A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books
The East India Company,a truly multi national corporation was English in Capital, Scottish in Manpower and Irish in Firepower. Putting it so baldly highlights the central theme of the Company Administrtion in Madras. Reconciling different religious and parochial loyalties while simultaneously carrying on trade, commerce, terretorial and military expansion and carrying out diplomacy with the "country government". There is a tendency to ovelook the fact that the Company was mandated by the Regulating Act of 1773 and the Pitts India Act to bring the message of Christ to the "benighted heathens"and this was least palatable to the Governors of the Presidency who felt that ecclesiastical affais interfered with their other responsibilities and also the Jacobin Uprising in Scotland in 1745 and the French support to the Jacobins complicated inter religious relations in Madras as the local Governors resented the attempt on the part of France to interefere in Capuchin matters and also the Scots who constituted a large part of the Company work force were mostly adherents of the Scottish Reformed Church which rejected the liturgy and the hierachy of the English Anglican Church. Historians usually ignore the inter faith controversies and differences and regars the Company Rule as one undifferentiated monolith'
Reconstructing the religious policies and practices of the early Company in the Madras region is a daunting task for te historian particularly as all the Records are located in London. However we can try to piece together the history of two structures built by the military engineer, Major Thomas de Hallivand (1775-1866). As his very name indicates he belonged to a distinguished line of Scots descended from the Normans and was born in Scotland and after he returned to his Homeland served as a Member of the Legislature of Guernsey. He was appointed as Civil Engineer in the Madras Army, a post he held until 1825. He worked on a number of military fortifications including Srirangapattinam, the Saint Andrew's Bridhe over the Cooum in Madras the breakwaters of the Madras Coast and several small irrigation projects.
Thomas de Hallivand was a Civil Engineer trairoponed in Military fortification and seige works. Constructing a monumental edifice such as the grand Cathedral of St George was well beyond his professional skill as a designer, though not as a builder. de Hallivand was an enthusiastic peoponent of chunaam and stone lime mixture which was the staple of Indian building material and he used these materials in the consruction of the Cathedral
As I mentioned he was not a designer. So where did the plan for this grand monument to Protestant Faith in its Anglican Avatar come from. I have given the plan of St Martins of the field designed by James Gibbs at the very top of this Essay. Compare the floor plan of the two. It is identical. James Gibbs studied Architecture under the famous Italian Master Builder, Carlo Fontana and was deeply influence by the Neo Classical trend of impressive Palladian elements combined with Ionic pillars with a distince air of classical revival acting as a metaphor. Gibbs is hardly remembered today when the likes of Corbusier and Lyod Frank Wright are the main inspirations. But in his day he was the most influential. His book on Achtitecture contains the entire drawings plans and elevaion of the St Martins of the Field Church and they are all replicated here in Madras on the Great Choultry Plain on which the Cathedral stands'
The end of the long decades of war with Mysore which was under the usurper Sultan, Tipu, was now over and the East India Company wanted a religious edifie to symbolize its presence.The Church was 101 feet long and 54 feet wide with a tall spire.There were still some legal issues to be sorted out. The land on which the Church stands was part of the Choultry Plain which the Company claimed was given by the Nawab of Carnatic. However, the Company Officials, particularly the Board of Control did not want the direct control of the Church to be in the hands of the Company. It is ironic that the Company had no hesitation in seizing Temple Lands and Poperties but bulked at the prospect of Governmental control over the Church. A legal fiction was intoduced by making the trutees who were six senior officers of the Company to purchase the land from the Company and a title deed dran up. This implies that the rese of the land which is today taken by the uS Consulate and the Oxford University press belong to the Government.
After the construction of the High Anglican Cathedral, Major Thomas de Hallivand was to take up a project closer to his heart, the St. Andrews' Kirk. This was a Scotting Reformed Protestant Church and its construction was a signal that the Company was beginning to follow a more inclusive policy with regard to sectarian differences. There were enough Scots to desire a religious sanctuary dedicated to their own faith. Thomas de Hallivand wanted his New Church to have a domed roof which constitutd a technical challenge. Once again the inspiration for the Plan was drawn from Gibbs who in the preface of his book writes that he hoped that people would be inspied by his 'pattern book".He said, "he hoped that his book would be useful in remote parts where little or no assistance for designs can be procured". A telling admission that he saw his remarkable book as a Template for European Architecture in the expanding empire.
Before trying his dome on the St Andrews' Church, Thomas de Havilland constructed a small model in his Garden House on Mount Road. That model was standing as late as the first decade of the twentieth century. i hope some young hisorian takes it upon himself to trace the building.
The similarity between the St Andrews' Kirk and St. Geogres Cathedral is due to the common plan. The ametuerish immitation from a copy book was the style of early European Architecture in India. Civil Engineers with a military background dominated the building space and hence E B Havell dismissed such attempts as. "the stage architecture of the European dilettante", a harsh judgement to say the very least. Thomas de Hallivand in his only published book,Descriptions and Delineations of Some of the Public and Other Edifices of Madras has described ssome of the difficulties that he encountered while constructing the Kirk, Given the high water table along the Ponamalee Plain, de Hallivand had to sink wells to act as foundation and in this he was following a native technique.The dome is 52 feet in diameter.
