Inside the church are 3 memorial plaques for members from the European community, viz. Dr. Hector Grahame Henderson [d. 1877], Edward S S Thompson [d. 1887] and John Christie [d. 1916]. An identical copy of the memorial tablet of John Christie erected by the Directors, Managers and Assistants of Peirce Leslie & Co Ltd. is also found inside the St Francis CSI Church of Fort Cochin (see here).
English Cemetery, St Mary's CSI Church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikode
Photograph-October, 2024
Photograph-February, 2024
In this post, I will discuss about the English cemetery adjoining the St Mary’s CSI Church at Nadakkavu, Kozhikode. The foundation stone of the church, originally meant for the British regiments garrisoned at Calicut, was laid on 8th June, 1863 and the building was consecrated in 28th September, 1864 by Bishop Gell in honour of Virgin Mary. According to the Senior Chaplain of Fort St George, Madras, Rev. Frank Penny [1922], when the cemetery was laid out a large portion was left unconsecrated for the use of Nonconformists and up to the year 1900 only one grave had been dug in this part, and an application was made to the Government to allow two thirds of it to be consecrated. The burial ground was opened in 1880 and left unconsecrated for the use of nonconformists and remained active until 1905 says Roberts and Chekkutty [2017]. We also learn about a new cemetery consecrated at Calicut by the Bishop of Madras in a report from 1880, most probably referring to the same site. Out of the 249 burials reported in the list by Roberts and Chekkutty [2017], only three are dated before 1880, viz. Abram, Caroline Bridget, d. 1869; Godfrey, John G Hochstalter, d. 1800; and Smith, Katherine, d. 1879. However, we know from other records that John Godfrey Hochstalter Godfrey died suddenly, at Calicut, on the 16th of October, 1880, and therefore the date 1800 is a typographical error. The list has only 33 gravestones reported for the 249 burials recorded.
In the field, the results are quite different. There are at least 61 grave markers visible in the cemetery, of which, 46 graves with names of 54 are identifiable. Despite the years of neglect most of the gravestones have remained intact, yet many of epitaphs are in a bad state and only with strenuous efforts I could manage to read the inscriptions. As I discussed earlier, the most surprising find was the grave of Richard Harrisson dated 1717 [see here]. However, this is not the only case to be seen, an additional 15 memorial graves dated before 1880 can be traced inside the cemetery. Three graves are dated before 1864 when the church was consecrated, viz. Robert Ley [1828]; Thomas Rammell [1830]; and Robert Huxham [1862]. Ironically, all these 16 graves (including Richard Harrisson, See names 1 to 16 in the Table below) are reported to be in the Old Cemetery of Calicut, Zillathodie (the now extinct graveyard at Connoly Park) as per the inventory collected by Roberts and Chekkutty (2017). If these early graves originally belonged to where they are now, the English cemetery at Nadakkavu would have functioned at least a few decades before a church was established there in 1864.
English Church [St Mary's CSI] at Nadakkavu, Kozhikode Then and Now
2024 
Photograph-October, 2024
1922
The cemetery was once associated with the British garrison at Calicut and no wonder why you see several military memorials in the site. Grave markers of 16 Privates, 2 Captains and 1 Lance Corporal from various British Regiments are identified in the cemetery. Family members of influential British officers are also buried in the cemetery. To the best of my knowledge, no Indian has been buried in this cemetery. The oldest buried is 82-year-old Robert Ley in 1828 and the youngest is Evelyn MacKenzie MacRae, who died 45 days old in 1891. The latest burial I could trace is Anna Magdalene MacDonald from 1905. There are 6 graves in the cemetery with multiple names in the epitaphs and they are:
1-Robert Huxham, d. 1862 and William Huxham, d. 1872 [4 and 12]
2-Charles Francis Webster, d. 1869 and Tom Austin, d. 1870 [9 and 10]
3-Tarletton Louis [or Lewis] Barrow, d. 1882 and Winifred Cecil Barrow, d. 1882 [20 and 21]
4-William Charleston, d. 1885; William Lancey, d. 1885 and Frederick Raven, d. 1887 [25, 26 and 29]
5-Archibald Robertson, d. 1892; John Hill Biggs, d. 1893; James Thompson, d. 1893; and George Symmons, d. 1893 [37, 38, 40 and 41]
6-Thomas Cook, d. 1900; David Henry Charlick, d. 1900; and William Archer, d. 1900 [48, 50 and 52]
[See the table below for the numbers in the brackets]
References
Frank Penny (1922, Vol. 3)-The Church in Madras
Mission Life; Or Home and Foreign Church Work, 1880
Roberts, John Cantwell and Chekkutty, N P (2017)-Malabar II: Christian Memorials Wynad to Travancore 1498-2014
The following table compiles the graves identified from the cemetery and are arranged chronologically with the names of the deceased, date of death, age, designation and other relevant details included.
List of the Graves Identified in the English Cemetery, St Mary's CSI Church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikode
There are around 61 graves in the cemetery, out of which 46 are identified. A total 54 names are traced from the 46 epitaphs. Among the identified graves, 6 have more than one name engraved in the epitaph. There are 3 graves that could not be identified, despite having partially legible inscriptions. An additional 12 graves also could not be identified mostly due to the absence of any visible inscriptions or because the epitaphs are covered under the ground. Following are the photographs of these 61 graves [46 + 3 + 12] arranged in the ascending chronological order of burial. The serial numbers of the graves uploaded below are from the table in the previous post. See the same table for more details of the deceased.
46 IDENTIFIED GRAVES WITH THE NAMES OF 54 DECEASED
1] Richard Harrison, d. 1717 (See here for a separate post on this grave)
2] Robert Ley, d. 1828
The Cemetery of St Mary's CSI Church or English Church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikode. The grave of Richard Harrison is in the foreground.
In a previous post [see here], I discussed about the old extinct European cemetery in Kozhikode. A total 22 tombstones from this graveyard are preserved in the courtyard of the present St Mary's CSI Church (English Church) at Nadakkkavu. Among the 149 burials recorded in this cemetery, the oldest are four graves from the 18th century, viz. Richard Harrison, d. 1717; John Stevens Agnew, d. 1793; William Burchell, d. 1794; and Alexander Porter, d. 1795 (Cotton, 1905; Roberts and Chekkutty, 2017).
However, since only the tombstone of William Burchell is preserved in the courtyard of the English Church today, the remaining three are believed to be lost with their graves in the old cemetery. At least, this was my assumption until I bumped into the fully intact grave (not just the tombstone) of Richard Harrison in the cemetery of this church. Thus, the grave of Richard Harrison, who died on 14 April, 1717 at the age of 20 has survived and it is located in the English cemetery of St Mary's CSI Church at Nadakkavu.
The Grave of Richard Harrison [ d. 14 April, 1717]
How a grave from 1717 is found in the cemetery of a church established in 1864 needs to be addressed. According to the inventory collected by Roberts and Chekkutty (2017), the Nadakkavu English cemetery had 249 burials and it was active between 1880 and 1905 only. Almost all the graves listed in the inventory are dated from 1880 onward. There is also no evidence suggesting a European cemetery functioned at Nadakkavu 150 years before the church was established there. Moreover, all available records indicate that Richard Harrison was buried in the old English Cemetery near the modern Government General Hospital (Beach Hospital) of Kozhikode where 'Connolly/Kanoli Park, Customs Road' is now. Therefore, how did this unique grave from the old cemetery ended at Nadakkavu remains a mystery.
The epitaph is bilingual and is divided into two sections, Latin and English. Cotton (1905) has the full inscription as given below.
