A BRITISH HISTORIAN FROM KERALA

Robert Orme was an authority on India

 Robert Orme was a historian admired in his time,inspiring Thomas Macaulay,Walter Scott and William Makepeace Thackeray and the like,but later displaced by historians from James Mill onwards.His work,History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan from 1745,laid the foundation for all the future history works on India.For a person like me, born and brought up in the Southern state of India,Kerala,it was exciting to learn that he was born in Kerala,at Anchuthengu or Anjengo.He was born on  Christmas day,in 1728,as the second son of the Chief of the English East India Company Factory there,Dr Alexander Orme,and Lady Gill.Alexander had replaced the notorious Chief,William Gyfford,who was killed by the Attingal Pillai Brigade along with 132 Britishers,in 1721,on the premises of the Attingal palace,and the corrupt Midford,who followed,Gyfford.

Dr Alexander was a surgeon in the service of the Company,at Anchuthengu Factory,in 1707,later Chief,and the brother in law of the Chief of the Company's Thalassery Factory,Robert Adams.Robert Orme was there at Anchuthengu,only for two years,after which he was sent to London,only to come back to India in later years.

Robert was sent to his aunt,Mrs Robert Adams,when he was two, and he studied at Harrow School during 1734-1741,under Dr James Cox.He spent a year at the Accountant General's office of the Royal African Company,before joining the mercantile house of Jackson and Wedderburn at Calcutta in 1742 and entering the East India Company's service as a Writer,in 1743.His elder brother,William was  already a Writer at the Company's Calcutta office.Robert Orme gained a deep knowledge in Indian customs.
 When he reached India,he was a minor of 14,and found deeply involved in a family dispute.Captain Simon Lloyd,Orme's sister's husband,and representative of the Company, died in India in 1746.Mrs Lloyd had gone back to England by then.The will of Captain Lloyd bequeathed equal shares of his estate to his wife and daughter,leaving nothing to his young son,who was left behind in India.Orme,though minor,was the boy's local guardian,and fought the claims of his nephew,even bribing the Mayor of Calcutta,Captain Massey,and involving Jackson of Jackson and Wedderburn.Finally,Mrs Lloyd charged Orme,for misappropriating her money,and he admitted taking 5% as commission.

He considered Indians generally and Bengali's specially,effeminate, and attributed the climatic conditions for the character.In the 1761 article,The Effeminacy of the Inhabitants of Indostan,he wrote:Breathing in the softness of the climates,having few real wants;and receiving even the luxuries of other nations with little labor,from the fertility of their own soil,the Indian must become the most effeminate inhabitant of the globe,and this is the very point at which we now see him.

Robert Orme

Robert Orme left for London in 1753,but even before he set foot in his native soil,he was appointed member of the Council of Fort St George at Madras,during 1754-1758.During that period,he took part in the Council deliberations on the Carnatic operations,and was instrumental in sending the Young Robert Clive,as Head of punitive expedition,against Siraj-ud-Dowlah,in 1757,to Calcutta,on the aftermath of the infamous Black Hole incident of Calcutta in 1756.The Black Hole was a small dungeon in the Old Fort William at Calcutta,where the troops of the Nawab of Bengal,Siraj-ud-Dowlah,is said to have held British prisoners of war,after the capture of the Fort on 20 June,1756.One of the prisoners,John Zephaniah Holwell claimed that,after the fall of the Fort,British and Anglo-Indian soldiers and civilians were held over night under cramped conditions,that 123 out of 146 died from suffocation.Though,Holwell's claim was believed to be true then,now it is termed,Holwell's Hoax.
In Madras,he was appointed as Export Ware House Keeper and Commissioner for the Nawab's account.An anecdote told of Orme of this period,is recorded in A Vindication of General Richard Smith,published in 1783:
When Mr Orme held the office of Export ware House Keeper to the East India Company at Madras,he was remarkable for keeping the young men in the service at a distance.It happened that one Mr Davison acted under him in his office,in whose blunt John Bull manners there appeared something odd and diverting.The former had condescended to invite the latter to breakfast with him,in the course of which he asked Mr Davison,of what profession his father was."A Sadler Sir",replied the other."A Sadler!",repeated the Historian with some degree of surprise;"Why he did not breed you up a Sadler?","Why Sir,"says Davison,"I was always a whimsical boy,and rather chose to try my fortune as you have done in the East India Company's service."But pray Sir", continued he,"What profession was your father of?"."My father Sir",Mr Orme answered sharply,"was a gentleman"."A gentleman!-humph-Pray Sir,be as good to inform me why he did not breed you up a gentleman?".

Black Hole site

Robert Orme's long term friendship with Clive broke off about 1769,for unknown reasons.

