Madras (City)

Madras (City)
Presidency: Madras
Coordinates:	13.09°N, 80.27°E
Altitude:	6m
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Chennai
State/Province:	Tamil Nadu
Country:	India
Transport links
Madras Railway (to 1908) Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (1908 on)

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
Madras (City)

Madras (now Chennai) was one of the early East India Company Factories, the location of Fort St George and the seat of the Madras Presidency.

Madras in 1862, with churches, missions & schools

Madras 1893 Rootsweb

History

• Loss of Fort St George 6-19 Sept 1746
• Siege of Madras Dec 1758 - Feb 1759

Spelling variants

Modern name: Chennai
Variants: Madras

FIBIS resources

• Madras images
• Plan of Madras and its environs engraved by J & C Walker, London in 1854. This item is for FIBIS members only and you will need to log-in to view it.

Cemeteries

See Madras Cemeteries, for details of some of the Christian cemeteries in the city.

Orphan schools

See the main article Orphan Schools in Madras, or the following list of schools:

• Charity School
• Madras Military Male Orphan Asylum
• Madras Military Female Orphan Asylum
• Poonamallee Military Asylum at Poonamallee, about 15 miles from Madras
• Black Town/Civil Orphan Asylums

Economy and business

• This article mentions Thomas Parry, 1768-1824, a merchant in Madras, after whom Parry’s Corner is named. Hindu.com
• Through the ages: businesses in Madras 6 April 2012 thehindubusinessline.com
• Madras Chamber Of Commerce: History Established 1836
• 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
• "The premier hotel in South India": Part 1 Giacomo D’Angelis belonged to that group of Italian traders and entrepreneurs who settled in India in the second half of the 19th Century in order to earn profit from business there and " A pioneer in hoteliering in Madras–D'Angelis": Part 2 Madras Musings Vol. XXI No. 15, November 16-30, 2011 (Part 1) and No. 16, December 1-15, 2011 (Part 2)
• "Survivors of Time: Smith Stocking and Co. — Stocking medicine down the decades" by Anusha Parthasarathy May 1, 2012 The Hindu Chennai
• "‘Beehive’ going strong" by S. Muthiah June 1, 2014 Madras Miscellany The Hindu. The Beehive Foundary and Oakes & Co., a department store

External links

• Chennai, Tamil Nadu Wikipedia
• New buildings in Madras 1888-1896 from Henry Irwin Architect in India 1841–1922

• Madras Musings is a fortnightly newsmagazine, available online, devoted to the preservation of the heritage and environment of the city of Madras. It has online Archives from 1991.
  • It includes a number of articles titled "Literature on Madras", containing bibliographic references to help you find historical information about Madras, refer Madras bibliography
  • 'The best east of Suez,' they described MH [The Madras Maternity Hospital] June 1-15, 2009, Where they see, hear and dream Ob & Gyn, June 16-30, 2009
• "Early decades of Madras Medical College: Apothecaries" by R Raman and A Raman Natl Med J India. 2016 Mar-Apr;29(2):98-102. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• Factories and Ports in India: a study of the English settlement pattern on the Coromandel Coast 1630-1724 by C Srinivasa Reddy University of Hyderabad 1997 thesis from Shodhganga: Indian Electronic Theses and Dissertations
• Discovered: Pictures of Madras after Emden struck [September 22, 1914] by A. Srivathsan The Hindu 22 August 2012 . Includes photographic slideshow When Emden Bombed Madras

Also see Historical books online, below.

