Wellington of Yesteryears
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Wellington Of Yesteryears The oldest inscription which makes mention of the Nilgiris District dates back to about 930 AD. It was then known as T‘the Land of Swamps’. A Mysore inscription of the Kadamba period, 12th Century AD, describes the district as ‘an adultress with black waving curls, an adultress with full moon face, an adultress with endless side glances, an adultress with adorned slim figure was the double Bayanad’ which was the then name for the Nilgiris. The first mention of the names - Toda and Nilgiri – is found in a record of 1117 AD, belonging to the period of Vishnuvardhana, the Hoysala King. The possession of this area changed hands quite often in later years. But inhabited this was, for the account by the Jesuit priest Ferreira or Finicio of his visit to the plateau in 1602 states that Todas and Badagas were already settled there at that time. The Treaty of Srirangapatanam put the Nilgiris into the possession of the East India Company in 1799, but apparently the area was not visited by any Englishman until 1812, and certainly contained no European residence till 1819. It is worth mentioning that Mr John Sullivan, the then Collector of Madras, was not so much the discoverer of Ootacamund, for that is under dispute, but was the first Englishman to set up residence there, and is generally considered a champion of the cause for promoting the area. He Mr John Sullivan, recorded that “the scenery was of extraordinary grandeur and First Collector of Ootacamund. magnificence. Everything that a combination of mountains, 1819 valleys, woods and water can afford, is to be seen here. Your readers will perhaps be surprised to learn that frosty regions are to be found at not very great distance from the Presidency (meaning Fort St. George at Madras) and within eleven degrees of the Equator”. Wellington of yesteryears. 23 Old Madras Presidency map showing Jackatalla This form of temple (also formerly the dominant house-type) is common in Toda communities. 24 Arrival of British Troops The first regular troops moved into the barracks at Wellington in 1854 which then had accommodation for only 54 NCOs and 820 men. There were no ‘hill stations’ in India then, and officers and officials of the Company, who were broken in health by the climate of the plains, travelled all the way to the Cape of Good Hope or Mauritius (both altogether climatically inferior to the Nilgiris) to recoup. The possibility of there existing in South India, so close to the Equator, a region where the climate was cool and invigorating was at that time, to most people, absolutely incredible. The desirability of cantoning British regiments, especially those newly arrived from ‘Home’, in order to obviate the large occurrence of sickness which usually afflicted them from residence in the plains during the hot weather, was one of the JACKATALA Wellington Barracks 1897 first things that struck the earliest European visitors to the hills. But there were a few among them who apparently opposed it vehemently. Strategic objections to the location of troops in the hills were based on fears that the men would contract malaria when marching up, especially through the extremely feverish jungles on the Mysore side, as the Coonoor ‘ghats’ had not been opened up sufficiently till then. In fact, it might be of interest to note that the ABC Club (the present Gymkhana Club) of Ootacamund, so named after the games played - namely Archery, Badminton and Croquet, was more popularly referred to as Asthma, Bronchitis and Cough Club! However, initial efforts were only to erect a few temporary buildings for sick officers, so that experiments regarding the effects of the climate could be made. The visit of Sir Thomas Munro, the then Governor of Madras, in 1825 and again in 1826, and his favourable comments helped to offset some of the unfavourable reports. In 1827, the Government sanctioned a hospital for 40 invalid soldiers, and certain other works, at Ootacamund. Mr Sullivan’s dream was thus fulfilled at last. Wellington Gymkhana Club of yesteryears 25 It was in 1832 that the matter of cantoning troops was forcibly brought to the attention of the Medical Board by Dr Baikie. At the end of 1839, a proposal was made by Lord Elphinstone to station a regiment, but this was turned down by the Government. In 1842, the Marquis of Tweed Dale, who was the Governor, had views similar to Lord Elphinstone, and suggested that an expansion programme of laying out barracks at Trichinopolly be dropped and similar accommodation be built in the Nilgiris. The present site of the barracks was suggested by Maj Ouchterlony for temporary accommodation and official sanction was obtained in 1847. However, for some reason the work was not immediately