He was the Accountant General during 1757-58,made a small fortune and returned to England in 1759.The ship,Grantham,in which he sailed,was captured by the French on January 1,1759 and taken to Mauritius.He reached Nantes,France a year later.He bought a house in Harley Street,London,spent  his time writing.History of the Military Transactions was published in three volumes in 1763-78 and,Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire,the Morattoes and English Concerns in Industan from 1659,was published in 1782.From 1769,till his death,he was the paid Historiographer of the East India Company.It was on the strength of his Military History,he was appointed the Historiographer,and the military encounters of the British came through the writings of Robert Orme.It formed the foundation for many other works on India.Walter Scott had read the book in his youth and he relied heavily upon Robert for his novels,including,The Surgeon's Daughter,based in India.The Newcomes of Thackeray,invokes Orme frequently.

Fort William

While in India,Orme fulfilled the role of the Antiquarian,collecting documents and private correspondence,that upon his death,his collection consisted of 51 volumes of printed matter and 231 volumes of manuscripts.

Orme was familiar with the machinations,intrigues and corruption that infected policy making in India.He deliberately chose to write military history than political.Orme's History opens with a description of Indian society in what he thinks that Hindus,have from time immemorial been as addicted to commerce,as they are averse to war.They have,therefore,always been immensely rich and have always remained incapable of defending their wealth.

I have deliberately quoted this line,for the benefit of the politicians and others,who shout India is a poor country.If you doubt again,you should read Jeffrey Mo0rehouse'  India Britannica,to understand,India was 15 times richer than Britain,at the end of world war II.Who on earth wants to colonize a poor,devastated country?

Orme criticizes the lack of military order and discipline in India.I quote:The rudeness of the military art in Industan can scarcely be imagined but by those who have seen it.The infantry consists in a multitude of people assembled together without regard to rank and file.Some with swords and targets,who can never stand the shock of a body of a horse:some bearing matchlocks,which in he best of order can produce but a very uncertain fire:some armed with lances too long or too weak to be of any service even if ranged with the utmost regularity of discipline.

Macaulay said:Orme,inferior to no English historian in style and power of painting,is minute even to tediouness.In one volume he allots,on an average a closely printed quarto page to the events of every forty eight hours.The consequence in that his narrative,though one of the most authentic and one of the finely written in our language,has never been very popular,and is now scarcely ever read. 

Few passages in Macaulay's own,Essay on Clive,are borrowed from Orme.

Even his close friends didn't know Orme was married-it came to light only when the Company decided to give an annuity to his widow.He died in Great Ealing, Middlesex,where he had shifted after disposing off the house in Harley Street,on 13 January,1801.

Note:

Some of the Chiefs at Anchuthengu:

Thomas Mitchell 1685

John Brabourne 1685,1707

Simon Cowse 1707-1712

John Kyffin 1712-1717

William Gyfford 1717-1721

Midford 1721-1723

Dr Alexander Orme 1723

J Whitehall 1759-1769

P E Wrench 1769-1772

James Forbes 1772

Reference:

Romantic Representation of British India/Ed.Michael J Franklin
2.Vestiges of Old Madras,Vol 1/H O Love

See my Post,MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH AT ATTINGAL,1721

THREE MALABAR PIRATES IN TRAVANCORE

 Arakkal Brothers as Naval Chiefs in Travancore

 This is the story of a Kolathiri prince of Kannur in Northern Kerala becoming King in Travancore,and he in turn,appointing two brothers from the Naval family of Arakkal in Kannur, as Naval Chiefs of Travancore- the first team to protect the waters of Travancore,much before Eustachius De Lannoy and Chempil Arayan.

The King was Adithya Varma,and the brothers,Mammali Kidavu and Kunjikoyamu.

Adithya Varma was adopted from the Kolathunad,along with his brother Rama Varma and two sisters, to the Attingal royal family,before the reigning King,Kottayam Kerala Varma,also from Kolathunad,was assassinated on 28,August,1696.Adithya Varma did the obsequies of Kerala Varma.

It was the time when Umayamma Rani of Attingal was ruling the Travancore Kingdom,though,Ravi Varma had taken over the elder's position(and so,the King) in 1685 itself.He was very weak,leading a sanyasin's life,till his death in 1704.Ravi Varma is considered by some as the son of Umayamma Rani.When Umayamma Rani died in July,1698,the Junior Rani,Pururuttathi Thirunal from Kolathu Nadu became the Queen of Attingal,since the elder sister had died within a year of the adoption.Marthanda Varma,is believed to be the her son.The attempt to make Adithya Varma or Rama Varma,the King ,was torpedoed by King of Nedumangad,Kerala Varma and some of the barons.The powerful Pillai barons,when the ship,Neptune,of East India Company wrecked in Manakkudi,near Kanyakumari,looted the entire cargo though the agreement between the Company and the Rani stipulated equal share of the cargo,in the event of a ship wreck.

