28) MEMORIAL TABLETS INSIDE THE ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN [C. S. I.] CHURCH, THALASSERRY, KANNUR

St John's Anglican [C. S. I.] Church, Thalasserry, Kannur

Inside the St John's Anglican Church at Thalasserry are five memorial tablets on display. They are named after:
1- Edward Brennen [d. 1859, aged 75]
2- Mary, d/o Francis Carnac Brown and grand d/o Murdoch Brown [d. 1867, aged 33]
3- Eliza Wills [d. 1874, aged 30], w/o Henry Crew
4- Patrick Harry Gordon [d. 1876, aged 31]
5- Ralph Tatham [d. 1900. aged 43]

Interior of the St John's Anglican [C. S. I.] Church

We have seen previously that the graves of 1, 2 and 3 are in the church burial ground. 4 is buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery, which is at West London, UK. 5 is interred in Thalassery [See Roberts and Chekkutty, MCM-I, 2013; Cotton, 1905 is however, silent about him]. 5 is yet to be traced, perhaps it is one of the anonymous graves in the cemetery. Both 4 and 5 were planters.

MEMORIAL TABLETS INSIDE THE ST JOHN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, THALASSERRY

1- Edward Brennen [d. 1859, aged 75]

27] A DETAILED SURVEY OF THE EUROPEAN GRAVES IN THE CEMETERY OF ST. JOHN'S ANGLICAN [C. S. I.] CHURCH AT THALASSERY [TELLICHERRY], KANNUR [CANNANORE]

St John's Anglican [ C. S. I.] Church, ThalasserryCemetery of St. John's Anglican [ C. S. I.] Church, Thalasserry

 Introduction

The English presence in Tellicherry [Thalasserry] begins with the East India Company [E. I. C] establishing a factory in 1683. In 1708, a fort was built for the protection of the factory. In 1780, the fort was besieged by the Mysorean troops under Hyder Ali. Thalasserry’s military importance declined after the large Cannanore [Kannur] Cantonment was laid out in between 1805 and 1810. 

Thalasserry Fort and a view from the Fort to the Churches and Cemetery

The First Anglican Church at Thalasserry

Today, in the compound of St John’s Anglican [C. S. I.] Church is a sign board that says it was built in 1869 CE using an endowment from Sir Edward Brennan, a Master Attendant at Thalasserry Port. It is true that Brennan funded the construction of the current church, but this is not the first church on the site. The first church here was built by Rev. Frederick James Spring around 1818. He was the first and only Chaplain sent by the E. I. C to Thalasserry, who arrived in 1816 and remained there till 1823. At the time of his arrival, Thalassery had a small garrison, but there was no Church. He raised around Rs. 5000 [of which, Rs. 4000 was advanced by himself] and erected the church which measured 90 x 50 feet capable of seating about 250 persons. However, soon after the building was finished the European troops were withdrawn to Kannur, and he was left with a congregation averaging 35 persons only [See Frank, 1912, pp. 55-56; 261-266 for more details]. 

St John's Anglican Church and Cemetery, 1912 vs 2024.

The Government of Fort St. George issued an injunction in 1818 that no place of worship should thereafter be erected without the permission of the Government previously obtained. Though, there is no evidence as to when exactly the Spring’s Church was erected, it may have been built before the 1818 rule reached Thalasserry. Anyway, it was built certainly before 1820, when Rev. Spring appealed to the Government of Fort St. George to repay him the Rs.4000 he had expended. The church was one of the few built without Government assistance but at the cost of subscribers. Apparently, it was neither well-built nor well designed. 

26] LIST OF THE EUROPEAN GRAVES IDENTIFIED [42 NOS] IN THE ST JOHN'S ANGLICAN [C. S. I.] CHURCH CEMETERY, THALASSERRY, KANNUR

Altogether, I could trace around 72 graves in the cemetery that can be classified as European. Among them, 42 graves are identified. The remaining 30 graves are unidentified due to the absence of regular headstones or lack of  legible inscriptions. For an updated list see the link here.

Following is a tabulated list of graves identified and arranged in ascending chronological order. The details given below are taken directly from the epitaph on the site unless specified separately. If the names and numbers [dates, age etc.] appear differently in the lists of Cotton [1905] and Roberts and Chekkutty [2013], they are given in brackets. For instance, the epitaph [No. 2] reads 'Gaspar Moritz Gleetz' on the actual site, but Roberts and Chekkutty's list [2013] has the name 'Gasper Moritz Cadeetz'. Similarly, the date of his birth is also recorded differently, 10 December, 1730 instead of 16 December, 1730 as inscribed on the epitaph.