taken up. But plans for permanent barracks were drawn up in 1849 and were approved by the Government and the ‘Home’ authorities in 1850-51 and the construction finally began. The first regiment, 74th Highlanders, moved into the barracks on 30 March 1854 and Wellington became a military cantonment; a status which has been maintained ever since. This place was not known as Wellington then. A name so foreign could not obviously have been associated with a place so Indian. One wonders whether the name ‘Jakatalla’ would have aroused any interest at all in the many foreigners one sees on the Wellington roads today. This place was then thus known, after the Badaga village of that name to the North of this place. Sir Arthur Wellesly, who later came to be known as Wellington, the Iron Duke (although he never actually came up to these parts), was, in later life, a strong advocate of a Military Sanatorium in the Nilgiris, and had expressed his unqualified approval of the scheme. Sir Richard Armstrong had suggested the name Wellington, but Sir Henry Pottinger believed that the name Wellington would be unintelligible to the natives. In 1860, Sir Charles Trevelyan held that this interesting military establishment could not be connected with a more appropriate name than Wellington, and ordered it to be so called forthwith. 26 The barracks were completed in 1860 and a new wing was added in 1876. Almost every conceivable British infantry regiment was stationed in Wellington at one time or another. The 60th Royal Rifles followed the Highlanders. There were the battalions of Norfolk Regiment, the Royal Scots, the Durham Light Infantry and the Devonshire Regiment prior to 1900. In the period that followed, Wellington housed the Suffolk Regiment, The Royal Ulster Rifles, the Lancashire Fusiliers, the Somerset Infantry and the King’s Own Royal Regiment. The last British regiment to occupy the barracks before the Madras Regimental Centre was formed in 1947, was the Second Wellington Barracks Battalion of Worcestershire Regiment in 1942. The Marine Survey of India was established in the Wellington Barracks in 1901. Between 1916 and 1920, the barracks were converted into an Officer Cadet College. Wellington, as a seat of learning has therefore, historical precedent. Ghat Roads to Coonoor All through this period, the Cantonment in particular, and the Nilgiris in general, were improving steadily in facilities. Of all these, the means of communication would be of interest. The earliest European visitors climbed up to Dimhatti (North of Kotagiri) and Kotagiri by the rough path which led from the now deserted village of Dananayakkankottai (near the confluence of Bhavani and Moyar). The first bridle path to be made was from Sirumugai, near Mettupalayam, which led to Dimhatti. This continued to be the chief route to the hills from the Coimbatore side until the first Coonoor ‘ghat’ road was completed in 1832. The present ‘ghat’ road was completed in 1871 and crossed the old ‘ghat’ road at nine different points, thanks to Lt (later Col) GC Law, whose name is perpetuated by the cascade called ‘Law’s Falls’ today. He built the splendid 16-mile road from Kallar, at the foot of the hills, to Coonoor. The handsome suspension bridge you come across over Kallar river was built in 1894. 27 Black Bridge and Other Structures The other ‘ghat’ road from Mettupalayam is to Kotagiri and A map of Wellington Cantonment dated August 1877 shows is 21 miles long. This was completed in 1875 but is little used the Waterloo Bridge over which passes the road which runs today. Two other ‘ghat’ roads were tried out in the North from Wellington to join the Ootacamund-Coonoor road. (Sirur Ghat) and West-South-West (Sisara Ghat) respectively. Today it is called ‘Black Bridge’. This was first built in 1858 However, it was the Gudalur ‘ghat’ road which became the and collapsed before completion. It is on record that the final route to Mysore. The first track for this was made in 1823 Executive Engineer was sent back to military duty. The wooden and completed in 1829. The present Gudalur ‘ghat’ road was construction was put up in 1878. A lake, was made in 1875. started in 1865 and became an all weather road in 1885. Alas! today, the ‘Lake-View’ house only commands a view of dense weeds. Locke Hospital, now the Military Hospital, was The Ooty Rail a hospital for venereal diseases, which had to be established The only railway in this district runs from Mettupalayam to alongside the barracks when an urgent necessity for it arose. Coonoor and then on to Ootacamund. Between Mettupalayam The Commandant’s house has retained its location to date. and Coonoor it is 16.90 miles long and the ghat portion, which begins at Kallar, is worked on the Abt system, an improved modification of the Rigi rack-rail principle.