Manakkudi

When Ravi Varma died in 1704,the attempt of Adithya Varma to become the King was again thwarted by the barons,who anointed Nedumangad Kerala Varma as the King in February,1805.Though,Adithya Varma approached,the King of Karunagappaly,he was not in a position to help,because he had become an ally of the Kayamkulam King,who in turn,was an ally of the Dutch.But political pressures made the Karunagappaly King to return to his old position, and he adopted he Junior Rani and her son,Marthanda Varma from Attingal to Karunagapally.The Karunagappally King died in September,1707 and the Junior Rani,Pururuttathi Thirunal,became the Regent,making her brother,Adithya Varma,powerful.Since his family had close relationship with the Muslim Kingdom of Arakkal,he invited Mammali Kidavu and Kunjikoyamu in an effort to protect the commercial interests in the Travancore coast,and to post them,he established a Naval facility at Kadiapattanam,in Kanyakumari.

Kadiapattanam

While the Arakkal brothers were busy organizing a naval force,Nedumangad Kerala Varma died and his successor declared himself King of Travancore.The Naicker of Madurai accepted him and the barons,with the support of Madurai Force,ousted Adithya Varma from Kalkulam.As a result,Mammali and Kunjikoyamu lost the Naval Chiefs post and they became pirates.Though the ships which had a Dutch pass,were not required to pay the tax,the brothers,seized ships from Kayamkulam and Purakkad,for not paying taxes.Adithya Varma became helpless,and the traders at Purakkad and Kayamkulam,who were furious that the Dutch pass is not valid in Travancore,snapped ties with Travancore and approached the British.Smelling trouble,the barons declared loyalty to Adithya Varma,promising money to pay the arrears of tribute to Madurai,and on their demand,Adihya Varma banished Mammali and Kunjikoyamu from Travancore,in 1708.They were captured by the Dutch at Cochin in December,but they managed to escape soon,with the help of the English,who gave residence to the brothers,at Anchuthengu Factory.

 

Thengapattanam

We see Mammali and Mani Kurukkal,not Kunjikoyamu,next, in 1714,three years after their one time mentor, Adithya Varma ascending the throne,after the death of Nedumangad King.The English,with  Varma's permission,shifted Mammali and Kurukkal to Thengapattanam.They looted ships and levied extra tax from ships carrying Dutch pass,and once,dared to loot the ship of the King.They disappear from history at this point.Varma died in 1721.

The Dutch priest,Jacobus Cantervisscher,in his Letters from Malabar,has recorded that the English had encouraged Muslim pirates to loot Dutch ships.

Reference:

1.Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair

2.Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore/Mark De Lannoy
3.Letters from Malabar/Cantervisscher

See my Post,ARAKKAL ALI RAJA'S ATTACK OF MALDIVES

UMMINI THANKA MARRIED A MALABAR PRINCE

Her Husband was King for just19 days

Historians and filmmakers have painted a tragic picture of the 18th-century Travancore princess, Ummini Thanka, weaving around her, a fateful love story with Marthanda Varma. She was the love interest of the protagonist in the movies, Marthanda Varma(1933)and Ummini Thanka(1961). In fact, she was a staunch enemy of Marthanda Varma, the cruel King, who not only killed her brothers but, hold your breath, her husband, too. We were taken for a ride by the loyal historians of the royal family, by never recording her marriage, and leading us to believe in the fiction, Marthanda Varma directly succeeded his uncle, Rama Varma. 

Marthanda Varma had to kill two natural successors of Rama Varma, to ascend the throne. When Rama Varma died on February 9,1929, Marthanda Varma was only, third in the line, as Prince of Eraniel. The prince of Karunagappally went to Kalkulam, sworn in as King of Travancore, but died within 19 days, in mysterious circumstances. Then, the next successor, Prince of Neyyattinkara, was anointed, as the King. He too died in mysterious circumstances, and Marthanda Varma was coronated as King on 30 August 1729.

The King for 19 days was known as, Thalassery Rajakumaran(Tellicherry prince), nothing much is there on him, in history, except a reference to his absence, during the signing of an agreement with the Dutch by King Rama Varma. When the Attingal Vanchimuttam Pillai blocked the pepper trade with the French in his territory, Rama Varma guaranteed trade at Thengapattanam.The business got cancelled since they wanted pepper, delivered at Kollam. Rama Varma then offered the business to the French at Colachel. Though the French reached Kalkulam with a draft agreement, it could not be signed because the King wanted the presence of Thalassery Rajakumaran. He could not attend because, he was at war with Kayamkulam, as the King of Karunagappally.

