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The Hindu, India
Aug 17 2014
Madras miscellany: The Arbuthnot connection
by S. MUTHIAH
One thing I've found in all the years I've been writing this column is
that the leads for an item turn up in the most unexpected of places.
As in this instance.
A former colleague, now settled in Australia and who knew my one-time
habit of taking my lunch break to coincide with the closing for the
day of Royal Primary School in Colombo, so that I could drive home two
godsons of mine in a 'sing for my lunch' routine, sent me an article
the other day on the history of Thurstan Road where the School had
then been. The road is still one of the more heritage-rich roads in
Colombo, many a mansion of long lineage still maintained so well that
I keep wondering why can't we be doing the same thing. One of these
grand houses, incidentally, is the home of the Indian High
Commissioner in Sri Lanka -- and, if I remember right, Gopalkrishna
Gandhi wrote a picture-rich history of it when he was HC there.
The history I recently received tells me that Thurstan Road was once
the eastern boundary of a garden house known as the Bagatelle Estate
and was later renamed as Alfred House, a stately home that still
shines bright midst all the building that has come up around it. And
therein lies my story for today, the lead being that Bagatelle Estate
was owned in the 1840s by Arbuthnot and Co, who were the agents for
the Government of Ceylon in India and who were the sole exporters of
cinnamon from Ceylon, this 'brown gold' being a government monopoly at
the time and the reason this area where it grew is still called
Cinnamon Gardens.
As many a reader will recall, Arbuthnot's was the A in the APB of
South Indian commerce. Parry's and Binny's might have been many years
older, but Arbuthnot's overtook them to become the biggest business
house in South India and one of the biggest in the country till it
crashed in 1906.
Arbuthnot's had its beginnings when George Arbuthnot, a Scot, arrived
in Madras in 1800 and joined Francis Latour & Co that had been founded
c.1780. When Latour decided to step down in 1810, John de Monte, who
could justifiably have been called the 'Laird of (undeveloped) Adyar',
teamed with Arbuthnot to establish Arbuthnot, de Monte & Co. When de
Monte died in 1821 without an heir to succeed him, Arbuthnot found
himself with a business on his hands and Arbuthnot & Co was born,
going on to become the leading business house in South India. It
pioneered some of the earliest industry in India, like the Madras
Portland Cement Works, the Bangalore Bricks & Tiles Works, the
Reliance Engineering Works, the Chittalvasal Jute Mills and several
other manufacturing units.
Besides setting up these establishments, Arbuthnot's played a
significant role in the founding of Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co in
Calcutta, Ewart, Latham & Co in Bombay, Arbuthnot, Latham & Co of
London (the Alfred Latham of these companies being Governor of the
Bank of England!), Ogilvy, Gillanders & Co and Arbuthnot, Ewart & Co
of Liverpool, and Gladstone, Latham & Co of Manchester (in the last
three companies named, several members of the Gladstone family were
partners). With that kind of spread and influential links, Arbuthnot's
was big. No wonder its crash shocked everyone in the Indian financial
world of the early 20th Century (Miscellany, December 23 and 30,
2013).
*****
The Penang connection
A heartening feature of this year's Madras Week is the participation
of several overseas players. The Australians are commemorating the
Emden-Sydney finale that brought to an end a legend that gifted Tamil
a new word on September 22, 1914. The Germans are hosting a discussion
on how the Great War had an impact on Literature and the Arts in
Madras. The French are having readings from literature of the same
period while the British have a blogging contest about Madras and the
Great War underway. Meanwhile, two Armenian scholars living in Paris
have put together a week-long programme in the Armenian Church in
Madras on Armenian Street, the highlight of which is a splendid
exhibition commemorating the Armenian contribution to Madras and to
their homeland as well, the first Armenian Constitution having been
drafted here and the first Armenian printing press and newspaper being
established here.
But to me at the top of this heap is the celebration of Madras Day in
Penang, Malaysia, with an exhibition of Madras photographs. Perhaps
this will set an example for 'Madrasis'/'Chennaivasis' in other cities
round the world to get together and organise events to remember where
they came from. But, that Penang will be first off the mark is not
surprising, considering the nearly 230-year connection the island has
with Madras.
