29] MORE EUROPEAN GRAVES [NOS. 43-47] IDENTIFIED FROM THE CEMETERY OF ST JOHN'S ANGLICAN [CSI] CHURCH, THALASSERRY

So far I have identified 42 European graves from the cemetery of St John's Anglican church at Thalasserry [see here]. This does not include 30 anonymous graves in the cemetery that lack a gravestone or epitaph [see here]. During my recent visit to the cemetery, I could identify 5 more graves, which will be covered in this post. Three of these graves were observed during my previous visits to the cemetery, but they could not be identified due to the poor visibility of the inscriptions then. 

1] Mary Ignatio [22 May, 1885; Aged 73]Photographs-March, 2025

My earlier observations revealed that the grave belonged to a woman named Mary and that she died somewhere between 20th to 29th of May. However, the other details on the marker such as the name of the husband was undetectable due to the illegible characters on the gravestones. What I could decipher so far was:

 

SACRED
TO THE
MEMORY OF
MARY
The beloved wife of
..............
Who departed her life....
2...May
Aged..Years

Looking in the inventories for individuals with first name Mary, we can see that: 

 

I] Cotton [1946] has only one name: 

 

    1] Mary Disney [24 March, 1800, age 26]. The grave is identified in the cemetery. 

 

II] MCM-1 [Roberts and Chekkutty, 2013] has 7 burials with the name Mary: 

 

    1] Mary Disney [24 March, 1800, age 26] 

 

    2] Mary Brown [19 July, 1867, age 33], d/o Francis Carnac Brown [also identified in the cemetery]. 

    3] Mary Jane Biber [30 March, 1934, age 75]

    4] Mary Gaudiosa Brito [5 November, 1912, age 92]

    5] Mary Brown [19 May, 1898, age 62]

    6] Mary Catherine Littery [15 May, 1906, age 37]

    7 Mary Waner [13 August, 1916, age 74]

 

However, none of the burials above have a date from May 20 to May 29. I then remembered I had a copy of a small rare booklet entitled, 'List of European &C. Tombs in The Malabar District', published by the Collectorate Press, Calicut in 1907. Although, this copy was reproduced from an original archived collection and obtained through special arrangement, it turned out to be of a very bad quality. Most of the pages came so blurry that the texts are practically unreadable, and a few pages were even missing in my copy. Therefore, I had little hope on this inventory. Surprisingly, when I went through the list again, the section dealing with Tellicherry appeared fairly legible and many names readable! The title says 'Protestant Cemetery at Tellicherry' and it has 51 burials from Henry Johnson [17 April, 1753, age 23] to Florence [8 September, 1893, age 11 months] d/o James and Adelaide Burgess. The inventory has 3 burials with the first name Mary: 

 

1) Mary Disney 

 

2) Mary Brown, d/o Francis Carnac Brown

 

3) Mary, w/o Andrew Ignatio, who died on 22 May, 1885 at the age of 73. The name Mary Ignatio is absent in  Cotton's [1946] list. MCM-1 [Roberts and Chekkutty, 2013] also lacks her name in the St. John's Anglican Cemetery of Thalasserry. Ironically, both hers and her husband's [Andrew Ignatio's-died 10 June 1888; aged 81] graves are listed in MCM-1 under the adjacent Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Cemetery in Thalasserry!

 

The date '22 May' fits nicely, but the name of the husband has to match. After carefully examining the the freshly taken images from the cemetery, I could now clearly read the name of the husband Andrew Ignatio. Thus, the grave of Mary Ignatio is identified. At present I don't have more details about her. The complete epitaph should therefore read as follows:

SACRED
TO THE
MEMORY OF
MARY
The beloved wife of
ANDREW IGNATIO
Who departed her life on the
22 May 1885
Aged 73 Years

2] David Gallientt [10 April, 1850; 59 Years and 4 Months]Photographs-March, 2025

 

This grave was also seen during my previous visit to the cemetery, but the crude epitaph was difficult to decipher especially under the bright light conditions then. This time it was a cloudy weather and the inscriptions were fairly legible. Interestingly, this name does not appear in any of the three inventories we discussed. The epitaph reads as follow:

SACRED

To the memory of

THE LATE DAVID GALLIENTT

SERVED IN THE SECOND BOMBAY

EUROPEAN REGIMENT BORN 17^th

NOVEMBER 1791 AND DEPARTED

THIS LIFE ON 10^th APRIL 1850 [1851?]

AGED 59 YEARS 4 MONTHS

The eulogy lines after this section is not clear

3] W F Stewart [7 May, 1878; 24 Years]Photograph-March, 2025

I was not sure if this grave was European as the structure appeared modern and the dates were also not visible during my previous visit. Moreover, his name does not appear in the inventories of Cotton [1946] and MCM-1 [2013]. However, recently I found out that he appears in the 'List of European &C. Tombs in The Malabar District [1907]' as: W. F. Stuart, Late Sub Lieut, R. N., died on 7th May, 1878, aged 24. The original epitaph runs in three lines and the inscriptions are arranged on the  three sides of the rectangular shaped grave:

W. F. STEWART LATE SUB LIEUT R. N.

DIED MAY 7 1878 AGED 24

SO HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP

 

4] Jessie Alfreda [10 July, 1879; 8 Months]  Photograph-March, 2025

 

The grave of this 8-month old infant girl was identified only during my recent visit. She is listed in both MCM-I [2013] and the List...Malabar District [1907], but absent in Cotton [1946]. Her name has faded out in the gravestone, but the rest of the inscriptions are readable. The epitaph says:

[JESSIE ALFREDA]

THE SECOND DAUGHTER OF

ALFRED G. GOVER OF TELLICHERRY

DIED THE 10^TH JULY 1879

AGED 8 MONTHS

SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 

5] Ellen Browne [10 January, 1906]Photograph-March, 2025

This grave was also traced during my recent trip, but we discussed about her tomb in a previous post on the Brown family [see here]. It was believed to be one of the anonymous graves in the section for the Brown family. Earlier we saw that MCM-I [2013] has listed 14 members with the surname Browne/Browne. However, if the list is accurate, only 6 among them had gravestones and Ellen's was one of them. The tombs of 5 Browns are identified in the cemetery, and the only one left is that of Ellen's. My prediction was that hers should be one of the anonymous graves in the lot [see A1 or A2 in the photograph below]. I was proved wrong when I found Ellen's grave in a different location [see EB in the photograph below].

The epitaph according to MCM-I [2013] says: 'Ellen, Widow of George Browne, merchant of Waltair', and the date of death is given separately as  10 January, 1906. The inscription on the actual headstone reads:

Ad memoriam

ELLEN

WIDOW OF J. M. BROWNE

MERCHANT OF WALT[AIR]

10 January, 1906

[See that Roberts and Chekkutty, 2013 has the father's name George Browne instead of J. M. Browne as in the gravestone]

 

 References

Collectorate Press, Calicut [1907]-List of European &C. Tombs in The Malabar District

Cotton, Julian James  (1946 ed., Vol. 2)-List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Madras

Roberts, John Cantwell and Chekkutty, N P (2013)-Malabar: Christian Cemeteries and Memorials at Cannanore, Tellicherry and Mahé, 1723-1990