• Memories of Madras - The Summer of 1942 The Hindu 3 January 2012
• Two articles about Popham’s Broadway, the main North-South thoroughfare in Black Town/Georgetown: Popham the Improver Saturday 6 June 1998 The Independent; Madras Miscellany: The drain that became Broadway The Hindu 26 September 2010
• "Lost Landmarks of Madras : Kelly's Drain– Where was it?" by V Sriram Madras Musings Vol. XXI No. 4, June 16-30, 2011 "a channel running through the heart of George Town."
• "Madras’ pushy First Lady" by V Sriram. The Hindu 23 October 2012. Lady Willingdon arrived in 1919 and many institutions were named after her.
• Racing memories by S. Muthiah 25 May 2009 The Hindu, now archived.
• "Will Chennai's Jews be there?" by S. Muthiah Sep 30, 2002, The Hindu, now archived. A Jewish settlement first established itself in Madras to export the diamonds of Golconda to London.
• "Survivors of Time: The spirit of an era" by Anusha Parthasarathy June 4, 2013. Part 2: "Remains of the day" June 12, 2013 The Hindu. The Portuguese in early Madras.
• "Madras Miscellany: The first church in British Madras" by S. Muthiah February 19, 2018 The Hindu. St Andrew’s Roman Catholic church, also known as the Portuguese Church, established 1642.
• "Merchants on a mission" by Anusha Parthasarathy July 30, 2013 The Hindu. Armenians in early Madras.
• "1844 Higginbotham’s-First edition" by Geeta Doctor August 13 2012 livemint.com. The bookshop in Madras.
• "Madras miscellany: A well-kept old age home" by S. Muthiah January 9, 2016. The Hindu. Includes an end article about the Madras Hunt, which hunted for jackels.

Maps

• A map of the East-Indies and the adjacent countries, with the settlements, factories and territories, explaning [sic] what belongs to England, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, Portugal etc. with many remarks not extant in any other map c1717- 1720 by Herman Moll, geographer. University of Texas. Also available Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection at the Boston Public Library and National Library of Australia. catalogue description from NLA.

Note: this map contains an insert, A Plan of Fort St. George and the City of Madras, which can can be enlarged considerably.

• Article, with images, about a later map c 1726 'A Prospect of Fort St. George and Plan of the city of Madras' 01 February 2018 British Library Untold lives blog.
• A plan of Fort St. George and the city of Madras 1747 Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS Number: 012604250)
• Pre 1800 maps of Madras can be found by searching the French archive ANOM's database Ulysse.

Historical books online

Also see Madras (Presidency)
Directories online
Newspapers and journals online

• The Founding of Fort St. George, Madras by William Foster 1902. Based on India Office Records, [now at the British Library]. Archive.org, Granth Sanjeevani Collection. Watermarked pages. HathiTrust Digital Library version.
• "Madras" A new account of the East Indies, Volume 1, page 361 by Alexander Hamilton 1744 Google Books
• Indian Records Series. Vestiges of Old Madras, 1640-1800 Index Volume by Henry Davison Love 1913 Archive.org. If you find a reference here, then follow it up in: Vestiges of Old Madras Volume I, Volume II, Volume III Archive.org. Each volume is very informative, with over 600 pages.

Also available as downloads from GIPE, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, with possibly better images. Vol. I, Vol. II, Part 1, Vol. III.

