Ootacamund

Ootacamund
Presidency: Madras
Coordinates:	11.38°N, 76.7°E
Altitude:	2,486 m (8,156 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Udhagamandalam
State/Province:	Tamil Nadu
Country:	India
Transport links

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
[xxxxx Ootacamund]

Ootacamund, now frequently known as Ooty (but officially called Udhagamandalam), is a town in the Nilgiri Hills. Ooty was the Madras Presidency summer capital and the headquarters of the Nilgiris District. It was founded in the 1820s by John Sullivan (1788 -1855). Lovedale is an area to the south west of the town where the Lawrence Asylum is located.

The cantonment at Wellington is situated about eight miles from Ootacamund, and one and a half miles north of Coonoor. Until 1860, the cantonment was known as Jackatalla (spelling variants: Jackatallah, Jakkatalla, Jakatala).

Keti (Kaiti) three miles south-east of Ootacamund was the location of a Boer prisoner of war camp from March 1902 to August 1902, when the prisoners were repatriated.

Spelling variants

Modern spelling: Udhagamandalam
Variants: Ootacamund/Ooty/Utakamand

FIBIS resources

• Cemetery records
• Images of Ootacumand

Schools and institutions

• Lawrence Asylum, Lovedale

Related aricles

• Nilgiri Hills
• List of Cemeteries-Nilgiri District

External links

• Ootacamund Town Imperial Gazetteer
  
• Kae Lewis website - Photographs of monuments at St Stephens Church, Ootacamund with many biographical details
  
• History of St Stephens Church - in Ooty since 1829 Official church website, now archived.
• "One Man's Ooty" by Mukund Padmanabhan January 16, 2005 The Hindu. John Sullivan was Ootacamund’s founder.
• Wiele & Klein, Madras and Ootacamund
  • Wiele & Klein Studio Advertisement A Trade advertisement for the Madras and Ootacamund studio of Wiele & Klein, "Artists, Photographers and Photo Engravers" britishphotohistory.ning.com
  • "The German Photographers of Madras" by Gabrielle Landwehr Part 1 , Part 2 (scroll down) Madras Musings Volume XVIII No. 14, November 1-15, 2008 and No. 15, November 16-30, 2008
  • Madras on glass 9 July 2003 The Hindu
• "Ooty, India: back in time to the birthplace of snooker" by Martin Hughes-Games 16 June 2014 The Telegraph, archived.

In respect of snooker, there is also a claim for Jubbulpore, however "Origins of Snooker" (snookerheritage.co.uk) indicates that Ootacamund is more likely.

• Illustration: New barracks, near Coonoor 1852 British Library Online Gallery
• Illustration: "Constructing the Jackatalla Barracks, near Ootacamund Neilgherry Hills," from the Illustrated London News 1858 indiasfirstwarofindependance1857.blogspot.com
• Photograph: St. Stephen's Church, Ootacamund from a collection “ca. 1889, some photographs later” New York Public Library Digital Collection.
• Photograph: A view in the Govt. Gardens at Ootacamund from a collection “ca. 1889, some photographs later” New York Public Library Digital Collection.
• "Wellington Of Yesteryears" dssc.gov.in (Defence Services Staff College), now an archived webpage.
• Wellington Gymkhana Club: History, now an archived webpage. It commenced in 1873 as a garrison club to offer recreation and relaxation to the garrison stationed at Wellington.
• Photograph: Wellington [Barracks?] c 1918 25thlondon.com. Retrieved 25 August 2014
• Photograph: Sgt's Mess at Wellington India 1928 from 2nd Bn XX The Lancashire Fusiliers Wellington India 1927 – 1931 www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk
• "Every Day A Bonus" by Ken Clarke from Regimental Association of The Queen's Own Buffs (PWRR): The Journal issues No 11-14 Autumn 2005- Spring 2007. The pages covering the voyage to India in 1933, time in India, and voyage back to England in 1938 are (11)48-49; (12)29-39; (13)15-25; (14)38.

Issue 11, 12, 13, 14 thequeensownbuffs.com

Issues 12 and 13. His time in India as a Boy Musician from age 15, with the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment in Gough Barracks in the cantonment of Trimulgherry, and time spent at Wellington

• 20th Century Barracks in India Includes Wellington. From Photo Gallery: Accommodation for Soldiers and Officers. King's Own Royal Regiment Museum, Lancaster.

Album of Photographs: 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Regiment, India 1937-40 King's Own Royal Regiment Museum. Includes photographs taken at Wellington.

• A Queen Alexandra's Nurse in India by Margaret Ledger. WW2. Her postings included Wellington. bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar
• Photograph of British Army married quarters- Bazzar Hill, Wellington, Nilgiri Hills 1945/6 FIBIS on Facebook
  
• Tamil Nadu, Wellington: Cantonment in the clouds by Sneha Nagesh September 23, 2011 livemint.com

Historical books online

• Letters on the Climate, Inhabitants, Productions, &c., &c., of the Neilgherries, or, Blue Mountains of Coimbatoor, South India by James Hough 1829 Google Books
• Goa, and the Blue Mountains; or, Six months of sick leave by Richard F Burton, Lieut. Bombay Army 1851 Archive.org. Includes some relevant chapters.
• "Ootacamund" page 362 Volume III, The Adventures of a Lady in Tartary, Thibet, China, and Kashmir. ... With an account of the Journey from the Punjab to Bombay overland. ... Also an account of the Mahableshwur and Neilgherry Mountains, etc. by Mrs Hervey 1853 Google Books
• "Ootacamund" page 357 Madras District Gazetteers: The Nilgiris by W Francis 1908 Archive.org
• "Map of Ootacamund" between pages 412 and 413, A Handbook for Travellers in India, Burma, and Ceylon published by John Murray, London Eighth Edition 1911 Archive.org.
• Guide to the Nilgiris 1905. Archive.org, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• The Nilgiri Guide and Directory by JSC Eagan 1916 Archive.org
• Ootacamund, A History by Sir Frederick Price 1908 is available Archive.org, mirror from Digital Library of India. The Contents page of the book is digital page 17.
• The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj by Dane Kennedy, 1996 University of California Press
• "Wellington (Jackatalla)" page 432 Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India : with Abstract of Evidence, and of Reports Received from Indian Military Stations 1864 Archive.org
• "Wellington" page 341 Madras District Gazetteers: The Nilgiris by W Francis 1908 Archive.org
• "Medico-Topographical and Statistical Report of the Convalescent Depot at Wellington, Madras for the year 1870" by Assistant Surgeon Davidson MD, Royal Horse Artillery, pages 474-5 missing, text from page 476, and then from page 477, (with a number of blank pages in between) Army Medical Department: Report for the Year 1870 Volume 12 published 1872 Archive.org
• Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad by F. W. F Fletcher 1911 Archive.org including
  • Map of the Nilgiri District approximately page xx (towards the front of the book)
• Indian Cavalryman by Captain Freddie Guest, [Reginald Edwin Guest] 1959. Pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset.

Recommended by Peter Moore in Military reading list who says "Selected in England to be trained as an Officer Cadet in Wellington, Southern India..."

• "Another Bit of India" [Wellington] by Mrs. H. V. Bagshawe Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 1928;50:1 59-68. The author was the wife of a medical officer in the RAMC.
• Ootacamund page 158 India of the Rajahs by Major S E G Ponder 1940 Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.
• Horticultural and economic plants of the Nilgiris edited by S Krishnamurthi 1953 Archive.org. Includes Tea, coffee chinchona etc