Activism, 19th Century Style

Records refer to him as a ‘congenital fighter’ and this is amply borne out by the battles he fought on behalf of Madras and its vast Presidency. Henry Nelson was a partner in Parry & Co from 1845 to 1861. He was Chairman of the Madras Chamber of Commerce thrice, in 1849, 1859 and 1860.

Nelson’s technique was to flood the Government with demands and when called for negotiations, withdraw all but the most important ones. Thus, when the drains of Madras became a matter of concern (nothing ever changes does it?) he presented Governor Sir Charles Trevelyan with a slew of demands ranging from land reforms to a Town Hall. He then chose to give up all of them if the Governor would do something about the drains. That was done and the city breathed easy for a while.

The Commissioner of Police was another target and one of Nelson’s missives claimed that people committed crimes just to enjoy life in the penitentiary, such being the leniency in prison! All these were minor battles compared to Nelson’s spirited campaign opposing the implementation of Income Tax, in 1859. He organised public meetings, wrote letters and had a powerful ally in Trevelyan who lost his job in the process. It was during this battle that Nelson wrote a startling proposal for Governmental reforms.

Claiming that Civil Servants ran the administration under the thumb of the authorities “very largely ignorant of the conditions and feelings of everybody in India except themselves”, Nelson demanded a reconstitution of the Legislative Council with representation of the people! Let each Presidency have its own Executive and Legislative Council, he demanded, with each having three non-official European members and one each from the Hindu, Muslim and Anglo-Indian communities. And let each Legislature elect a member to the Supreme Legislative Council in Calcutta. Coming as it did so soon after the Mutiny, Nelson’s idea was considered seditious. But it had its echoes in the later Morley-Minto reforms, the Montagu-Chelmsford dyarchy and finally, Independence. Ironically, despite his attacks on the bureaucracy, Nelson’s daughter Emma married the celebrated JL Lushington of the Madras Civil Service!

Nelson firmly believed that India could produce cotton of the same quality as America and did much work in that area. He espoused scientific advances and on 13 October 1853, sent one the first telegrams from Madras. It set him back by Rs 10. He championed the cause of the Madras Port, a project that nobody believed in and in 1862, he, along with the Governor of Madras and the Commander-in-Chief, screwed in the first pier. We last see Nelson answering a Parliamentary Committee on the conditions of Indian sugar cultivation in 1862. By then he was living in retirement at Denmark Hill, Surrey.

There is no portrait of Nelson in the public domain. He is described as having a “quizzical, doggy Scots face with a particoloured beard, a pugnacious mouth and a lively eye.” It goes with the personality.

This article appeared in The Hindu dated 14th August 2012 in the Hidden Histories Column.

When Madras opposed the budget

Trevelyan Memorial fountain at Victoria Public Hall

Trevelyan’s fountain has vanished,” said my informant, “gone to make way for Metro Rail.” It was late at night but I drove down to Victoria Public Hall to see for myself. I found that it had been thankfully not been demolished but merely shifted to one side; now facing a lane instead of Poonamallee High Road. In the shift, one of its ornaments had been broken but at least the structure had been saved. Central to it is a medallion, commemorating Sir Charles Trevelyan, the Governor of Madras Presidency who opposed income tax.

On Friday, the Union Minister for Finance presented the Budget and Chennai absorbed its impact along with the rest of the country. That was not the case when the first-ever budget was presented on February 18, 1860 in the imperial capital of Calcutta. Fighting the Mutiny of 1857 had caused a deficit, which needed controlling. Among the various proposals that James Wilson, the Finance Member in Viceroy’s Executive Council, made was “the temporary imposition of an income-tax on all incomes above Rs. 200 a year, but with a reduction for those not exceeding Rs. 500 per annum.”

