Watt and was brought from Calicut to defeat the Mappila outbreak of Manjeri in 1849. Wyse was killed by the Mappila insurgents across a paddy field adjacent to the Kunnath (Mathrukunnu) Bhagavathi Temple in Manjeri on 28th August, 1849 and was apparently buried near the site of his death.  

A letter from the Assistant Magistrate, Charles Collett to H V Conolly, Magistrate of Malabar, written on the same day (28th August, 1849) has a first-hand report of the incident. The letter says:  "Ensign Wyse preceded his men out of the paddy fields, some three or four men followed, the rest evidently hung back, and though there was a good deal of firing, strange to say, it did not appear to be with any effect; the first insurgent, though frequently fired at, was not hit, and in fact, was killed by Ensign Wyse, with his own hand. Others now came down upon Ensign Wyse, and I am informed that one of them seized him by the jacket, and he received a wound, when he appears to have fallen and was of course quickly put to death; but by this time, three of the insurgents had fallen, and now those men in the detachment who alone had emulated their officer, fell, one of them having first gallantly bayoneted the man who gave Mr. Wyse his death wound" (Correspondence on Moplah Outrages in Malabar, for the Years 1849-53, 1863, pp. 8-9). Two years later, another report in Allen's Indian Mail, dated, Saturday, November 1, 1851 (p. 653), has the following details: "About fifteen Moplahs rushed out from a mosque, in which they were posted, when nearly all the Sepoys, though outnumbering the fanatics four to one, fired at random, and, without waiting for a collision, fled, leaving Ensign Wyse and six gallant fellows who stood by him to be cut to pieces".

The grave has certainly undergone restoration as evident from the cement coatings and the inscriptions that are probably added afterwards. In fact, when William Logan recorded the grave in Malabar Manual (1887, vol. 2, p. 365), he found it had no inscription. Today, the grave bears two set of inscriptions, the one on the cemented top is very brief and has the writing: 

"ENSION WYSE
28 AUG 1849";

whereas the inscription inserted in a black marble stone on the side of the tomb reads: 

"HERE LIE
THE REMAINS OF
ENSIGN WYSE
OF THE 43RD REGIMENT M. N. I.
WHO WAS SLAIN NEAR THIS SPOT
ON THE 28TH AUGUST 1849".  

If indeed this is the actual grave of Ensign Wyse, it's a miracle that the isolated monument remains intact even after 175 years. The tomb is situated near the western compound wall of the school on an elevated spot that can be reached after climbing 12 steps beside a palash tree (Butea monosperma). 

12) DUTCH GRAVESTONE OF WEYERMAN FAMILY (18TH CENTURY) IN ST ANGELO'S FORT, KANNUR

Inside the St Angelo Fort in Kannur, bricked into the ramparts wall is a gravestone. The 24-lined Dutch epitaph from the mid-18th century is well preserved and the engravings are still quite visible. The skull motif on the top of the headstone is also finely carved and well executed. This is the tombstone of a young mother who died at the early age of 17 while giving birth to a stillborn child. Her name is Susanna Geertruyda Pfeiffer and she was the first wife of Godefridus Weyerman, the Dutch Commander of Malabar. Susanna (born 12 August 1727; died 28 March 1745; age 17 years 7 months 16 days) was the daughter of Matthijs Pfeiffer (chief of Porto Novo) and Margaretha Hackaart. In the same tombstone, the burial details of Weyerman’s two infant sons from his second marriage to Joanna Anna Banister are also given.  As per the epitaph, the infants Godfried Wynando (born 28 August, 1749; died 2 December, 1749) and Godfried Jehan (died 22 July, 1755; age 15 months 8 days) were buried on either side of Susanna’s sarcophagus at Kannur, but neither their graves nor their gravestones have survived. Weyerman began his career as a soldier for the Dutch East India Company in 1734, and over time climbed the ladder to become a chief merchant (1757); Commander of Malabar (1760-1765); and Governor (1776) etc. Weyerman married for the 3rd time with Rachel Douglas (d. 1772 in Batavia), and together they had 3 children. He passed away in Batavia (Indonesia) on March 9, 1779.  

The Dutch inscription

Dutch Transcript
Hier onder Rust het Lyk der Egte vrouve Van de Heer GODEFRIDUS WEYERMAN gen= SUSANNA GEERTRUYDA PFEIFFER in de kraam Van Eene Doode Soon Overleden den 28: Maart Ao=1745: oud Synde 17 iaren 7 maanden en 16 Dagen. Aan weerzyden Van deese Sarksteen Leggen Begraven twee Kinderen Van gem. Heer WEYERMAN Geprocureerd uyt de tweede Egt med de Vrouwe JOANNA ANNA BANISTER, het Eerste Kind gent= GODFRIED WYNANDO Geboren den 28 Aug Ao=1749 Gestorven den 2 Zber daaraan volgende, Mitsgaders het Tweede Kind Genaamt GODFRIED JEHAN, onstlapen den 22 July Ao= 1755 oud Wesende 15 maanden En 8 dagen

English Translation
Here under rests the body of the wife of Mr. GODEFRIDUS WEIJERMAN named SUSANNA GEERTRUYDA PFEIFFER while giving birth to a stillborn son, [she] died on the 28th March in the year 1745, [her] age 17 years, 7 months and 16 days. On either side of this sarcophagus lie buried two children of the same Mr. WEIJERMAN obtained from [his] second marriage with Mrs. JOANNA ANNA BANISTER. The first child named GODFRIED WYNANDO, born on the 28 August in the year 1749, died on the following 2nd December. As well as the second child named GODFRIED JEHAN, passed away on the 22nd July in the year 1755, [his] age being 15 months and 8 days. 

