1944 Letters From Afar: 'Your Ever Loving Grandson'

 

 

George Mackertich
Armenian Missionary, Julfa.
Image courtesy of Gregory Macar

 

Martin Sarkies was two years into his stay at La Martiniere School, Lucknow. He wrote regularly to his mother and grandfather back in Julfa.

 

I have highlighted in GREEN references to people/family.

 

Extract of letter written by young Martin Sarkies

 

1943 Letters From Afar: 'I Remain Your Darling Martin'

George Mackertich
Armenian Missionary, Julfa.
Image courtesy of Gregory Macar

 

George Mackertich, Armenian by birth, but a Missionary preacher with the Bible Society for over 50 years in Iran, Iraq and India. 

 

He had married and had five children, he went on to have 12 grandchildren and a further 5 great grandchildren.  His youngest child, Rosie, had married John Martyrose Sarkies in Julfa and their son, Martin Sarkies, was born in 1925. Rosie's husband John had died only a few months after the birth of their son. 

 

The following letters show what a delightful young man Martin turned into. He was sent to India for his education and these incredible notes from his time during his schooling at La Martiniere for Boys' in Calcutta and Lucknow, give a delightful glimpse of the family network and the love they had for each other.  Both boys' and girls' schools had been evacuated on the 24th March 1942 to Lucknow due to WW2. This letter was written in 1943; this and subsequent letters were written from La Martiniere, Lucknow.

I have highlighted in GREEN references to people/family.

 

 

 

Extract of the letter written by young Martin Sarkies

How the Armenian Community Prepared for the Centenary of the Armenian College & Philanthropic Academy in 1921

Image: © Liz Chater

As thoughts are beginning to turn to Kolkata’s Armenian College & Philanthropic Academy’s bicentennial celebrations in April 2021, it is interesting to see how the local Armenian community prepared for the centenary 100 years ago in 1921.

With ideas of new premises and a new location for the Armenian College, 1919 was an interesting and potentially exciting time for local Armenian merchant and businessman, Carr Lazarus Phillips. He had a dream of opening an Armenian school in the hills of India; closing the  Armenian College, and selling it off to pay for the new one. We know, of course, that didn’t happen and the school is still situated in the original location in Kolkata. Less fanciful dreams have become a reality, but I wonder how close Carr Phillips got to fulfilling his?

A letter to the Editor of the “Englishman” in November 1919 gave some useful background information:

"Sir, There are few people in Calcutta who know, or care to remember, that in the premises of the Armenian College, Calcutta was born in 1811 the great novelist William Makepeace Thackeray, and to this day a tablet testifying this event is placed by the gate of the building.

Image: © Liz Chater

The premises are, however not only on this account historic there are other associations that gather round so old and well established an institution.  Few people realise that there is fast approaching the centenary of the College, and it might be of some profit to review briefly the past.

Zatoor Mooradian*,(sic) an Armenian merchant, born at Julfa, Ispahan, came to India settling down to business in Calcutta. He met with success and when he came to adjust his final accounts, in for love of Armenia and her sons he left by his will the sum of Rs 8,000 with which to found an Armenian educational establishment. That was in the year 1797. He died in 1799. 

Image: © Liz Chater

Things moved very slowly in those days and in 1821 i.e. 22 years after his death the school was still unbuilt, when another Armenian merchant of Saidabad, residing in Calcutta and also a native of Julfa, Ispahan, remembered that the amount of Rs 8,000 already bequeathed was lying idle.

Image: © Liz Chater

The name of that worthy gentleman was Munazakan Vardan** (sic). In that same year 1821, he gathered together a few friends and compatriots and that meeting was one of the most important in its far reaching effects ever held in the history of our community in India. He explained the crying need there was for an institution where Armenian boys could be educated in Armenian and English.

Munazakan Vardan (sic) appealed for further co-operation, and we have it on record that the little band of patriots, subscribed the sum of Rs 50,000 on the spot, Munzakan Vardan(sic) himself heading the list with Rs 3,000. Among the list of donors, which is still preserved, maybe found the name of Bishop Heber that saintly personage that ruled over the ecclesiastical affairs of Bengal in the years gone by.