It was a Capt. Francis Light, a trader associated with the firm of
Jourdain, Sullivan and de Souza, in Madras, who in 1785-86 negotiated
with the Sultan of Kedah to grant the East India Company the island in
exchange for protection against Siamese and Burmese intrusions. Light
later arrived in Penang on August 11, 1786 to take possession of the
grant and at the place where he landed Fort Cornwallis was
subsequently raised. He also renamed what was to be the nucleus of
Britain's East Asian empire as Prince of Wales Island, but the name
never stuck; Penang or Pulau Pinang it has remained. It was to this
island that the first Indian traders and workers went from Negapatam,
mainly Tamils, and in time became an integral part of the island's
cosmopolitan population.
What Madras has been to modern India, Penang has been to modern
Malaysia, recording a heap of 'firsts'. One of them is St. George's
Church, work on which was completed in 1816. It is the oldest Anglican
church in Southeast Asia and is the only building in Penang to be
declared one of the fifty National Treasures by the Government of
Malaysia. Not unlike St. George's Cathedral in Madras in appearance,
it is no surprise to learn that it was built by Capt. Robert Smith of
the Madras Engineers. It was formally consecrated in May 1819 by the
Bishop of Calcutta, the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Middleton. Three years
earlier, Middleton, the first Anglican Bishop of India, had
consecrated St. George's in Madras which became a Cathedral church in
1835. In front of the church in Penang, gracing its immaculate lawn is
the 'cupola-ed' memorial to Francis Light. The first recorded service
in the Church was for the marriage of Light's widow, Martina Rosella,
to John Timmer. The Church was restored over a period of a year
between 2010 and 2011. Our own St. George's meanwhile, awaits its
promised restoration. But a Government heritage grant made things
easier in Penang.
Unlike Francis Day, Andrew Cogan and Beri Thimmappa in Madras, Francis
Light is well remembered in George Town, Penang, with several sites
still bearing his name.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/madras-miscellany-the-arbuthnot-connection/article6326154.ece
Aug 17 2014
Madras miscellany: The Arbuthnot connection
by S. MUTHIAH
One thing I've found in all the years I've been writing this column is
that the leads for an item turn up in the most unexpected of places.
As in this instance.
A former colleague, now settled in Australia and who knew my one-time
habit of taking my lunch break to coincide with the closing for the
day of Royal Primary School in Colombo, so that I could drive home two
godsons of mine in a 'sing for my lunch' routine, sent me an article
the other day on the history of Thurstan Road where the School had
then been. The road is still one of the more heritage-rich roads in
Colombo, many a mansion of long lineage still maintained so well that
I keep wondering why can't we be doing the same thing. One of these
grand houses, incidentally, is the home of the Indian High
Commissioner in Sri Lanka -- and, if I remember right, Gopalkrishna
Gandhi wrote a picture-rich history of it when he was HC there.
The history I recently received tells me that Thurstan Road was once
the eastern boundary of a garden house known as the Bagatelle Estate
and was later renamed as Alfred House, a stately home that still
shines bright midst all the building that has come up around it. And
therein lies my story for today, the lead being that Bagatelle Estate
was owned in the 1840s by Arbuthnot and Co, who were the agents for
the Government of Ceylon in India and who were the sole exporters of
cinnamon from Ceylon, this 'brown gold' being a government monopoly at
the time and the reason this area where it grew is still called
Cinnamon Gardens.
As many a reader will recall, Arbuthnot's was the A in the APB of
South Indian commerce. Parry's and Binny's might have been many years
older, but Arbuthnot's overtook them to become the biggest business
house in South India and one of the biggest in the country till it
crashed in 1906.
Arbuthnot's had its beginnings when George Arbuthnot, a Scot, arrived
in Madras in 1800 and joined Francis Latour & Co that had been founded
c.1780. When Latour decided to step down in 1810, John de Monte, who
could justifiably have been called the 'Laird of (undeveloped) Adyar',
teamed with Arbuthnot to establish Arbuthnot, de Monte & Co. When de
Monte died in 1821 without an heir to succeed him, Arbuthnot found
himself with a business on his hands and Arbuthnot & Co was born,
going on to become the leading business house in South India. It
pioneered some of the earliest industry in India, like the Madras
Portland Cement Works, the Bangalore Bricks & Tiles Works, the
Reliance Engineering Works, the Chittalvasal Jute Mills and several
other manufacturing units.