• Indian Records Series. The Diaries Of Streynsham Master 1675-1680 1911. Streynsham Master was appointed agent and governor at Fort St. George, 1675. Includes short biographical notes on all Englishmen mentioned in the manuscripts. Volume I The Diary 1675-1677, Volume II The First and Second Memorialls 1679-1680, Index Archive.org
• Madras in the olden time: being a history of the presidency from the first foundation to the Governorship of Thomas Pitt, Grandfather of the Earl of Chatham 1639-1702 by J Talboys Wheeler 1861 Google Books
• Madras in the olden time: being a history of the presidency from the first foundation of Fort St. George Volume 2 1702-1727 J Talboys Wheeler 1861 Google Books
• Madras in the olden time: being a history of the presidency from the first foundation of Fort St. George to the French Occupation of Madras Volume 3 1727-1748 by J Talboys Wheeler 1862 Google Books
• Records of Fort St George
  • Diary and Consultation Book Volume 1 1672-1678 to Volume 86 1756 (July 13 to September 22) (69 volumes available online) (Series consists of 90 volumes to 1760) Archive.org
  • Diary and Consultation Book, Military Department 1752, 1753, published 1910 Hathi Trust Digital Library
  • Letters to Fort St.George Volume 1 1681-82 to Volume 44 1763-64 (32 volumes available online) (Series consists of 45 volumes to 1765) Archive.org
  • Letters from Fort St. George Volume 1 1679 to Volume 40 1765 (broken range of 33 volumes available online) Archive.org
  • Records of Fort St George. Selections from public consultations, letters from Fort St. George and Fort St. David consultations, 1740 Archive.org
  • Records of Fort St George. Public Despatches from England 1753-1754 Volume 57 1964, 1755-1756 Volume 59 1970,1756-1757 Volume 60 1971 Archive.org (All catalogued as Records of the Madras Government)
  • Records of Fort St. George Multiple pdf downloads Digital Repository of GIPE-Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics [Pune India]. Includes
    • Fort St. David consultations 1697- 1750. Also Fort St. David Letters to 1750 Multiple pdf downloads Digital Repository of GIPE.
    • Tellicherry Consultations and Letters 1725-1751 Multiple pdf downloads Digital Repository of GIPE.
  • Mayor's Court Minutes/Pleadings Madras 1689 and 1716 - 1745 (including Madras as a Search term), together with Additional files 1727-1746, (including Fort St George as a Search term). Part of Records of Fort St George. Archive.org.
• An account of the trade in India: containing rules for good government in trade, price courants, and tables: with descriptions of Fort St. George, Acheen, Malacca, Condore, Canton, Anjengo, Muskat, Gombroon, Surat, Goa, Carwar, Telichery, Panola, Calicut, the Cape of Good-Hope, and St. Helena... To which is added, An Account of the Management of the Dutch in their Affairs in India by Charles Lockyer 1711 Archive.org. Contents
• Report on the Palk Documents 1922 Archive.org. Letters addressed to Sir Robert Palk from the time he relinquished the governorship of Madras in 1767 to the end of 1786. The majority were sent from Fort St. George, and they are “full of political and military intelligence”.
• The Nabobs of Madras by Henry Dodwell 1926 Archive.org. The social background of the events in the second half of the 18th century.
• A Voyage To India by Rev James Cordiner 1820 Google Books describes Madras in 1798-1799 from page 93
• The Chief Secretary: Madras Diaries of Alexander Falconar 1790-1809 Edited by N S Ramaswami 1983. Tamil Digital Library. Also contains a Notebook/Diary of [Madras Army] Artillery Lieutenant Matthew Campbell 1821-1830 page 67. Based on diaries found in India. Also available mirror version Archive.org. Brief career details of Alexander Falconar, and possible additional papers. nationalarchives.gov.uk
• Thomas Parry: Free Merchant Madras 1768-1824 by G H Hodgson 1938. Note digital pages contain a watermark. Archive.org. Contains extracts from many letters, including Part II (from digital page 280) being letters written 1806-1809. 2nd file Missing some of the Contents pages, however pages do not contain a watermark. Archive.org.

Parrys of Madras by Hilton Brown 1954. Full title: Parry's of Madras: a story of British enterprise in India. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.