The institution this day possesses in invested funds a sum of over 6 lakhs of rupees this money having been subscribed by our own people.  The college has at present on its roll over 150 pupils. Since its foundation the institution has had a very chequered career. The desire of its founders was that it should be a seminary for the learning of Armenian, together with instruction in other languages. For a while, in common with other European schools in Bengal the institution adopted the old Entrance course of the Calcutta University, which is equivalent to the modern matriculation standard. In the early[18] ‘80s, during the Principalship of Mr. Herbert A. Stark B.A. (now a distinguished officer in the Government Educational Service) it was raised to the status of a College, and from it appeared pupils for the then First Arts Examination of the Calcutta University. Later on owing to the wants of funds for the maintenance of a good college staff, the college abandoned the University course, and reverted to the Entrance Examination, but from that time henceforward the institution was commonly known as the Armenian College. Formerly it was known as the Armenian Philanthropic Academy.

Image: © Liz Chater

It may not be out of place to state here that although the present state of the Armenian College is far from bright, it will soon be restored to its pristine glory by Mr. C.L. Phillips, who in conjunction with Messrs. Stephen and Galstaun and other rich Armenians, has drawn out an elaborate scheme for its amelioration. It has been the dream of Mr. Phillips’s life to build an up-to-date college with a number of hostels attached to it at one of the hill stations wherein the youths of the Armenian community as well as those of the Anglo-Indians in India may receive a thorough up-to-date collegiate education in science, literature and arts. His contribution alone towards this great scheme will be Rs 20 lakhs and as has been said, he has other affluent Armenians to support him in his great project.  It is intended to endow the college as well with Rs 50 lakhs and it must appeal to all as a scheme well planned and thought out by the genius of Mr. Phillips.

The present premises of the college in Free School Street will of course be disposed of and the sale proceeds along with its present endowed funds will amount to over 10 lakhs which will be solely utilized for building the college and the several hostels that will be attached to the Institution besides fittingly furnishing them.  I am sure all those interested in the welfare of this old and historic institution will be glad to see the fruition of a great scheme destined to come about in the near future.

Then there will be in India an Armenian College worthy of the name, and worthy of the Armenians who have for centuries past kept burning the torch of civilization in Asia."

However, delving a little further, it can be found that as early as 1892 there were plans afoot for the Armenian Bishop of Calcutta to have a summer palace in Darjeeling. A welcome refuge from the sweltering summer heat of the city. The land had been donated by the generous owner of the Windsor Tea Estate. The palace required the remaining Armenian community of Calcutta to supply the outstanding funds, not something they were keen on, and the project never got off the ground.

Newspapers continue to reveal further developments

28 October 1920

Armenian College Centenary

Revision of Educational Programme

History of the Institution

In connection with the Centenary Anniversary of the founding of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, Calcutta, which will occur on April 2, 1921, Messrs M. Mackertich and A.M. Arathoon manager of the college, have addressed a circular letter to the old boys of the college and to the Armenian community in general. We represent the more important paragraphs, and suggest that application be made to the Principal for copies of the letter.

Messrs. Mackertich and Arathoon urge that the commemoration of so great and significant an event should be not merely “external and transient, but also internal and permanent.” They add that “the development of our loved Fatherland on the lines of a progressive and enlightened Republic, must necessarily lay an increased demand upon the educational resources and national assets of the College; and as the years immediately before us will be years of national reconstruction, the scope and character of the Armenian College must continually be enlarged to enable it to keep pace with the march of events in Armenia herself.” They then refer to the necessity for the accommodation of a much larger number of pupils to whom must be given a higher and more diversified education than has hitherto been within its financial possibilities.

It is proposed also to have a review of the past in the form of a centenary Report, which will recount the history of the Academy, during its hundred years, and which will be a record of the valuable work which it has been done for the intellectual, social, spiritual and national life of the Armenian community. The intention is to compile a list of Old Boys, and to print the portraits of those who have distinguished themselves. They therefore ask old pupils by the 15^th of next December to send them particulars regarding themselves and others.

Messrs. Mackertich and Arathoon also appear for funds. Donations should be paid into the Bank of Bengal, Park Street Branch, Calcutta, to the credit of the Centenary Celebration Fund of the College, or to any of the members of the College, or to either of the managers.

Mr. Herbert A. Stark, B.A., M.R.A.S., one of the best known and most experienced educationists in Bengal, who has been appointed Principal of the College has proposed a scheme of studies and a policy for that institution. Briefly it is this:

1.    For all pupils there should be a sound and liberal all-round education with an industrial and commercial bias.

2.    At the age of eleven or twelve, talented boys should be placed as boarders in the best European schools, at the expense of the Armenian College, with a view to their ultimately proceeding to a local Professional College or to the Arts Degrees of the Calcutta University.

