Your recent reference to the Naval Hospital and the Gun Carriage Factory (Miscellany, July 8) did not mention that these were located in what was called New Town and which was once a major area of Anglo-Indian settlement, messages William Rodrigues. Indeed it was, what with not only the Naval Hospital and Gun Carriage Factory but also Central and Egmore Stations, the General Hospital and the Corporation, all favoured places of employment of the Anglo-Indians of the time, working as railwaymen, mechanics, overseers, nurses and secretaries.
More significantly, this area hosted the David S. White Memorial Hall and the offices of the Anglo-Indian Association of Southern India, the headquarters of the Anglo-Indians of South India. The Hall, the offices and the grounds of the Association were where the Hotel Ramada Chennai and a portion of its neighbour, the CMDA’s second block, have come up. In a small site here, the Association’s offices still remain, I’m told.
Responsible for banding the Anglo-Indians of South India together was David S. White who was an officer in the Directorate of Public Instruction. Curiously, he is better remembered in Bangalore where he established what was once a major Anglo-Indian settlement, Whitefield.
White was a founder member of the first Anglo-Indian association, the Eurasian and Anglo-Indian Association founded in Calcutta in 1876. Then, for some unstated reason, he broke away and founded in 1879 the Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European Association of Southern India. Today, there are eight other associations in South India and, together with what White founded, they teamed together in 1892 as a federation of Anglo-Indian associations mainly in Southern India. Some of its members also belong to the now Delhi-headquartered All India Anglo-Indian Association, but the majority are with the southern federation. The All-India association grew out of the 1876 association thanks to Henry Gidney’s leadership in the 1920s.
What the reason for the schism responsible for the break-up in Calcutta was I’m not very clear, but it certainly continued because of the attitude of Frank Anthony who succeeded Gidney who had been trying to effect a patch-up. Anthony had no time for those who were called Feringhis, were mainly dark of complexion, and spoke Malayalam, Tamil or Konkani. These descendants of the Portuguese found no favour with Anthony who refused to accept them as Anglo-Indians and turned down the applications of their associations to join the All-India Anglo-Indian Association. This only strengthened the Federation in the South that had its roots in White’s association and spread in South India.
White himself helped to establish the associations in Mysore and Coorg and persuaded the Maharajah of Mysore to grant nearly 4,000 acres east of Bangalore to establish an Anglo-Indian settlement. Whitefield in time grew with several from the Kolar Gold Fields adding to its numbers.
Today, the number of Anglo-Indians in Whitefield has diminished, but it is still more than in White’s home beat, New Town, now a forgotten name in south Vepery.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / July 22nd, 2013