Dance of Ragini in Ummini Thanka movie

Ummini Thanka was the daughter of the dead King, Rama Varma. When he was crown Prince, he was given properties, including Kalkulam Fort. I have referred to the legend of Rama Varma marrying a Rajput princess from Ayodhya, Abhirami, and Avira Kochamma in folk tales, in my post, The Murder of Kunju Thampi Brothers. It is a fiction which alluded to Rama Varma, seeing her at the Suchindram temple festival, falling in love and marrying her. History says he married a woman from the Vellala Pillai community, a niece of a person called, Kochu Kumaran Pillai, and had two sons and a daughter. 

The sons were called Kunju Thampi brothers, Thampi Raman Raman and Thampi Adichan. The prefix, Thampi denotes a Pillai, not a Kshatriya, and says, he was the son of the King. Kunju Thampi Brothers became very powerful with the help of the Madurai Naicker, even ousting Marthanda Varma for a brief period of time, sending him to Kollam. Marthanda Varma killed the Thampi brothers, and then, Ummini Thanka and her mother committed suicide. There was no husband or son to Ummini Thanka, in the legend, as well as in history so far. She had a son, also called Raman Thampi.

Marthanda Varma

Marthanda Varma killed the two natural successors of his uncle, assessing that they were weak. When they took over, the Attingal Pillai s resurfaced and entered into an agreement in 1729, with the Nedumangad King. The British gave guns and other weapons to the Kollam King and his loyal, Vanchimuttam Pillai of Attingal, in March. They had an agreement with the Pillai in April, to supply weapons, for a sufficient quantity of pepper. It was to crush them, Marthanda Varma went from Eraniel to Neyyattinkara, killing the weak predecessors.

Was one among those two, Ummini Thanka's husband?
A line in the letter dated March 23,1742, written by Marthanda Varma, to the Chief Minister of Cochin, Paliath Achan, found by Mark De Lannoy and quoted by him in his book, Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore, is a silver lining, in unravelling the mystery of Ummini Thanka. Marthanda Varma writes, A Thampi, my elder brother's son, too joined the rebels.

This letter, on request, has been sent to Historian K Sivasankaran Nair, by De Lannoy, from Leiden University, where he is a Professor. It means, Marthanda Varma had an elder brother, he married the sister of the Thampi brothers, and her husband was a Prince/King(hence her son is called a Thampi).

Now, who was this elder brother?

The Adopted Brother in History

De Lannoy refers to the attempts of Adithya Varma, who was adopted to the Attingal royal family, from Kolathunad, to become the King and the resistance to it by the Pillai s and ministers, who made the Nedumangad King, the King of Travancore, in February 1705. Though Adithya Varma sought the help of the King of Karunagappally, he was not in a position to help, because of internal strife. After the death of Kottayam Kerala Varma, he was not getting any help from Travancore, and he allied with the Kayamkulam King, a friend of the Dutch. The Pillai s of Karunagappally rose in rebellion, and the King had to seek asylum in Kayamkulam, and adopt the nephew of Kayamkulam Raja, his successor, in 1706. Palakkad, Thekkumkur and Cochin Kings, fearing the strengthened Kayamkulam, pressurized the King of Karunagappally to withdraw from the alliance and cancel the adoption. He returned to Karunagappally and then adopted the Junior Rani of Attingal and her two sons, in 1707. This was Marthanda Varma and his elder brother. The King died in September, and the mother of two, assumed the throne, as Regent, because, Marthanda Varma was only a year old, and his elder brother, we do not know.

Travancore historians have played a hide-and-seek game on the mother of Marthanda Varma, and there is hardly any clue about his father. Umayamma Rani, the powerful Queen of Attingal, who ruled the entire Travancore, had adopted two princesses from Kolathunad, Malabar, in 1688. The elder one died without a child, according to the history, written by Vaikathu Pachu Moothathu. Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer says, referring to Mathilakam scrolls, that, Pururuttathi Thirunal, the Junior Rani, was childless. If this is accepted, Marthanda Varma becomes the son of the elder Rani, which has been proved nonsense by De Lannoy by recording, the junior Rani was adopted with two sons. It is well known that Marthanda Varma had his childhood at Karunagappally. 

Alexander Hamilton, who was a trader, during 1683-1723, recorded that a princess of Attingal was in love with a Britisher of Vizhinjam Factory, and he had stayed at the palace for some time. Maybe this love affair prompted the decision to grant permission to the English to establish the Factory at Anchthengu. Hamilton, Thomas Bowrey and Thomas Pitt did combine private trading with their command of ships, on the Indian coast. Hamilton was a Scottish sea Captain, who reached Bombay in 1688. He fought for the East India Company, in a local war and after that, set up a private trade, operating from Surat. He became Commander of Bombay Marines in 1717, to suppress the pirates. 

