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Showing posts with label Indo-Armenian Friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indo-Armenian Friendship. Show all posts

01 May 2022

Armenian Church Rangoon: The Lost Name

Those of you interested in the Armenian community of Rangoon will be familiar with the church name of St. John the Baptist. What is less well known, is the name of the original church. The following may be something my Armenian genealogy friends and followers may find useful.

 

Quite by chance, I was reviewing an issue of the Armenian paper Azgaser with my good friend and Indio-Armenia co-ordinator, Karen Mkrtchyan, whose passion for anything India Armenian related is equal, if not more than my own.  The publication was dated March 1849. Inside was a copy of a letter sent to Ter Carapiet Aviet Hakobian by the leading members of the Armenian community in Rangoon dated 19 January, 1849, thanking him for his service with the community for the last 5 years. It also went on to mention that Ter Harutyun Hakobian Ter Karapietian has arrived to replace him as the parish priest. But the most exciting part for me, was the fact this is the church the community used prior to the devastating fire of 1850, when it, and all that it contained, was lost in that ferocious inferno. The original valuable church registers would have gone up in flames, removing any permanent record of who made up the early Armenian community in Rangoon. See an earlier story I wrote on Elizabeth Carapiet Jacob.

 


Colesworthy Grant sketched the spire of the Armenian Church Rangoon, built of wood, reputedly in 1766. It is the only known sketch of the church prior to the fire in 1850.  From his book: “A Rough Trip to Rangoon in 1846”.

 



Precious pieces of history found in a thank-you letter.

 

1.       The names of two serving priests who pre-date anything previously known about Rangoon

2.       The names of leading members of the Armenian community in Rangoon

3.       The full name of the Armenian Church Rangoon, which, until now, had been lost in the passage of time.

 

Those members of the community were: [anglicized names in square brackets]

 

Senior Deacon Gabriel Yeghiazarian
Stephanos A. Malkhasian [Stephen A. Malchus]
Nikoghayos A. Hovhannes [Nicholas A. Johannes]
Arakiel Ter Minasian [Arakiel Ter Minas]
Karapet Hakobian [Carapiet Jacob]
Avet Bijan Simon [Aviet Bijohn Simon]
Harutyun Abraham of Shiraz [Arratoon Abraham]
Yesayi Manukian [Essai Manuk]
Stephanos Harutyunian [Stephen Arratoon]
Grigor Sargis Manukian [Gregory Sarkies Manuk]
Grigor Hovhannes of Shiraz[Gregory Johannes]
S. G Hakobian [S.G. Jacob]
Kh. H. Harutyun [possibly Catchick H. Arratoon]
Harutyun K. Zakarian [Arratoon K. Zacharia]
Petros Grigorian [Peter Gregory]
Karapet Makchertich Harutyunian [Carapiet Mackertich Arratoon]
Ghevond M. Avetoomian [Levon M. Avetoom]
Alexianos Ter Gevorg [Alexander Ter George]
Hovhannes Sarkies, [Johannes Sarkies] caretaker, Sourb Astvatsatsin Armenian Church.

Sourb Astvatsatsin translates to Սուրբ Աստվածածին Holy Mother of God.

 

This is unequivocal evidence the Armenian Church Rangoon, prior to the St. John The Baptist Church name, was called Holy Mother of God. It could be said that it was named after what is now the oldest surviving church in Yerevan. 

 

From a brief note of gratitude from the members of the community, thanking Ter Carapiet for his service with them in the past 5 years, and from which they have largely benefited; they went on to expressed their heartfelt gratitude and passed on their good wishes to him for his future endeavours; so much new and important information has been gleaned.

 

With the original registers destroyed in 1850, the community started new registers when the replacement church was built in 1862. Bad luck would strike this church again 80 years later and the newly created original registers for St. John the Baptist Church were also destroyed, this time during WW2.  Between 1942 and 1946 the community was evacuated from Rangoon owing to the war.  There was no church or priest and the damaged church was reconstructed and consecrated in June 1948. In the 1950’s, Johannes Stephen valiantly attempted to re-create the birth/baptism, marriage and death/burial registers purely from the recollections and physical contributions of the remaining members of the Armenian Community in Rangoon, as well as those who had settled in other places around the world. There are, of course, many gaps in the records, making it frustrating for family history researchers. Had it not been for this third attempt to record the community, it would be impossible to know who had ever lived and worked in Rangoon from the Armenian community.

 

For those interested, I have recently donated some transcriptions of the death/burial records, which form part of the re-constructed register created by Johannes Stephen, for the Armenian community of Rangoon. These have been given to FIBIS and can be found here. 