Thanks to the telegraph, the budget proposals reached the rest of the country almost within 24 hours. In Madras the imposition of income tax met with spirited protest. Henry Nelson, chairman of Parry & Co and chairman of the Madras Chamber of Commerce, led this. Public meetings were held, most of them at the Pachaiyappa’s Hall in China Bazar (now NSC Bose Road). The protestors had the enthusiastic support of The Madras Mail and Sir Charles Trevelyan, who was something of a finance man himself. Trevelyan was of the view that Madras need not be dominated upon by Calcutta. He also felt that the tax was unfair on Madras as it had not faced the Mutiny. Lastly, he questioned as to how people who had no representation in the Legislative Council could be taxed. This was dangerously close to the logic on which the American War of Independence was fought — no taxation without representation. When Trevelyan chose to express his feelings in an open telegram to Calcutta, he was at first censured and later recalled. That ended his tenure as Governor.

Matters then took a curious turn. Wilson died of dysentery, his last words to his successor Samuel Laing being — “Take care of my income tax.” In 1862, the Government requested London to send a man of known financial ability who could effectively impose income tax. Ironically, that job fell on Trevelyan! He made a success out of the tax.

While Governor of Madras, Trevelyan gave the city People’s Park, a vast green lung, which we unfortunately did not care to retain beyond a small fraction. Among the various buildings constructed on it was Victoria Public Hall. Fronting (or rather now beside) it is the fountain that was built to commemorate Trevelyan, the spirited Governor who fought income tax and later implemented it!

This article appeared in The Hindu – Trevelyan’s fountain has vanished,” said my informant, “gone to make way for Metro Rail.” It was late at night but I drove down to Victoria Public Hall to see for myself. I found that it had been thankfully not been demolished but merely shifted to one side; now facing a lane instead of Poonamallee High Road. In the shift, one of its ornaments had been broken but at least the structure had been saved. Central to it is a medallion, commemorating Sir Charles Trevelyan, the Governor of Madras Presidency who opposed income tax.

On Friday, the Union Minister for Finance presented the Budget and Chennai absorbed its impact along with the rest of the country. That was not the case when the first-ever budget was presented on February 18, 1860 in the imperial capital of Calcutta. Fighting the Mutiny of 1857 had caused a deficit, which needed controlling. Among the various proposals that James Wilson, the Finance Member in Viceroy’s Executive Council, made was “the temporary imposition of an income-tax on all incomes above Rs. 200 a year, but with a reduction for those not exceeding Rs. 500 per annum.”

Thanks to the telegraph, the budget proposals reached the rest of the country almost within 24 hours. In Madras the imposition of income tax met with spirited protest. Henry Nelson, chairman of Parry & Co and chairman of the Madras Chamber of Commerce, led this. Public meetings were held, most of them at the Pachaiyappa’s Hall in China Bazar (now NSC Bose Road). The protestors had the enthusiastic support of The Madras Mail and Sir Charles Trevelyan, who was something of a finance man himself. Trevelyan was of the view that Madras need not be dominated upon by Calcutta. He also felt that the tax was unfair on Madras as it had not faced the Mutiny. Lastly, he questioned as to how people who had no representation in the Legislative Council could be taxed. This was dangerously close to the logic on which the American War of Independence was fought — no taxation without representation. When Trevelyan chose to express his feelings in an open telegram to Calcutta, he was at first censured and later recalled. That ended his tenure as Governor.

Matters then took a curious turn. Wilson died of dysentery, his last words to his successor Samuel Laing being — “Take care of my income tax.” In 1862, the Government requested London to send a man of known financial ability who could effectively impose income tax. Ironically, that job fell on Trevelyan! He made a success out of the tax.

While Governor of Madras, Trevelyan gave the city People’s Park, a vast green lung, which we unfortunately did not care to retain beyond a small fraction. Among the various buildings constructed on it was Victoria Public Hall. Fronting (or rather now beside) it is the fountain that was built to commemorate Trevelyan, the spirited Governor who fought income tax and later implemented it!

This story appeared in The Hindu -http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3008622.ece