The love story, told by Hamilton, is there in John Pinkerton's A General Collection of Voyages and Travels(Vol VIII, page 383). According to the agreement on establishing the Anchuthengu Fort, it was specified that the British will present, annual presents, to the Queen. In 1685, according to the story, the envoy who carried the presents, was a " young beautiful English gentleman" and "the occasion was invested with a halo of romance".The female in the story seems to be Junior Rani, the year,1685 may be wrong.

De Lannoy records, when Marthanda Varma and his elder brother returned to Thiruvananthapuram in 1722, their mother became lonely at Karunagappally. At this time, a prince from the Kolathiri family, who was deported by his own family, sought asylum in the Thalassery Fort and the English sent him to Travancore. He was adopted by King Rama Varma, along with his sister and sent to Karunagappally. Since he came from Thalassery, he was known as, Thalassery Rajakumaran. So, he is different from Marthanda Varma's elder brother, though he became King of Travancore in 19 days. He, thus becomes the third one from Malabar, to become the King of Travancore after Kottayam Kerala Varma(died1696), and Adithya Varma(1711-1721). Dharma Raja, who succeeded Marthanda Varma was, Thalassery Rajakumaran's, sister's son. Now, the adoption records say, Thalassery Rajakumaran was adopted as the brother of the King of Neyyattinkara. History saves itself here: Marthanda Varma became the King of Neyyattinkara when he was just 15, and he was the King of Neyyattinkara, and thus, Thalassery Rajakumaran was adopted as the elder brother of Marthanda Varma! Even otherwise, he was his elder brother, since both of them could claim Kolathunad ancestry. When Marthanda Varma shifted from Karunagappally, Thalassery Rajakumaran was sent to Karunagappally.

Pachu Moothath

Assassination of Successors

It was a case of a mix-up by De Lannoy, mixing up two adoptions. The Travancore history which says, Marthanda Varma was the only son in 67 years, born in the Attingal family, remains intact. His mother had no other son.

History becomes straight now, breaking the myth: Ummini Thanka was married to the elder brother, Thalassery Rajakumaran, who became King of Travancore for 19 days, and was assassinated by Marthanda Varma, to usurp the throne. Hence, people who wrote to make Marthanda Varma a hero, threw out Thalassery Rajakumaran from the annals of history, without even attaching a name.

No wonder, she and her son, turned against Marthanda Varma. There is a Raman among the names of the Pillai s Marthanda Varma, hanged. Maybe, it was her son.

Ummini Thanka and her son were kept under house arrest by Marthanda Varma, after the attack on Kalakkad Fort on January 30,1730, by the Thampi brothers and Pillai s. They escaped and joined her brothers, who were with the Madurai Force. On 28 October 1730, Marthanda Varma invited the Thampi brothers for peace talks at Nagercoil palace and killed them. After the murder, Ummini Thanka and her mother rushed to the palace, pulled out their tongue and committed suicide.

Marthanda Varma's mother, Pururuttathi Thirunal was the Attingal Queen then. He prevailed upon her to relinquish all authority, and he shifted her from Attingal to Sreepadam Palace, Thiruvananthapuram. In 1758, he signed a re-adoption treaty with her, which had four conditions.1.Only unmarried princesses could be adopted.2.Only princesses of Kolathunad could be adopted(his mother's family).3.Adoptees will belong to Attingal only.4.Only the eldest male child of a princess so adopted could become the King.

The fourth condition assured that people like Thalassery Rajakumaran would never become Kings in Travancore.

Reference:

1.Kulasekhara Perumals of Travancore/Mark De Lannoy
2.Essays on Travancore/Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer
3.Thiruvithamkur Charithram/Pachu Moothath
4.Venadinte Parinamam/K Sivasankaran Nair
5.Travancore Dynasty Records/M Raja Raja Varma
6. Marthanda Varma Muthal Munro Vare/K Sivasankaran Nair
7.A New Account of the East Indies/Alexander Hamilton/1727. 
8.At the Turn of the Tide/Lakshmi Raghunandan

See my Post,MURDER OF KUNJU THAMPI BROTHERS





 

MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH AT ATTINGAL,1721

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

VELUTHAMPI, MACAULAY AND PEPPER

Conflict of interest in trade made them enemies

Though Thiruvananthapuram was the Capital of Venad, in Kerala, South India, the Dewans, Raja Kesavadas and Velu Thampi, stayed at Alapuzha, away from the very weak Kings, Dharma Raja, and his successor, Balarama Varma. When Colin Macaulay became a Resident in 1800, Velu Thampi, his close confidante for seven years, shifted from Alappuzha to Kollam, where he built the Residency for Macaulay. The stay of both the Dewans, far from the administrative capital, was not so innocent, though historians belonging to the Dewans' community have put in all kinds of efforts to make them heroes. British records give ample proof to the effect that, both the Dewans sacrificed public interest for private trade interests, amassing wealth, and finally ending in their own destruction.