The essay has drawn attention to the historcal context of early nineteenth century ecclesiastical architecture in Madras and we have tried to situate the buidings in the broad historical context.
 |
| James Gibbs designed St Martins of the Fields London |
 |
| The Floor Plan of St Georges Cathdral, Madras |
 |
| An early painting perhpas of Gantz? |
Reconstructing the religious policies and practices of the early Company in the Madras region is a daunting task for te historian particularly as all the Records are located in London. However we can try to piece together the history of two structures built by the military engineer, Major Thomas de Hallivand (1775-1866). As his very name indicates he belonged to a distinguished line of Scots descended from the Normans and was born in Scotland and after he returned to his Homeland served as a Member of the Legislature of Guernsey. He was appointed as Civil Engineer in the Madras Army, a post he held until 1825. He worked on a number of military fortifications including Srirangapattinam, the Saint Andrew's Bridhe over the Cooum in Madras the breakwaters of the Madras Coast and several small irrigation projects.
Thomas de Hallivand was a Civil Engineer trairoponed in Military fortification and seige works. Constructing a monumental edifice such as the grand Cathedral of St George was well beyond his professional skill as a designer, though not as a builder. de Hallivand was an enthusiastic peoponent of chunaam and stone lime mixture which was the staple of Indian building material and he used these materials in the consruction of the Cathedral
As I mentioned he was not a designer. So where did the plan for this grand monument to Protestant Faith in its Anglican Avatar come from. I have given the plan of St Martins of the field designed by James Gibbs at the very top of this Essay. Compare the floor plan of the two. It is identical. James Gibbs studied Architecture under the famous Italian Master Builder, Carlo Fontana and was deeply influence by the Neo Classical trend of impressive Palladian elements combined with Ionic pillars with a distince air of classical revival acting as a metaphor. Gibbs is hardly remembered today when the likes of Corbusier and Lyod Frank Wright are the main inspirations. But in his day he was the most influential. His book on Achtitecture contains the entire drawings plans and elevaion of the St Martins of the Field Church and they are all replicated here in Madras on the Great Choultry Plain on which the Cathedral stands'
The end of the long decades of war with Mysore which was under the usurper Sultan, Tipu, was now over and the East India Company wanted a religious edifie to symbolize its presence.The Church was 101 feet long and 54 feet wide with a tall spire.There were still some legal issues to be sorted out. The land on which the Church stands was part of the Choultry Plain which the Company claimed was given by the Nawab of Carnatic. However, the Company Officials, particularly the Board of Control did not want the direct control of the Church to be in the hands of the Company. It is ironic that the Company had no hesitation in seizing Temple Lands and Poperties but bulked at the prospect of Governmental control over the Church. A legal fiction was intoduced by making the trutees who were six senior officers of the Company to purchase the land from the Company and a title deed dran up. This implies that the rese of the land which is today taken by the uS Consulate and the Oxford University press belong to the Government.
After the construction of the High Anglican Cathedral, Major Thomas de Hallivand was to take up a project closer to his heart, the St. Andrews' Kirk. This was a Scotting Reformed Protestant Church and its construction was a signal that the Company was beginning to follow a more inclusive policy with regard to sectarian differences. There were enough Scots to desire a religious sanctuary dedicated to their own faith. Thomas de Hallivand wanted his New Church to have a domed roof which constitutd a technical challenge. Once again the inspiration for the Plan was drawn from Gibbs who in the preface of his book writes that he hoped that people would be inspied by his 'pattern book".He said, "he hoped that his book would be useful in remote parts where little or no assistance for designs can be procured". A telling admission that he saw his remarkable book as a Template for European Architecture in the expanding empire.
Before trying his dome on the St Andrews' Church, Thomas de Havilland constructed a small model in his Garden House on Mount Road. That model was standing as late as the first decade of the twentieth century. i hope some young hisorian takes it upon himself to trace the building.The similarity between the St Andrews' Kirk and St. Geogres Cathedral is due to the common plan. The ametuerish immitation from a copy book was the style of early European Architecture in India. Civil Engineers with a military background dominated the building space and hence E B Havell dismissed such attempts as. "the stage architecture of the European dilettante", a harsh judgement to say the very least. Thomas de Hallivand in his only published book,Descriptions and Delineations of Some of the Public and Other Edifices of Madras has described ssome of the difficulties that he encountered while constructing the Kirk, Given the high water table along the Ponamalee Plain, de Hallivand had to sink wells to act as foundation and in this he was following a native technique.The dome is 52 feet in diameter.
The essay has drawn attention to the historcal context of early nineteenth century ecclesiastical architecture in Madras and we have tried to situate the buidings in the broad historical context.
No comments:
Post a Comment