3.    Those of them who should themselves to be specially brilliant, should be sent to England at the age of seventeen or eighteen years on scholarships provided by the College, there to take their Degrees at a British University, or to enter one or another of the learned professions – law, engineering, medicine etc. Possibly some of them may eventually take Holy Orders in the Armenian Church. In any case, some may be induced to take the Oxford or Cambridge Diploma in Teaching, and join the staff of the Armenian College. Thus may we work for the time when our national institution will be manned solely by thoroughly able and proficient members of our own community.

4.    The bulk of the pupils of the school at the close of their general studies, should be apprenticed for three years or so, during the busy season, for instruction in tea, jute, shellac, mining, hides, trains etc. In the slack season they should return to College for specialised studies correlated to the industry they are learning.

Thus, for example, during the tea season the group learning tea would be on a tea garden. During the slack season they would come back to College - subject to a good report on their application, progress and character from the Manager of the garden – and be taught those theoretical subjects which are of importance to the tea planter e.g., scientific agriculture, manuring, draining, insect pests, blight, the tea markets of the world, etc., the groups learning other industries would be similarly death with. 

Finally, the programme for celebration was revealed for the Armenian College centenary on 3 February 1921

Arrangements for the celebration of the Centenary Anniversary of the Armenian College, which falls on the 2^nd April, are well in hand, and include the following items:

On March 28^th there will be an evening garden fete at Galstaun Park. It will be open to the public. It will provide the usual attractions, and also al fresco teas and dancing on the lawns.

On April 2^nd there will be a breakfast for the present scholars of the college and a banquet for old boys. During the day there will be athletic sports on the college playing fields.

Sunday, April 3^rd, will be observed by Divine Service at the Holy Church of Nazareth, when special prayers will be said for the Founders of the College and its deceased benefactors. In the afternoon there will be a solemn procession of priests, choir, pupils, old boys, friends, the managing committee, the Members of the College, and visitors.

The celebrations will terminate on April 5^th with a grand Centenary Fancy Dress Ball (evening dress optional).

The following are the Office Bearers to the Celebration Committee: President, Mr. J.C. Galstaun, O.B.E., Vice-President, Mr. M. Mackertich; Treasurer, Mr. A. Stephen; Secretary, Mr. H. A. Stark, M.L.C., the Principal of the College. Old Boys desirous of attending the Old Boys’ Dinner are invited to communicate with the Secretary.

The bicentennial celebrations may not have a garden fete at Galstaun Park, nor perhaps a fancy dress ball, but it will surely still be an occasion to remember, celebrate and toast to the next 200 years of Armenian education in Kolkata. I know there are many people who are looking forward to the upcoming events in 2021.

Image: © Liz Chater

* He was more commonly known as Chater Moratcan, a renowned Calcutta Jeweller of distinction. His fortune went to this family, causing the inevitable squabbling and in-fighting. I'll write another blog piece on this in due course.

** Although Manatsakan Vardon raised over Rs 3,000 in aid of the formation of the Armenian College in Calcutta, unlike several other community members, he left no further contributions in favour of the Armenian College in his will.

© Liz Chater 2020

The Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, Calcutta 1821 to Present Day.

This story is brought to you with the support of the
AGBU UK Trust.

In tribute and celebration of the 195th anniversary of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in Kolkata. Remembering the first Headmaster, Arratoon Kaloos and a selection of others associated with the school.

The list of Founders of the school.

  

A great deal has already been written about Arratoon Kaloos and it is not my intention to repeat it all here.  Suffice to say he was born in 1777 in Tokat in Anatolia, he started the first Armenian school in Calcutta in 1798[1]. (Mesrovb Seth’s “Armenians in India” can be downloaded here https://archive.org/details/ArmeniansInIndia_201402)

Arratoon was passionate about education and he was one of several Armenians in Calcutta who came together to create the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy.  More on the history of the ACPA can be read on their website. http://www.armeniancollege.edu.in/about-us/.

What is perhaps much less known about him is that he was one of the earliest financial contributors to the Armenian Church in Singapore. The Will[2] along with the Estate Accounts of Arratoon Kaloos clearly show that he was a named subscriber to the building and subsequent completion of the church.