Anchuthengu (Anjengo) Fort

The Dewans were more interested in the Anchuthengu (Anjengo) trade settlement and the Alapuzha port, the hubs of trade, did their private trade with the Commercial Resident, overlooking the private interests of the Political Resident. The Commercial Resident of the East India Company was stationed at Anchuthengu, who often was at loggerheads with the Political Resident, especially during, 1760-1810.

Before Anchuthengu, the Company got a foothold in Thalassery in 1682. It was Regent Umayamma Rani, who granted the right to the Company to build a Fort and Factory at Anchuthengu in 1695, where the first trade settlement in Kerala came up. Anchthengu, a coastal town, lies 30 Kilometers North of Thiruvananthapuram, near Varkala. It was the first signalling post in India for ships from England, and the first permanent post on the Malabar Coast, a port of call for East Indian men, playing a vital role in the Anglo-Mysore wars of the 18th century. Anchuthengu was an old Portuguese settlement.

Anjengo, 1790s

Alapuzha port was built and opened by Raja Kesavadas in 1762, and Dharmaraja shifted the administrative Capital of Venad from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram, in 1795, the year in which the Raja signed the treaty with the Governor of Bombay, John Duncan.

The treaty of 1795 is known as the East India Company-Travancore Subsidiary Alliance Treaty, for perpetual friendship and alliance. Travancore thus accepted Company's supremacy. The treaty didn't specifically stipulate the aid of the British forces in suppressing the internal commotion in Travancore, but the march of three British Battalions, after the treaty, restored tranquillity.

Velu Thampi enters

When Velu Thampi took over in 1802, one measure of the economy was the scrapping of the field allowances paid to troops at times of peace, leading to a revolt of troops. The insurgency was crushed by native troops alone, but the Company was disturbed. The Madras Government, insisted on a modification of the treaty so that British troops can aid the Raja to quell the internal commotion, as well. Thus a new treaty was signed in July 1805.

The Mysore invasion of Malabar provided further opportunity for the British to expand, and the Travancore Raja was asked by the Company to meet the entire expense of the 3rd Anglo-Mysore War, on the plea that it was undertaken solely for the defence of Travancore. By the treaty of 1795, the Raja was forced to entertain a Subsidiary Force, far beyond his capacity to subsidize. The Company claimed a monopoly over the pepper trade in Travancore, and the country was dragged into the vortex of financial crisis. Raja was forced to raise loans from bankers and merchants, as well as Britishers inside Travancore, including the Commercial Resident at Anchthengu.

Attingal Palace

As we saw, Umayamma Rani of Attingal, gave the Company rights to establish the Anchuthengu Factory. During her time, the Attingal principality had semi-independence, and she administered over Anchuthengu, which system seems to have continued even after her death, in 1698. London Governor of the East India Company, John Child, had initially given the task to export 1500 tonnes of pepper. Thomas Mitchell, John Brabourne and Simone Cowse were the first Heads at Anchthengu, and the next, John Kyffin was dismissed in 1719, for private trade, and William Gyfford took over. 

On 15 April 1721, 133 factors at Anchuthengu, including Gyfford, were murdered by Kodumon Pillai and some noblemen of the new Queen, sister of Kollam King Unni Kerala Varma, in the premises of the Attingal Palace and the Fort besieged. There was no Attingal Queen for 8 years, from 1713, and the Kollam King had just made his sister, who was Queen of Kallada, the Queen of Attingal, with the help of the Pillais of Attingal. The Factory had refused to pay the lease amount, after 1713. The party led by Gyfford had come with presents and arrears of the lease amount to the Queen. Midford, who followed Gyfford was also corrupt and was replaced by Dr Alexander Orme, loyal to Travancore. On being informed, the King of Travancore, Rama Varma, uncle and predecessor of Marthanda Varma, wrote to Dr  Orme, Head of Anjengo Factory, on 15 August 1723: "Owing to the loss sustained by the Honorable Company,i.e, the capture of Attingal and then money and the artillery which the enemies robbed in our country, the Honorable Company have resolved, despite money expenses, to put down the enemies there in the best manner you may desire, regarding which we affirm to do without fail, and wish to know when we must come with our army".

It should be noted that this letter was not to the Queen of Attingal, who had fled to Kollam. Earlier in the same year, Prince Marthanda Varma, just 17, on behalf of Rama Varma, had entered into a treaty with the Company, on erecting a Fort at Colachel, by the Company. The farms of Palattadi and Kotutali were secured by the Company on 10 January 1731 by way of compensation for the excesses of 1721-the Company took two documents, one from the King, and another from the Queen. On 5 April 1729, the Queen of Attingal, Pururuttathi Thirunal (Marthanda Varma's mother; her sister was issueless), entered into an agreement with the Company, in which she stated: "All pepper that (I) may have in my country, I will cause to be transported to the Fort of Anjengo, free of any embarrassment, whatever in these territories. And the Company must not give to any other person but to me, the customs for pepper of my country".

