The Biggest Massacre of Britishers in Kerala
Umayamma Rani gave permission to the English East India Company to fortify the trade settlement at Anchuthengu,in 1694,not because she wanted it,but because she had gone back on her promise to grant permission to fortify the Vizhinjam Factory,after, she and some barons, having received a huge amount.She was thus forced to grant the right to establish the Factory and Fort at Anchuthengu,but it became operational only in 1696,because of the opposition of the Dutch and the Pillai s.The Pillai s of Attingal,Kudamon and Vanchimuttam were traditional rivals,and Vanchimuttam,secretly helped the English.After giving permission,the Queen,who became fearful of the English design,had sent an Army of Nairs and Muslims to attack the Fort,but the attempt was foiled by the advance information from Vanchimuttam.The Queen of Attingal was also the Head of the confederacy consisting of the principalities of Travancore,Nedumangad,Kottarakkara,Kollam,Karunagappally and Kayamkulam.
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| Anchuthengu Fort from the Light House |
The Queen needed lot of resources to fund the action against the internal strife,she was facing,and the English request came in handy.The union jack was hoisted at Anchuthengu,on April 27,1694.The peace treaty of 1679,between Britain,France,Scotland,Ireland and Netherlands agreed to accept the colonial monopoly of any of these countries,once they raise their flag to establish a Fort.Located between Vamanapuram river to the East and Arabian sea to the west,it was built with 70,000 stones,at a cost of 7000 pounds,completed in 1699.It could trigger 60 cannons at a time.400 persons could stay at a time.Records show that the Queen got gifts worth Rs 300 from Commander Thomas Mitchell,first Head there,for the first consignment of pepper,and the next Commander,John Brabourne gave 250 coins(1 coin=21 panam)and velvet.Brabourne returned to London in 1707 and Simon Cowse who followed him remained Head,till 1712.John Kyffin who took over in 1712,was dismissed for over enthusiasm in private trade,and William Gyfford,greedy to the core,used even his beautiful wife,Catherine Cooke,for private trade.He made a fortune by sending additional pepper to Europe,in a brigantine,Thomas,owned by his wife's brother,Thomas Cooke.
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| Attingal Palace |
There was one William Gyfford , a puppet of the Governor of the Company in London,Josaiah Child,who appointed him Agent of the Madras Factory in 1681,after removing,Strynsham Master on allegations of private trade. Gyfford had become a Factor in 1657,became a member of the Council at Fort St George in 1662 and became second President of the newly formed Madras Presidency in 1685, after Elihu Yale.
Gyfford was instrumental in signing a treaty with Lingappa,Naik of Poonamallee,for protecting the Factory from criminals and private trade,by paying him,7000 pagodas.A firman was signed by Lingappa,on behalf of the Sultan of Golconda,providing new cowle,for the district of Madraspatnam at the rate of 1200 pagodas/annum,on November 12,1683.Gyfford started the Madras Bank,at Child's suggestion to get more income to the Company.In 1686,he was removed as President of Madras,after a public rebellion against stringent tax.
I don't know whether Gyfford of Anjengo was related to the President Gyfford.The Gyfford appointed at Anjengo in June,1717 was 34 then,whereas the Presidne Gyfford would have been more than 80,at that time.The Anjengo Gyfford had come to India in 1705 as a Writer in the Company,at 17.When he was 25,he married the twice widowed,Catherine,whose life was tragic and adventurous.When Catherine and her first husband,John Harvey,who was Chief of the Karwar Fort,were living in Bombay,Gyfford was in charge of the Bombay market.It was after a stint as Super Cargo,in a vessel,Catherine, Gyfford was appointed at Anchuthengu.They reached after the monsoon.
Simon Cowse,who was Head,remained second in Command after Gyfford took over Anchuthengu Factory.
Attingal was in great political crisis,in total anarchy, pulling on,without a Queen,when Gyfford took over.Nothing in the country could be moved,because of the rivalry of the two ministers,Kudamon and Vanchimuttam Pillai s.Kudamon Pillai died in 1721,and when his energetic nephew succeeded,Gyfford bribed Vanchimuttam,who supported the Queen of Kallada,Ammu Thampuran,sister of Kollam King Unni Kerala Varma,for the post of the Queen of Attingal,as a loyalist of the King.An agreement was worked out between Vanchimuttam and the new Kudamon Pillai and the Queen was consecrated.