Besides setting up these establishments, Arbuthnot's played a
significant role in the founding of Gillanders, Arbuthnot & Co in
Calcutta, Ewart, Latham & Co in Bombay, Arbuthnot, Latham & Co of
London (the Alfred Latham of these companies being Governor of the
Bank of England!), Ogilvy, Gillanders & Co and Arbuthnot, Ewart & Co
of Liverpool, and Gladstone, Latham & Co of Manchester (in the last
three companies named, several members of the Gladstone family were
partners). With that kind of spread and influential links, Arbuthnot's
was big. No wonder its crash shocked everyone in the Indian financial
world of the early 20th Century (Miscellany, December 23 and 30,
2013).
*****
The Penang connection
A heartening feature of this year's Madras Week is the participation
of several overseas players. The Australians are commemorating the
Emden-Sydney finale that brought to an end a legend that gifted Tamil
a new word on September 22, 1914. The Germans are hosting a discussion
on how the Great War had an impact on Literature and the Arts in
Madras. The French are having readings from literature of the same
period while the British have a blogging contest about Madras and the
Great War underway. Meanwhile, two Armenian scholars living in Paris
have put together a week-long programme in the Armenian Church in
Madras on Armenian Street, the highlight of which is a splendid
exhibition commemorating the Armenian contribution to Madras and to
their homeland as well, the first Armenian Constitution having been
drafted here and the first Armenian printing press and newspaper being
established here.
But to me at the top of this heap is the celebration of Madras Day in
Penang, Malaysia, with an exhibition of Madras photographs. Perhaps
this will set an example for 'Madrasis'/'Chennaivasis' in other cities
round the world to get together and organise events to remember where
they came from. But, that Penang will be first off the mark is not
surprising, considering the nearly 230-year connection the island has
with Madras.
It was a Capt. Francis Light, a trader associated with the firm of
Jourdain, Sullivan and de Souza, in Madras, who in 1785-86 negotiated
with the Sultan of Kedah to grant the East India Company the island in
exchange for protection against Siamese and Burmese intrusions. Light
later arrived in Penang on August 11, 1786 to take possession of the
grant and at the place where he landed Fort Cornwallis was
subsequently raised. He also renamed what was to be the nucleus of
Britain's East Asian empire as Prince of Wales Island, but the name
never stuck; Penang or Pulau Pinang it has remained. It was to this
island that the first Indian traders and workers went from Negapatam,
mainly Tamils, and in time became an integral part of the island's
cosmopolitan population.
What Madras has been to modern India, Penang has been to modern
Malaysia, recording a heap of 'firsts'. One of them is St. George's
Church, work on which was completed in 1816. It is the oldest Anglican
church in Southeast Asia and is the only building in Penang to be
declared one of the fifty National Treasures by the Government of
Malaysia. Not unlike St. George's Cathedral in Madras in appearance,
it is no surprise to learn that it was built by Capt. Robert Smith of
the Madras Engineers. It was formally consecrated in May 1819 by the
Bishop of Calcutta, the Rt. Rev. Thomas F. Middleton. Three years
earlier, Middleton, the first Anglican Bishop of India, had
consecrated St. George's in Madras which became a Cathedral church in
1835. In front of the church in Penang, gracing its immaculate lawn is
the 'cupola-ed' memorial to Francis Light. The first recorded service
in the Church was for the marriage of Light's widow, Martina Rosella,
to John Timmer. The Church was restored over a period of a year
between 2010 and 2011. Our own St. George's meanwhile, awaits its
promised restoration. But a Government heritage grant made things
easier in Penang.
Unlike Francis Day, Andrew Cogan and Beri Thimmappa in Madras, Francis
Light is well remembered in George Town, Penang, with several sites
still bearing his name.
http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/madras-miscellany-the-arbuthnot-connection/article6326154.ece