The first businesswoman of Madras

Among the many wonderful characters that I keep running into as I journey backwards in time into the history of Madras, that of Catherine Nicks (nee Barker), arguably the first woman entrepreneur of our city, continues to fascinate.

In 1678, she was listed in a Madras survey as one of five English women who were single. She set her cap on the fast-rising Elihu Yale but in 1680, he opted to marry the wealthy Catherine Hynmers, widow of his recently deceased friend. Catherine Barker was a bridesmaid at the wedding.

She soon married John Nicks, a close friend of Yale’s and had ten children for four of whom Yale was godfather. Several were named after members of the Yale family. In business, it would appear that Yale and she were partners.

The Nicks’ fortunes peaked when Yale became Governor in 1687. Catherine was a merchant in her own right, “being so forward as to have invoices, accounts etc” in her own name. She dealt in cloth, and more importantly, diamonds, in which Yale also had investments. By 1689, with Mrs Yale permanently in England, Mrs Nicks and Hieronima da Paivia, widow of a diamond merchant, ran the Governor’s establishment. Nicks was conveniently away as head of the Company’s interests at Connimere.

Fortunes nosedived in 1692 when Yale was dismissed and faced enquiries. Nicks was arrested. Yale retired with Catherine and Mrs de Paivia to his garden house, “to the scandal of Christianity among heathens”. The trial found Catherine guilty of breaking into the Company’s godowns, removing cloth and selling it on Yale’s private account. She absented herself from the enquiry and a warrant was issued for her arrest. It took a “file of Musqueteers with a Corporal” to bring her to justice.

She paid a fine of 600 pagodas and was allowed to leave for England. Unable to pay the fee of 26 pagodas for each of her children she left them behind, no doubt in the care of Yale. In England, she petitioned the Privy Council on behalf of her husband.

By 1696, charges against Yale came to nothing and he was allowed to return home. He took three leisurely years to settle his affairs in Madras and when he sailed in1699, took John Nicks with him.

Back in England, while Yale retired to a life of comfort and wealth, the Nicks found the going tough. They returned to Madras, Nicks as a merchant and Mrs Nicks, once again as Yale’s agent. Governor Pitt, an old crony of Yale’s, noted that she let out Yale’s godowns, and repaired the houses he still owned in Madras.

Catherine died in Madras in 1709. Nicks died here in 1711. In 1721, Yale passed away. His will, made in 1709 and unchanged thereafter, had provisions for four of the Nicks children and Catherine. Way below was a bequest to “my wicked wife”.

Evidently, the wife Catherine did not like the business associate-cum-companion Catherine.

This article appeared in The Hindu under the Hidden Histories column

Mystery of a missing tombstone

“The tombstone of Edward Bulkley, a physician in the service of the British East India Company, is situated opposite to the Madras Medical College, near the Fort Railway Station, Chennai. The inscription engraved on the tombstone is in Latin, and belongs to the year 1714 CE.”

That is what the Tamil Nadu Archaeology web site has to say at http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins8.htm.

Inspired by this, Karthik Bhatt and I decided to visit the tomb. After all, if Henry Davison Love was to be believed, it was “a substantial monument of gneiss, approached by steps and surrounded by an iron railing, the edge of the present western esplanade of Fort St George, opposite to the entrance of the Medical College Grounds.” That was written in 1912/13.

Bulkeley’s tomb?

There being nothing immediately opposite the medical college, we went down the old Fort Glacis, behind the Fort Railway Station. There again we drew a blank, until after a sharp bend, we came upon a splendidly-maintained park with a blue board stating that it was a protected monument. But of the massive monument, that Love describes and the Latin inscription on it that the TN Archaeology site describes, there was not a trace. The park has three raised mounds in the grass. Were these the points on which the Bulkley tomb once rested? Perhaps we were at the wrong place and maybe the tomb still stands elsewhere. Who knows? Should the website now refer to the tomb more appropriately in the past tense? The internet does not reveal any photographs either. This is definitely a well and truly hidden piece of history.