This means that the Attingal Queen, not the Travancore Raja, was getting the trade benefit from Anchuthengu. So, Marthanda Varma prevailed upon her about 1736-37, to renounce all the rights she had been exercising over that principality, and the Attingal family was shifted to Sreepadam Palace in Thiruvananthapuram.

Marthanda Varma delayed fulfilling the terms of the pepper contract originally entered into by the Company, with the Queen of Attingal, and the Company ran a tirade against him, for divesting the Queen of all authority. John Spencer, Chief of Anjengo, informed the Select Committee of Madras, that the country is in the absolute power of Marthanda Varma. Spencer met Surgeon Edward Ives, who wrote, Ives Travels, on his ship off the coast, and in his book(page 192), Ives said: "At a distance of half a mile from the river is a temple, where the Queen lives. Till of late, the town and country of Attinga were quite independent, but now subject to Travancore."The story gets repeated in James Forbes, Forbe's Oriental Memoirs,1773. Forbes was Chief at Anchuthengu, till 1772. The picture was somewhat different from what the Britishers tried to paint; the Queen was accommodated honourably.

Abercrombie

Pepper contract

In his Desultory Notes, Colin Campbell Macaulay, who was Political Resident during 1800-1810, referred to the contract for pepper in January 1793, with the King of Travancore, by General Robert Abercrombie, Governor of Bombay, while criticizing the conduct of the Commercial Resident at Anchthengu, Augustus William Handley. In that contract for 10 years, the Raja bound himself to deliver annually, 3000 candies (1 candy=746 kilos), at Rs 117/Candy, under a penalty of Rs 57.50 for each Candy deficient. From the date of this contract, Macaulay says, Handley, the Commercial Resident had no duty or function in respect of pepper, but to receive it from the Raja and ship it for England. He was an Officer of custody solely, receiving a rate of commission. Macaulay, then adds: A Dewan of Travancore could never be a purchaser of pepper from the Commercial Resident.

It means Velu Thampi had a trade relationship with Handley. While the contract was in force, the supply of pepper by the King, except for two years, fell short of the contract. On its expiry, Handley claimed some penalties and complained to the Madras Council that Macaulay was not allowing him to communicate directly with the Raja and his ministers. For us, this is a sufficient hint for the fact that a trade rivalry existed between Macaulay, Handley and Velu Thampi. Handley (1764-1808) was the son of Thomas Handley and was married to Anatolia De la Martiliere. He died at Kollam on July 1, 1808, survived by children, Charles Antolius Handley(born 1801) and Augustus Bernard Handley(1803-1877).

Handley

Macaulay, on the expiry of Abercrombie's contract in 1803, signed a new contract with the King for five years, which said the King would supply 3000 Candies of pepper at Rs 127/Candy, with a penalty at Rs 84 .75/ each Candy short delivered.

Macaulay has asserted in his Notes, that Velu Thampi had private trade relations with the Commercial Resident John Smee, and there was an application in April 1809, to settle accounts of Thampi and Smee, of course, after the suicide of Thampi, in March. On February 10, 1810, Macaulay found an earlier letter from Smee to Thampi, for a supply of the best coir at a very low price. A letter from Smee to Snow, on September 8, 1809, showed Smee had made arrangements with Thampi for liquidation of a claim at Rs 3000/men sem. There was always a favour price for Smee. Smee had received once 300 Candies of pepper, not for the Company. When once questioned, Macaulay says, Thampi had admitted matters of favour with Smee. There was evidence for Thampi's trade of pepper with Smee at much a lower rate, exposing a kickback scandal. Macaulay had complained that Smee had conducted clandestine correspondence with Thampi. The Linguist at Anchuthengu Fort, S D Fernandez also had engaged in 'treacherable' intrigues with Thampi; Macaulay had enclosed a letter by Fernandez to Thampi, without signature.

Corruption at Anchuthengu

Duncan

Anchuthengu was known for corruption before Macaulay, particularly, when John Hutchinson was the Commercial Resident from 1782-1787. Walter Ewer, Company Director, after his visit had written in 1796, that though the salary of Hutchinson was only Rs 200, he had made a fortune. His assistant, Dune was getting only Rs 140, after seven years of service, and Snow, another assistant, Rs 90. After making a lot of money, Hutchinson lends it to the Travancore King, Dharma Raja.

After his death, Hutchinson's brother Bury approached the Select Committee in London, in 1832, to get back the arrears from the King. Macaulay gave evidence to the Committee. Hutchinson had lent money to Dharmaraja, who died in 1797. Hutchinson too died in the same year. Seeing rampant corruption, by the Act 37 of George III, loans by East India Company Officials to royal families etc was, prohibited. 