11) TOMBSTONE OF CAPTAIN WILHELM (WILLIAM) BLASSER (2 FEBRUARY, 1729) -DUTCH COMMANDER OF WILLIAM FORT (FORT WILHELMUS) IN CHETTUVA

 

Dutch Epitaph

Ter gedagtenisse van den E. Wilhem Blasser in syn leeven Cappetyn Luytenant en eerste commandant ter fortresse Wilhelmus tot Chettua overleeden den 2 February ao 1729.

English Translation

In memory of E Willem Blasser, in his lifetime captain lieutenant and first commander of the fortress Wilhelmus at Chettua, deceased on the 2 February 1729.

 

In 1714, the Dutch under the support of Cochin Raja set about the erection of a fort at Chettuva. In 22 January, 1715, Zamorin (Samoothiri) with the help of the British took control over the unfinished fort by surprise attack. The English even built a lodge in the fort complex afterwards. However, the Dutch recaptured the fort in 25 April, 1717 under the command of Sergeant-Major Hans Frederik Bergman. It was named Fort William and Captain-Lieutenant William (Wilhem) Blasser was the First Commandant thereof, died there on 2 February, 1729 and buried in the fort premises. After the Dutch, by the end of 18th century, the fort was controlled for a brief period by the Mysorean Army of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan; and they were followed by the British. 

In the 1880s, the then Malabar Collector, William Logan observes Wilhem Blasser's grave lying at the 'Chetwai Public Bungalow' ('Malabar Manual', 1887, vol 1, p. 351). However, in 1905, British Civil Servant Julian James Cotton reports that the this slab was recovered from the site of the old fort of Chetwai by some Moplas (Muslims) who took it to their mosque, and that Logan had it removed to the Deputy Tahsildar's office, where it lies in the compound of that building ('List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras', p. 264). Almost at the same period, Sir Charles Alexander Innes also attests the tombstone in Chavakkad Deputy Tahsildar's office ('Madras District Gazetteers', 1908, vol. 1, p. 450). A few years later, in 20 February, 1924, Rev. Henry Hosten visited the site and saw the tombstone. Hosten writes that the slab was brought to the "Sub-magistrate's court at Chowghat from the dilapidated fort of Chettuvai (Chetwye), 4 miles off, along the sea". We learn that Hosten even left a copy of the inscription and a translation with the authorities. 

10) PORTUGUESE TOMBSTONES IN THE COURTYARD OF THRISSUR MURAL ART MUSEUM

In the garden of the 'Thrissur Mural Art Museum', 11 Portuguese tombstones are found lying scattered. These grave markers were discovered in the early decades of 20th century (1920s to 1930s) from Cochin (9 tombstones) and Kodungallur (2 tombstones) and were brought to Thrissur afterwards. Most of the tombstones are undated and not in a good condition, but thanks to early archaeological reports, we have the full inscriptions available. I have discussed about these 11 Portuguese tombstones under 2 headings in my blog 'Jewish Monuments of Kerala'. Here are the links:

1-PORTUGUESE TOMBSTONES FROM COCHIN DISPLAYED IN THE MURAL ART MUSEUM, THRISSUR (THRISSUR DISTRICT HERITAGE MUSEUM)

2-PORTUGUESE TOMBSTONES FROM CRANGANORE (KODUNGALLUR) DISPLAYED IN THE MURAL ART MUSEUM, THRISSUR (THRISSUR DISTRICT HERITAGE MUSEUM)

9) PORTUGUESE TOMBSTONES IN THE COURTYARD OF SANTA CRUZ CATHEDRAL, FORT KOCHI

In the courtyard of Santa Cruz Cathedral at Fort Cochin, behind the small chapel of Virgin Mary are 4 Portuguese tombstones arranged around a multi-tiered pillar and guarded by a chain link fencing. Two of the tombstones are undated, one is from 1624 and the remaining gravestone can be dated  to either (15)84 or (16)84 depending upon how the first two numerals are read. More details about these tombstones and their photographs are uploaded in the posts uploaded to the blog 'Jewish Monuments of Kerala' below:

1. PORTUGUESE TOMBSTONES IN THE COURTYARD OF SANTA CRUZ CATHEDRAL, FORT KOCHI

2. THE PILLARS OF THE OLD SANTA CRUZ CATHEDRAL, FORT KOCHI