Chennai’s Umpherston Street: when names metamorphose

Two weeks agone you volition callback that I had walked done George Town. While doing truthful I had kept a crisp oculus connected the bluish thoroughfare sanction signboards for their spellings ever supply immoderate affluent material. I did deliberation determination was thing incorrect with Humpherson Street but did not wage overmuch attraction owing to the wide chaos. Last Sunday I was back, and this clip astatine 6.00 am. I had ample accidental to instrumentality a due look, and this is what I found. 

This is not the archetypal clip this thoroughfare sanction has changed. Strictly speaking it ought to person been Umpherston Street but adjacent successful British times, arsenic is evident from the writings of HD Love successful his Vestiges of Old Madras in 1913, the thoroughfare sanction had changed to Humpherson. An H had been added where nary existed, astir apt due to the fact that idiosyncratic felt it was silent, as successful honour. This contrasted with the mode the Y successful Yeldham vanished to marque it Eldam’s Road – adding a Y successful pronouncing is communal successful our portion erstwhile a connection begins with an E and intelligibly whoever was successful complaint of signboards successful the 20^th century thought that was wrong.

But fto america get backmost to Umpherston. Rather uniquely, determination were according to Love, four Umpherstons in these parts towards the extremity of the 18^th and aboriginal years of the 19^th century. Thomas was a coachbuilder successful George Town, James was a trader successful Ceylon, George a livery unchangeable keeper in Chintadripetand William a sutler (supplier of provisions to an army) at Gooty in contiguous time Andhra. Love opines that either Thomas oregon James gave his sanction to the street, though wherefore a trader successful Sri Lanka merited being commemorated successful Madras is not clear. 

Also Read | The agelong communicative of how a Dalit household erstwhile ruled the planetary condiment industry

There was astir interestingly, a Mr. Humpherston here astatine the aforesaid clip and helium excessively was a sutler, unless the British excessively were confused with the spelling. On August 22, 1800 (Madras Day!) Humpherston came to grief at camp near Chevittygoondy, being caught portion attempting to merchantability spirits to the sepoys of the army, contrary to orders. His cache of ‘24 dozen of rum shrub, 4 twelve of Jamaican rum and 7 twelve of English claret’ were ordered to beryllium auctioned by Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington nary less) and the proceeds remitted to the Male Orphans Asylum. Such a Humpherston was unlikely to person merited a thoroughfare name. 

Our Corporation must person thought that Umbarson is capable for an obscure coachbuilder oregon trader depending connected whether it was Thomas oregon James. But what is forgotten is that Umpherston Street was wherever a large occurrence communicative of 19^thcentury Madras began. This was wherever P. Venkatachellum started his concern of curry powders, sauces, condiments and built an empire that saw his products being sold from Europe to Australia. He was 1 of the fewer Dalit successes from Madras successful concern and he, like Rao Sahib MC Madurai Pillai. showed that it was sheer diligence and absorption connected excellence that mattered erstwhile it came to business. 

The P. Venkatachellum story would pb to his household becoming important spot owners successful Madras, overmuch of it connected Greenways Road. He contributed hugely to nationalist events and causes and not erstwhile allowed himself to beryllium photographed. The business kept three generations astatine slightest successful comfortableness and led to a expansive daughter-in-law, Jothi, becoming a state fighter, a state curate and yet Governor of Kerala.

Rather than inactive remembering an unknown Umpherston and mangling his name, we could rename this thoroughfare aft P. Venkatachellum.

(Sriram V. is simply a writer and historian)