Gyfford,by nature,was sarcastic,making fun of others,and enjoying doing practical jokes.Unfortunately,when the practical jokes became religious,Hindus and Muslims formed an axis,against him.He insulted a Brahmin,forcing him to shave the beard of an untouchable slave,which made the Brahmin an outcast,by tradition,and his community was up in arms.The Linguist at the Factory,the Portuguese,Ignatio Malheiro, encouraged young boys to pelt rotten eggs at Muslim traders.Gyfford and wife poured impure water on Muslims.Malheiro,bought by force,the Kottathali grove owned by Sarkkara temple,giving one lakh panam.A large sea coast bought by Gyfford,made Kudamon Pillai angry,because he was trying to raise funds for buying it,selling pepper.Three Hindu merchants on Shrove Wednesday,were insulted;a concubine of Malheiro rubbed ash on the fore head on one Muslim merchant,and he attacked and injured her.When a delegation of Nair merchants was ill treated by Gyfford on February 26,1721,Kudamon Pillai set fire to a British ship.
While the situation was tense,Gyfford was invited to meet the new Queen,with the arrears of the lease amount.
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| Elihu Yale |
On April14,1721,a party of 12o British merchants and 30 slaves,led by Gyfford,Burton Fleming and Malheiro sailed by sea to the palace,6 kilometers away,with 17000 panam as tribute,and Vishukkazhcha.Since old Vanchimuttam was inebriated,the party was received by the young Kudamon.Cowse became suspicious when the talk on the gifts to the Pillai s was extended;he alerted Gyfford,but was rebuffed.The party had left the guns in the ship,where as,the Nairs were,as usual armed.Gyfford and the team was asked to spent the night,on the premises of the palace,in small batches.Gyfford also became suspicious and sent a messenger to Robert Sewell,store keeper/Adjutant/Captain.In the night,the combined Attingal forces,led by Kudamon Pillai,fell upon the Britishers,and butchered them.The party had left only the women,children,pensioners and only 4 males to hold the Fort.Gyfford,Malhiero and Fleming were cut to pieces.The tongues of Gyfford and Malheiro were pulled out,the tongue of Gyfford cut to pieces and thrown into Vamanapuram river.His body was nailed on a log,thrown into the river,to float.Cowse,who tried to escape in Malayali dress,was caught by a Muslim who owed him money,and was killed.A total of 133 were butchered.
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| Gyfford signature |
Three days later,Attingal forces laid siege to the Fort.Among the four males,Robert Sewell,Lieutenant Peter Lapthorne and Ensign Thomas Davis were useless.Sewell and Lapthorne were drunk with a Portuguese called Rodriguez and busy plundering the Factory.Samuel Ince,Gunner ,with volleys of cannon,repulsed them.Women and children were sent away in a ship,Prosperous,to Ceylon,without food and water,though,the Kollam King had invited the refugees to his country.It was not accepted because his loyalties were with the Dutch.There were intermittent attacks on the Fort for 6 months.The Kollam King went to Attingal and stayed with her few days.She sent a delegation including 100 Brahmins,to the Chief at Thalassery,to no avail.She fled to Kollam and never returned.The sister of Rama Varma,King of Travancore was coronated as the new Queen.The tradition of appointing wretched Britishers at Anchuthengu ended and a surgeon in the company,Dr Alexander Orme took over.His son,Robert Orme,born in Anchthengu,and who lived there for two years,became an authority on India and a reputed historian.
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| Robert Orme |
Alexander Orme was the brother in law of the Thalassery Chief,Adams.On August 15,1723,the just 17 year old Marthanda Varma,Prince of Neyyattinkara,sent a letter to Ormes,saying,Adams was very friendly with the Kolathiri family of Malabar,and as a Kolathiri family member,he too expects Ormes to be friendly with him.Marthanda Varma was the son of a princess from the Kolathiri family,adopted to Attingal family.
Battle of Plassey was in 1757,killing,only 29 English men,36 years later!
Reference:
1.English East India Company and the Local Rulers/Leena More
2.The Honourable Company/John Keay
3.Tamil Nadu Archives Letter to Brabourne,1696 May
4. Early Resistance to the English/T P Sankarankutty Nair
5.Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair
6.A History of British Settlements in India/Talboys Wheeler
7.William Kyffin's letter to the President,Madras,11 January,1718
8.Pirates of Malabar and an English Woman in India/John Biddulph
See my Post,CATHERINE COOKE AT ANCHUTHENGU