The first paragraph of Aratoon Kaloos's Will.

Extract from the estate accounts of Arratoon Kaloos dated 1834[3]

The extract shows evidence of his financial support
to the building of the Armenian Church in Singapore

"11 April 1834 to cash paid to Mr. P Jordon the deceased's subscription to the completion of the Armenian Church at Sineapore (sic)."

This is the first time I have seen written in any estate accounts evidence of the support Calcutta Armenians, and in particular a named individual, gave to the community in Singapore for the erection of their own church. Normally a generalisation is made in reference material that the Armenian communities in Calcutta, Java and Singapore raised the necessary funds.

Arratoon Kaloos had been the head master of the Armenian College during the first years of its inception and it can be seen from his will and supporting accounts that he was a generous man of heart and mind. As well as supporting the school and the church, he and his wife adopted a child and brought him up as if he was his own. Ever grateful to Arratoon Kaloos for his kindness in offering him a home, the child Arratoon John Agacy, went on to marry and have children one of whom he named Kaloos in his honour.

A simply family tree chart

In his Will dated 9th February 1832, Arratoon Kaloos left a legacy specifically to the Armenian College. “To the Managers, for the time being, of the Armenian Philanthropic Academy in Calcutta, in trust, to be applied for and towards the maintenance and education of the indigent Pupils of the said Academy the sum of two thousand Sicca Rupees. Rs2000.0.0.”

The estate accounts indicate a small amount of interest had been made on the original legacy.

Another founding member of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in 1821 was Aviet Agabeg. Rarely remembered these days as one of several who changed the life path of so many, his obituary reflected his loss as well as his achievements.  Unlike others such as Arratoon Kaloos, Aviet Agabeg[4] did not leave any legacies in his will to the Armenian College, preferring to ensure his wife and children inherited his estate. During his lifetime Aviet was a staunch backer and supporter.

Aviet Agabeg's Obituary, written by an un-named ex student
of the Armenian College and Philanthrophic Academy

It should be remembered that Sir Paul Chater (or simply Paul Chater as he was then) took the bold step to bring six Armenian College students over from Calcutta to Hong Kong in 1899. Knowing that he could make a difference to peoples’ lives, he gave them commercial opportunities that would otherwise not have been available to them. Although Sir Paul never attended the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in Calcutta (his preferred school was La Martiniere in Calcutta), by investing personally and professionally in the future of six young students he demonstrated that he did indeed have very fond memories of the Armenian community in Calcutta where he once roamed as a bare foot orphan boy himself.

Chater suggested they give up their studies earlier than planned and take advantage of an offer he was making to them to emigrate with him to Hong Kong and fill jobs he had obtained and held for them at the Post Office in Hong Kong[5].

The students in question were:

Mr. G.M. Gregory (not to be confused with Rev. G. Gregory)
Mr. Tigran Matthews Gregory 

Mr. Stephen M. Joseph
Mr. Nazareth Malcolm Manuk
Mr. Mackertich Cyril Owen
and 1 other with a nickname "Goblin"

The Apcar ship 'Lightning'. Courtesy of John Schlesinger

They all arrived in Hong Kong in late 1899.  A coincidence in this small story is that they took the ship "Lightning", which was the same ship Chater sailed on in 1864 when he left Calcutta for Hong Kong.  Chater, an Indian Armenian pioneer in 1864 facilitated more Indian Armenian pioneers 35 years later.  The ship belonged to the Calcutta based Armenian company Apcar & Co, and thus the promise of a new life and prospective fortune was instigated and carried out by Chater and Apcar. Both, who were influential in their own right in the Far East, having paved the way for further Armenian settlers to seek their fortune in the Fragrant Harbour and also keeping it nicely within the Armenians of Calcutta community.

The students all took up their positions obtained for them by Chater in the Post Office in Hong Kong.  Five of them are listed in official papers of the colony[6].  They were all earning $40.00 per month with a $4 sorting allowance.  None of them stayed long in the Post Office, all of them ultimately making a good living, particularly Tigran Matthews Gregory.  Tigran started his own company T.M. Gregory & Co of which he was sole proprietor and he was also a well connected and established diamond merchant in Hong Kong during his lifetime.  Without that first leg up from Paul Chater, Tigran Matthews Gregory would not have been in a position to donate to the Armenian Church in Calcutta so generously upon his death, Tigran died in Hong Kong in 1962 and is buried in the same cemetery as Sir Paul Chater.  Thus, the Armenian Church in Calcutta acquired further generous donations which, ordinarily it would not have received but for Sir Paul.  