• An accurate and authentic narrative of the origin and progress of the dissentions at the Presidency of Madras: founded on original papers and correspondence 1810. Missing at least one page which may be found in File 2, however generally the 1st file is better quality. Archive.org
• Journal of a Residence in India by Maria Graham, 2nd Edition (1813) describes Madras in 1810 from page 123 and page 154 (Google Books).
• Sketches of India by 'An Officer for Fire-Side Travellers At-Home' [Captain Moyle Sherer] 2nd edition, with additions 1824 Archive.org The author arrived in Madras in July 1818. His Wikipedia page indicates he was with the 34th Regiment of Foot.
• Madras in 1829 Chapter V, page 76 Memoirs and letters of the late Colonel Armine S.H. Mountain, C. B. : aide-de-camp to the Queen and Adjutant-General of Her Majesty's forces in India 2nd edition 1858 (first published 1857) Archive.org
• Madras c 1831/1832 page 174 T‪he Travels of Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel: From Jerusalem, Through Arabia, Koordistan, Part of Persia, and India to Madras by‬ Rabbi David D'Beth Hillel 1832 Google Books. Page 179 contains a description of coins and weights etc. in use.
• Travels in South-Eastern Asia...etc by Howard Malcolm, 2nd edition (1839) 2 volumes, describes Madras in 1837 in Book 2, Chapter 2 (Google Books).
• Letters from Madras, during the years 1836-1839 by A Lady (Mrs Julia Charlotte Maitland] 1846, stated elsewhere to be first published 1843. Archive.org. Transcribed edition digital.library.upenn.edu. A later edition was Letters from Madras during the years 1836-1839 by Julia Maitland ; with introduction, notes and appendices by Alyson Price. 2003. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01012046269. See Biographies reading list. Julia Maitland (Wikipedia), born 1808. At the time she was in in India she was married to James Thomas who was a judge in the Madras Presidency, who died January 1840.
• A Gazetteer of Southern India: with the Tenasserim Provinces and Singapore by Pharoah &Co (1855), detailing Madras (Google Books)
• A Handbook for India: Being an Account of the Three Presidencies, and of the Overland Route; intended as a guide for Travellers, Officers and Civilians. Part I Madras by Edward B. Eastwick, published by John Murray 1859 Google Books
• Madrasiana by W.T. Munro (pseud. Rev. William Taylor) 1868 Google Books. Contents. Includes "Part I Churches and Chapels". Page 111: Mrs Murray’s Seminary located at Vepery from 1815.
• Fort St. George, Madras; a short history of our first possession in India by Mrs Frank Penny (Fanny Emily) 1900. Archive.org

On the Coromandel Coast by F. E. Penny 1908. Archive.org, Granth Sanjeevani Collection.

• Vicissitudes of Fort St. George by David Leighton 1902 Archive.org. The history to 1798.
• The Church in Madras : being the History of the Ecclesiastical and Missionary Action of the East India Company in the Presidency of Madras by Rev Frank Penny 1904 Archive.org

Volume 1 In the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Volume 2 1805 to 1835 Volume 3 1835 to 1861

