Tombstones from the old European cemetery of Calicut, now on display in the premises of St. Mary's CSI 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 almost full by 1878 and was eventually closed. Today, in the site of the cemetery is a park named after the famous British administrator of Malabar, Henry Valentine Connolly. He was the Collector and Magistrate of Malabar, 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 said to be 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 details. 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), this inventory gives the names of three more individuals 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 this 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. He was one of the last to be interred in this cemetery.
Memorials for Robert Hodges Peirce and his two infant children in the walls of the St. Mary's CSI Church, Kozhikode
Apparently, 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 joining the western compound wall of the church, in a section south to the western gate of the church. Conolly's tombstone is kept in a vertical standing position and preserved separately by inserting to the same compound wall, north to the western gate of the church. On either side of the main (west) door of the church are memorials for Robert Peirce and his two infant children who were buried in the old cemetery. However, whether these markers are actual tombstones retrieved from the
old cemetery or they are just memorial tablets added afterwards needs to be scrutinized. On a positive note, the sculptor's identity is revealed at the end of the stone tablets as 'C. S. Trotter, Madras', a name seen in tombstones made during the mid-to-late 19th century in South India. Nevertheless, it is unusual that Cotton failed to observe these grave markers in the old cemetery in 1905. Eastwick (1879) states: "the English burial ground, which is close to the pier (of Calicut) is now so full (1878) that it is about to be closed, and land has been purchased for a new cemetery" and that "many of the inscriptions on the tombs have become wholly obliterated or illegible".
St. Mary's CSI or English church, Nadakkavu, Kozhikkode
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 visible; some are broken and their fragments lost. The eulogy verses written in some of the epitaphs are beyond recognition. Nevertheless, since they contain usual Biblical verses, Latin phrases etc. used in typical headstones, by identifying the key words, I could retrieve the illegible texts. The biggest challenge was to identify the blurry or obliterated numerals representing dates and ages of the deceased. Thanks mainly to the inventory in Roberts and Chekkutty (2017), I could fill the missing gaps in the difficult grave markers. I am hereby uploading the close-up images of all the 22 tombstones. Among the tombstones from the 18th century, it seems 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 is for an infant named George Andrew Frederick Daniel, who died on 21 March, 1882. The youngest interred in the cemetery are the two children of Robert Hodges Peirce, both died at the age of 6 days! Here I have the epitaphs of all the tombstones and their complete inscriptions added along with the corresponding images.
Following is the list of the 22 tombstones 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
|
Tombstones displayed in the Mother of God Church, Kozhikode.