Nazareth Malcolm Manuk joined the Post Office briefly in 1899 but quickly obtained a position with the Chartered Bank of India.  After about 18 months he then joined The Dairy Farm, a company that Paul Chater had helped to start. Within a year of joining in 1905 Malcolm (who dropped his Christian name of Nazareth to fit more easily into the British establishment), was promoted to Secretary of the Company a position which showed that he was held in the highest esteem for his business abilities.  Malcolm dedicated 27 years of his life at the Dairy Farm Company and its rapid progress was in no small measure because of his responsibilities.  During WW1 he served in the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps in what was known as the Right Section Machine Gun Company.  He was well liked and thoroughly efficient.  He was also an extremely good marksman and won many shooting trophies.

Malcolm took a keen interest in theosophy and was the Presidential Agent of China of the Theosophical Society in Hong Kong where he often gave lectures.
 

The six men had a long and close friendship for the rest of their lives and in particular Malcolm Manuk and Tigran Matthews who later became his brother in law because Mrs. Gregory was Mr. Manuk’s sister Ripsey.  Malcolm Manuk died in Hong Kong in 1932[7].

After three years at the Post Office, Stephen M. Joseph felt confident enough in himself and his abilities to try his luck in Shanghai, but perhaps youthful exuberance, or slight immaturity held him back and he wasn't as successful there as he would have liked.  However, undaunted and unbowed, he left for Japan with one of the original six friends, and he secured a job with an American firm.  S.M. Joseph lived in Japan for 23 years and became extremely successful.  However, his brother, Abraham Joseph had a Shellac business in Jhalda and asked Stephen to join him.  He left Japan for India with approximately a lakh of Rupees in his pocket but tragically just prior to his leaving, he learnt of his brother's death by drowning which happened in 1927.  Shortly after this the big depression in trade set in and in 1930 all his savings where lost.  Stephen Joseph was now in serious financial difficulties and facing great hardship.  He received a letter from one of the original six friends that he had travelled to Hong Kong with from Calcutta, and who had heard of his hard times, the letter contained a job offer with a firm in Bangkok.  He immediately took the offer up and left for Bangkok to start his life all over again at the age of 60.  He became a successful businessman there.

Mackertich Cyril Owen, (known as Mack Owen) after his time at the Post Office, took a position as an assistant with the well known firm of A.H. Rennie & Co., Mack married in March 1909 at St. John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong to Phyllis Seth the daughter of the Court Registrar of Hong Kong, Arathoon Seth and his wife Catharine.  Arrathoon’s family was originally from Madras.

Other Armenians from India who settled and worked there during the lifetime of Paul Chater were Owen Elias Owen, Enos Seth, Harold Arathoon Seth, John Hennesey Seth, Seth Arathoon Seth and Aratoon Vertannes Apcar[8], to name but a few.

That friendship of six Armenian College students was solely due to Sir Paul Chater bringing them together, spotting their potential and giving them the chance of a lifetime to make something of themselves.  They in turn held each other in the highest regard all through their lives; that bond of friendship forged on the decks of the "Lightning" on that long journey between Calcutta and Hong Kong was etched in their minds for life.

Over the last 195 years the Armenian College has turned out numerous students who have made a difference in the world one way or another. With some patience and persistence one can find references to students and ex students in newspapers, journals, periodicals, institutions, repositories and libraries.

Congratulations Armenian College & Philanthropic Academy on your 195th anniversary, may you have many more years of education and celebration in front of you.

From little acorns, mighty oak trees do grow.

---

[1] Armenians in India by Mesrovb Seth. P.481

[2] British Library: L/AG/34/29/53

[3] British Library: L/AG/34/27/106/333.  See also L/AG/34/27/109/2, L/AG/34/27/169/81, L/AG/34/27/170/69.

[4] Oriental Observer (Calcutta, India), Sunday, November 18, 1832; pg. 520; Issue 47. Empire.

[5] Armenian College Old Boys’ Union Souvenir 1909-1959

^[6] Hong Kong Government papers. Correspondence Respecting Increase of Salaries of Subordinate Officers in the Civil Service of the Colony. October 1900

[7] The China Mail 7 April 1932

[8] Hong Kong Government Gazettes