For the record, Dr. Edward Bulkley was sent out by the East India Company in 1692, though it would appear that he already had prior experience in India. He was thought to be “as fit for prescribing Phisick as manuall Operation.” On arrival, He took charge of the hospital in the Fort, the forerunner of our GH. Within a year, he was to perform the first recorded autopsy in Madras. James Wheeler, a member-in-council, and being treated by Dr Browne, was found dead shortly after taking a dose of “Dr Browne’s physic.” The good doctor recollected to his horror that his servant had prepared the medicine in a vessel that had previously been used for arsenic. “I have Murthered Mr Wheeler…please to execute Justice on me the Malifactor as I deserve,” wrote Dr Browne. It was left to Bulkley to conduct the post-mortem. Dr. Browne and servant were tried but committed to custody and tried. They were acquitted, the jury bringing in “the bill Ignoramus.” Did that also mean professional incompetence? Not so, for Browne remained in Company service till 1697.

Bulkley was evidently careful in treating those who had friends in high places. John Nicks, whose wife Catherine was a companion to Governor Yale, was arrested for appropriating Company funds. Bulkley’s medical certificate ensured he was kept in confinement in the comfort of his own home! Another Madras first?

This article appeared in The Hindu dated 25th September 2012 -http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/the-mystery-of-a-missing-tombstone/article3932842.ece

Kalavai Chetty and his Kachali Pagoda

Kachaliswarar Temple, Armenian Street

Kalavai Chetty, commemorated in a Chintadripet street and referred to in records as Colloway Chetty, is first mentioned in 1691 when he was declared insolvent and sentenced to prison by the Mayor’s Court. Governor Elihu Yale, commemorated in Yale University thought differently after Chetty’s relatives met him and a surety of 1000 pagodas (the then currency) had exchanged hands. He demanded the immediate release of the “eminent Merchant of the Hon’ble Company”. It was perhaps the first instance in Madras of political interference in the execution of justice.

By 1708, Chetty was clearly prosperous enough to rent the villages of Tondiarpet, Purasawalkam and Egmore from the East India Company at 1750 pagodas per annum. Within a few months, Governor Pitt, of whom Chetty was clearly a favourite, encouraged the latter to take on the villages of Tiruvottriyur, Nungambakkam, Vyasarpadi, Kattupakkam and Sattangadu, which he did at a rent of 1200 pagodas per annum.

Kachaliswarar Temple, as seen from Kachali Pagoda Lane

Kalavai Chetty formed a joint stock company, a private limited in today’s parlance, through which he and other investing merchants supplied cloth to the East India Company. Apart from Kalavai, the shareholders were Sunkurama, Balu and Kalathi Chetties, all commemorated with street names in North Chennai. But Kalavai Chetty’s continuing involvement in caste riots ensured his dismissal from this venture in 1717. He was soon back in favour, this time on payment of 40,000 pagodas as a surety.

The Kachaliswarar Temple Tank

His various dealings prevented him from regularly visiting the Kachapeeswarar shrine in Kanchipuram to which he was greatly attached. He decided to build a temple for the deity in Madras itself. His garden on Armenian Street was made over for the purpose and on it came up the temple then referred to as the Kachali Pagoda and now known as the Kachaliswarar Temple. Like the shrine in Kanchi, the Shiva Linga here is mounted on a turtle depicting Mahavishnu. The Goddess here is Saundarambika, just as in the Kanchi temple. The temple today has several sub shrines, including some hideous recent structures that ought to have never been erected.

Among the more aesthetic ones is a sanctum for Ayyappa. This has an interesting story behind it. In 1952, when the temple at Sabarimala was damaged by fire, a new idol was made and taken in procession to various parts of the country. When it came to Madras, it was housed at the Kachaliswarar Temple. When the idol was taken back to Sabarimala, a portrait of the deity took its place and was worshipped. In the 1980s, this portrait was replaced by an image.

Signboard recalling an old name

The temple forms a square, on three sides of which is the Kachaliswarar Agraharam, marking the traditional residential area. Was this endowed by Kalavai Chetty? To the rear of the shrine is a large tank. And fronting the temple is Kachali Pagoda Lane, a throwback to the old name. In the 18th century, this was the principal dancing-girl quarter of Madras. It has no vestige of that colourful past now.

This article appeared in The Hindu today -http://www.thehindu.com/arts/history-and-culture/article3621524.ece