Tributes paid to British governors

Tributes were paid to the memory of British Madras Governor Sir Thomas Munro and Coimbatore Collector John Sullivan on the occasion of the bicentenary of the historic first visit of Munro to the Nilgiris which paved the way for the creation of modern Nilgiris, a press release from the Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) said.

A meeting was organised recently by the NDC to commemorate the occasion. Its honorary director, Venugopal Dharmalingam, said that but for the two officials, that there would be no Nilgiri hills “as we know of them today.”

N.Sundaradevan, former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, recalled the contributions of Munro to the revenue and police administration, land tenure and education. ‘Munro was genuinely committed to the welfare of the Indian people’, he said.

Students from various schools in Kotagiri participated in the meeting. At the end of the meeting, a souvenir on the occasion titled, ‘Remembering the Governor of Madras Presidency on his bicentenary memorial ‘ brought out by the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Nilgiri Documentation Centre was released.

“On September 27, 1826, Governor Munro undertook a journey to the Nilgiris at the invitation of Collector Sullivan to see for himself natural endowments of the hills Ever since John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, landed on the hills in 1819, he had fervently made a case for declaring the Nilgiris as a Hill Station for the recovery of invalid British soldiers and officials. His mentor, Sir Thomas Munro’s appointment as Governor of Madras Presidency in 1820 was fortuitous to Sullivan’s cause,” the press release added.

Munro offered all encouragement to Sullivan to prepare the grounds for a British hill settlement including building cottages, making roads and growing ‘English’ vegetables. However, it was only after his visit to the Nilgiris that he was fully convinced about Sullivan’s quest to officially declare the Nilgiri hills as a permanent Hill Station, it added.

“Munro’s entourage arrived at the foot of the Nilgiri hills through the Gajalatti pass on September 24, 1826. The  party set out for Ootacamund or Ooty on the 27th at daylight on horseback to cover a distance of fifteen miles.