No	Name	Date of death	Date of birth	Age
1	Hen. [Henry] Johnson	17 April, 1752 [1759]		23
2	Gaspar [Gasper] Moritz Gleetz [Cadeetz]	18 April, 1768	16 [10] December, 1730	38
3	George Browne	27 March, 1792		32
4	Mary Disney	24 March, 1800		26
5	Frances Smith	21 November, 1801 [1802]	15 June, 1772	29
6	Janet Clephane	9 April, 1813 [7 or 9 April, 1815]		38
7	Alfred Puddicombe Wilkins	19 November, 1819		36
8	Henry Harman Spring	28 September, 1821	20 November, 1820	10 months
9	Elizabeth Frances [Francis] Schmidt	25 July, 1823		10 months & 15 days
10	Clara Maria Schmidt	26 April, 1824		28 days
11	James Crawford	3 August, 1825		5 months & 16 days
12	James Stevens	21 January, 1827		58
13	Murdoch Brown	9 January, 1828		78
14	J. J. Martins [J. Maria; J. J. Martyns], Rev.	11 September, 1830 [29 February, 1844]		36
15	Josepha Fretita	25 July, 1832		40
16	Catherine Maitland Vaughan	23 June, 1833		NA
17	Cecilia Lavie	14 November, 1839		22
18	Helen Somerville Baber, nee Fearon	10 April, 1840		60
19	Charles Francis Warden	20 January, 1842		30
20	John Sibbald	11 [14] December, 1843 [1815, 1845]		34
21	Anthony Charles Purnell [Purntele]	22 May, 1844 [1817]		23 [28]
22	James Ward [Warden]	23 [25] January, 1847		33 [35]
23	Evan John Edmund Davies [Davis]	23 December, 1852	13 January, 1829 [1839]	23 [22]
24	Edward Brennen	2 October, 1859		75
25	George Brown	20 November, 1859 [1850]		66
26	John Henry	12 May, 1860		34 years, 3 [6] months, & 12 days
27	Mary Brown	19 July, 1867		33
28	Augustus William Sullivan	31 August, 1868 [1858]		45 years & 4 months
29	Francis Paul Pereira	3 January, 1869	31 August, 1807	61
30	Caroline Reid Day	8 July, 1869		22 years & 9 months
31	Eliza Wills Crewe	17 October, 1874		30
32	Edmund William Birch Hope	10 June, 1876		24
33	Edwin Flynn	26 March, 1879		34
34	Edward Stuart Stafford Thompson	25 March, 1887	11 July, 1839	48
35	Jane Brown	17 October, 1906		72
36	Margaret Eleanor John	29 November, 1911	28 November, 1837	74
37	John Brand Burnett	[17 April, 1912]		[76]
38	Hugh McNaught Lockie	27 September, 1913 or 1914		16 days
39	Jean Camille Ferne	27 July, 1915		46
40	Annie Malcolm	10 March, 1917		74
41	Guy Evelyn Turner	22 March, 1924		23
42	Emry C. Stuedle [Stueole]	16 October, 1953 [1933]	12 October, 1902	51 [29]

 

25] EUROPEAN GRAVES IDENTIFIED [42 NOS] IN THE CEMETERY OF ST JOHN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, THALASSERY

 1]  Hen. [Henry] Johnson, 17 April, 1752

HEN: JOHNSON

DIED AP. 17

1752 AGED 23

A Mr. John Johnson, conjecturably his father, was a signatory to articles of commercial trading drawn up between the Tellicherry and Mahe factories on the April 28th, 1728 [Cotton, 1905, p. 256]

2] Gaspar Moritz Gleetz,18 April, 1768

HODIE MIHI

CRAS ET TIBI*

Here lieth the

Body of

Gaspar

Moritz Gleetz

Cap:ⁿ of Infantry

who was Born

At Quedlinburg

the 16 Dec: 1730

And Died at

Tell:^y the 18 Ap:

1768

* "today me, tomorrow you".

3] George Browne, 27 March, 1792

To the MEMORY of

GEORGE BROWNE

Late MAJOR in

His Brittanic Majesty's

19th Regiment [Light Infantry [Dragoons]]

Who departed this [Life on]

the 27^th of MARCH 1792

in the 32^nd Year of his Age

This stone is placed near

his remains by a Brother

24] ANONYMOUS EUROPEAN GRAVES WITHOUT GRAVESTONES [30 Nos] IN THE CEMETERY OF ST JOHN'S ANGLICAN CHURCH, THALASSERRY

There are at least 30 European graves without inscriptions. In most cases the gravestones exist, but the inscriptions have disappeared without leaving any trace. There are also graves without gravestones, and in this category comes two of the largest pyramid shaped monuments built of unplastered laterite bricks [see Grave No. 1 and 3]. Unfortunately, all these graves will remain anonymous.

LARGE GRAVES [No. 1 to 4]

 GRAVES [No. 5 to 30]