 

In addition, about 15 years ago, I donated Armenian baptism transcriptions and translations to FIBIS for the Armenian community of Calcutta for the dates 1793-1859, extracted by me from the original registers.These can be found here

 

 

27 May 2019

Sir Paul Chater: Remembered


Today is the anniversary of the death of Sir Catchick Paul Chater. A man ahead of his time, a visionary




At the time of Sir Paul’s death, it was suggested on more than one occasion that there should be some sort of memorial or statue in remembrance of his life and contribution to the development of Hong Kong. One anonymous newspaper contributor wrote:

“……By the passing of Sir Paul Chater, the colony has sustained an immeasurable loss and the memory of this, one of the most illustrious citizens of his time will forever be held in the history and future development of this Colony.  As a resident of the Colony, the late Sir Paul Chater had given his full time and money for the general welfare of the island and its inhabitants and stood a noble example of a generous benefactor, a businessman of marked ability, and last but not least, a man born with the true virtues and an Empire Patriot.   It is only fitting that as a recognition of Sir Paul’s wonderful realization of one’s duty of citizenship that a life-size statue of Sir Paul should be put up in an appropriate place.  I would suggest that as Sir Paul was actually the citizen who rendered the greatest service in the public affairs of the Colony, the cost of erection of the statue should be borne by the Government as a permanent memorial to her most noble citizen and benefactor”.

In 1927, a year after Chater died, his staunch and loyal friend Noel Croucher, himself holding a position in society of influence and authority, pushed Hong Kong’s LegCo hard to have a statue of the man erected, but even Croucher was unsuccessful in getting the Grand Old Man permanently remembered in the Statue Square. 

In February 1928, the annual report by the Kowloon Residents’ Association  stated: “a committee has been formed for the purpose of erecting a statue in memory of the late Sir Paul Chater, and they have suggested that as Kowloon has been built up largely by the foresight and keen interest of Sir Paul, it is fitting and proper that his statue be erected in Kowloon, to commemorate the fact that we owe a debt to his memory which is immeasurable.  It was also felt that the statue might form the centre around which a more dignified approach might be made to the gateway of the Kowloon Peninsular.”

Unfortunately, no further action was taken.

However, it was in 2009 that Hongkong Land, the company that Sir Paul created in 1889 in conjunction with John Bell-Irving Chairman of Jardines at the time, commissioned the first real tribute that Hong Kong had made towards him. A bust and a wall plaque were placed in Chater House in Central Hong Kong in remembrance and gratitude to his memory.  

Image courtesy of Hongkong Land


Image courtesy of Hongkong Land



In 2017, in the grounds of the school that gave Sir Paul the preparation and education he used to build the extraordinary life he had, La Martiniere is also the proud custodian of a Sir Paul Chater bust. Created and unveiled in a joint collaboration with the relatively newly formed and dynamic Indo-Armenia Friendship NGO, along with ex student of La Martiniere Girls’ School and a stalwart member of the Armenian community of Kolkata, Mrs. Sonia John.  The result of this unique team work stands tall in the grounds for all to admire. Sir Paul Chater has once again returned to his beloved La Martiniere School and will forever look over the current and all future students who go there to study for a better life.

In the grounds of La Martiniere School

Those of you who know about Sir Paul Chater will know he owned a unique and priceless collection of art, as well as Chinese and Japanese porcelain and bizenware. You may also know that he was a successful race horse owner in Hong Kong with a top class stable that many admired. His triumphs on the race course became legendary, particularly with the incredible record of Derby wins he gained.  Eleven Hong Kong Derby wins jointly with his business partner and best friend Sir Hormusjee Mody, and a further eight Hong Kong Derby winners solely in his own name.  


Image: Liz Chater's Private Archive


No other owner has been able to attain the heady heights of 19 Hong Kong Derby wins in their career.  In his trophy room in Marble Hall, his tables must have been groaning under the weight of silver they were displaying.
Image: Liz Chater


But what of that silver? After he died, he left his collection of art to the government of Hong Kong, perhaps hoping they would create a museum. Extraordinarily, in 1936 it was reported that: “…..portions of the household effects bequeathed to the Colony by the late Sir Paul Chater have in turn been bequeathed by the Hongkong Government to various charitable organisations as they are considered worthless from a collection point of view…………”

After years of being loved and admired, parts of Sir Paul Chater’s home were deemed “worthless”.
In the last 93 years, there have been no sightings of any of the silverware Sir Paul Chater once owned. That is, until now.

At a recent auction sale this beautiful silver tray, inscribed to Sir Paul Chater came on to the market. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase it. A gift from the 93rd Burma Infantry to Sir Paul in 1904.

Although it has always been thought that his art collection and silverware never made it after the Japanese invaded Hong Kong during WW2, I can safely say, at least one piece of silver did indeed make it and I am very happy to share the photograph here.

Image: Liz Chater's private archive











22 February 2018

Mrs Sonia John Reviewing Sir Catchick Paul Chater Album


I have uploaded on to Youtube a short video of Mrs. John reviewing some of my private archive, and in particular the unique one-off Sir Paul Chater photo album. Unaware I was filming her reflections,  the instantaneous reactions as she turns the pages are natural and utterly charming.

Mrs. John is the generous benefactor of the Sir Catchick Paul Chater bust that was unveiled in the grounds of La Martiniere Boys' School, Kolkata last year on the anniversary of his birth, 8th September. The project was initiated by the Indo-Armenian Friendship NGO, who oversaw all aspects of the creative stages of the bust. The school kindly hosted the well attended and lavish event. The occasion is a memory that will last for a long time.

Here is the link to the video for your interest.