• A Hand Book to St. Mary's Church, Fort St. George, Madras. With a Description of Its Monuments and Other Objects of Interest by the Rev. Charles Herbert Malden 1905. Archive.org. Also available Tamil Virtual Library, where the title is catalogued as A Hand book to St. Mary's Church : with a description of its monuments and other objects of interest with illustrations and a plan. Also available Google Books.
• Memories of Madras by Sir Charles Lawson 1905 Archive.org
• A collection of photographs from India Illustrated: Being a Collection of Pictures of the Cities of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, Together with a Selection of the Most Interesting Buildings and Scenes throughout India, published by Bennett, Coleman, & Co., publishers of the English language newspaper Times of India, c 1905. University of Houston Digital Library.
• Madras The Birth Place of British India. An Illustrated Guide with Map by Lieut-Colonel H A Newell, Indian Army 1919. Archive.org. Poor quality text and missing some pages and map. HathiTrust Digital Library version for those in some areas such as North America.
• The Story of Madras by Glyn Barlow, with illustrations by the author. 1921 Archive.org
• History of the City of Madras written for the Tercentenary Celebration Committee 1939 by C S Srinivasachari 1939 Index Archive.org
• The Madras Tercentenary Commemoration Volume 1939 Preview Google Books. Archive.org version, Public Library of India Collection.
• Work And Sport In The Old I. C. S. by W O Horne [William Ogilvie] 1928. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection. He was appointed to the Madras Civil Service in 1882. Includes reference to the Madras Hunt.
• The Story of Fort St. George by Col. D. M. Reid. Reprint edition, first published 1945 Archive.org, Historical Resources of India Collection.
• Lauterbach of the China Sea : the Escapes and Adventures of a Seagoing Falstaff by Lowell Thomas, 1930 Archive.org. During WW1 Julius Lauterbach was navigator on the German SMS Emden which attacked oil tanks at Madras page 51.
• Articles by F.E.P, very likely Fanny Emily Penny, giving details of Marriages at St Mary’s , Fort St George, and Marriages at Outstations Recorded in the St Mary’s Register Book, appeared in The Genealogist, Volumes 19-23 published in London 1903 to 1907 Archive.org
  • Volume 19, 1903. St Mary’s Marriages 1680-1693, pages 182-189, 1693-1711, pages 285-292
  • Volume 20, 1904 1712-1727, pages 57-61, 1727-1760, pages 99-107 , 1761-1780, pages 200-207, 1780-1789, pages 274-279. There is a footnote on page 274 stating the words native of India means a person who was born in India. "They might be of European blood or mixed parentage"
  • Volume 21, 1905. 1789-1798 pages 52-60, 1797- 1803 pages 100-106, 1803-1806 pages 195-201, 1806-1810 pages 273-281, correction of an entry.
  • Volume 22, 1906 1810-1811, pages 63-67, 1812 , pages 134-137, 1813-1814, pages 190-193, 1814-1815, pages 246-248

  "Returns of Marriages at Outstations in the Madras Presidency, Recorded in the Register Book of St Mary’s, Fort St George, between 1783 and 1805" 1783-1796 pages 248-257

  • Volume 23, 1907 1796-1798, pages 54 -61, 1798-1800, page 128-129, 1800-1805, page 179-187, additional entries, pages 187-189

These articles have been reprinted as the book Marriages at Fort St. George, Madras, published 1907. This book is available to read online, or download, catalogue entry, from FamilySearch. You need to be registered and sign in first.

List Of Marriages Registered in the Presidency Of Fort St George 1680 - 1800 edited by H Dodwell, Curator Madras Record Office 1916. Tamil Virtual Library. These records are compiled from St Mary's registers, and also Missionary registers, so perhaps include records additional to the record series above. Contains 74 pages of records.

• Also see Cemeteries - Inscriptions in online books for records from Madras.
• ‪Report on the Medical Topography and Statistics of the Presidency Division of the Madras army‬: ‪including Fort St. George, and its dependencies, within the limits of the Supreme Court. Compiled from the records of the Medical Board Office‬ 1842 Google Books
• Madras and its cantonments page 43, The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal Volume 68 1847. Google Books. The cantonments were classified as "Stations on the sea coast"
• "Madras" page 173 Reports on mountain and marine sanitaria; medical and statistical observations on civil stations and military cantonments, jails - dispensaries - regiments - barracks, &c. within the Presidency of Madras, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Islands, and British Burmah from January 1858 to January 1862 by Inspector General of Hospitals Duncan Macpherson. 1862 Archive.org. Part of the series Selections from the Records of the Madras Government.
  • Plan of Madras and environs prior to page 173
• "Eurasians of Madras and Malabar" by Edgar Thurston page 69-114 Madras Government Museum Bulletin Vol II, No 2 1898 Archive.org.
• Drainage problems of the East : being a revised and enlarged edition of "Oriental drainage", [Volume 1] by C C James 1917, first published 1906 Archive.org. Includes chapters relating to Drainage of the major cities in India (Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi, Madras, “Benares, Lucknow, Mirzapur and Lahore”), Rangoon, Singapore, Penang and Shanghai, and of the major cities in Egypt. Drainage problems of the East, Volume 2- Plans by C C James 1917 Archive.org
• World War II Operational Documents: Port summary of Madras, India, 1945 from Combined Arms Research Library Digital Library.'