The trial of Warren Hastings proved that he had lent loans to the Nawab of Arcot. The case was, Hutchinson lent money before the Act came into force. In 1795, John Duncan, Governor of Bombay examined the case and made a part payment from the money Travancore had paid the Company, to Hutchinson Estate. George Parry, the successor of Hutchinson, had written on March 13,1800, that out of Rs 4,89,735 Dharma Raja owed to Hutchinson, as principal with an interest of 16%, 2,80,000 has been paid. Governors, Wellesley, Barlowe and Minto, all had examined the affair. Hutchinson gave the unsettled state of his pecuniary transactions with the King as a reason for declining to accept a seat in the Madras Council. It was also found that Thomas Baber, Collector at Thalassery was helping the Travancore royal family in the case; they visited him in 1818. He had fallen out with the Governor of Madras, Stephen Lushington, who took over after Thomas Munro. On Baber's return journey to India in 1833 February, his letters to the King of Travancore were intercepted by the British.

Macaulay was getting Rs 19,000 annually, according to British records. The records also show that he was allowed to sell to "Ram Raja", certain houses and grounds in the vicinities of Anjengo.

Destruction of Cochin

A book by Anne Bulley, The Bombay Country Ships, 1790-1838, records the destruction of Cochin by Macaulay, who was a Resident of Cochin too, staying at Bolgatty Palace. On the resumption of the French war in 1803, afraid that the French would take advantage, Colin Macaulay blew up the greater part of Cochin and demolished fortifications, barracks, arsenals and even quays along the harbour. The only building left was the church and tower of the Dutch Company's offices-formerly, the tower of the Portuguese Cathedral. 

Two years later, Sakthan Thampuran died and the Nair revolt assured complete destruction. In 1809, Travancoreans attacked and destroyed the Customs House at Mattancherry, after the revolt of Velu Thampi. On February 28, 1809, the cruiser, Lively, from Bombay, which had come for help, succeeded in grounding opposite the Palace and the officer commanding, Lieutenant Gilmore had her blown up, in case, she fell to the enemy. The book records, Cochin would have been a viable alternative to Bombay to build ships, if its history was not turbulent(But the reference in the book, Mattancherry palace was blown up, taken from Francis Day's 1863 book, The Land of Perumals Or Cochin, is baseless. Repeated references are there in Day's book on the Nair Brigade's attack on the Dutch Governor's house. It is the Bolgatty Palace, built in 1744.

It is felt by historians that the King was put into dire straits by insistence on the arrears of the tribute by Residents like Macaulay. He admits he asked for 15 lakhs once and got 10. He calculates that the King had a revenue of Rs 25 lakhs, and comments: But it was hoarded inside vaults, inside temples. Once placed there, the difficulty of extracting it for secular purposes was great.

It is interesting to read the letters Macaulay wrote to the Chief Secretary, Madras, from the ship in the sea, after the attack on his Residency, Bolgatty Palace, on 28 December 1808. The Desultory Notes ends, spewing venom on the dead Velu Thampi:

Had this man been brought to me alive, it was my determination to have him arraigned and tried before a drum-head court martial. For the atrocious murder of a party of the 12th Regiment, consisting of 33 non-committed officers and privates, driven by the stress of weather to seek shelter on the coast, and ordered by him, to be put to death, after undergoing, by his express commands, (the proof of which was in my possession), a series of lingering cruelties and torments, exceeding anything, perhaps, which the annals of savage ferocity and barbarity record. And then, as a just example, to have him hanged on a gibbet erected in the centre of the 12th Regiment, formed in a square....these my intentions were formally made known to Lieutenant Colonel Pickton, commanding His Majesty's 12th Regiment and to Colonel Chalmers, the Officer in Command of that Division of the forces of which the 12th Regiment formed a part...but that man, anticipating in all probability his fate, committed suicide."

Velu Thampi

Macaulay says a notification was made public within Anchuthengu, under the authority (of Velu Thampi), which stated the Company disapproved and condemned the conduct of Colonel Macaulay, for having changed the mode of weighing pepper. "I made efforts from time to time, to save him, from the precipice, on the brink of which he placed himself, but in vain", Macaulay laments and adds: "but he found himself, as it would appear, so far committed to the cold-blooded and congenially wicked wretch of a Raja (BalaramaVarma), whom he served, as to make it more difficult for him to wade on".

Reference:

1. Essays on Travancore/Ulloor S Parameswara Iyer
2. Desultory Notes/Colin Macaulay
3. Proceedings on the Travancore claim since the report of the Select Committee
4. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australia, 1834, Vol 13
5. India Office Records on Macaulay
6. The Bombay Country Ships 1790-1838/Anne Bulley

© Ramachandran

See my Post, CHEMPIL ARAYAN'S ATTACK ON MACAULAY