Fort St. David

Fort St David
Cuddalore, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu, India
Ruins of Fort St David
Site information
Type	Coastal fort
Controlled by	Government of Tamil Nadu
Condition	Ruins
Location
Location within Tamil Nadu
Fort St David Location within Tamil Nadu
Coordinates	11°44′25″N 79°46′52″E
Site history
Built	Before 1690; acquired and subsequently fortified by the East India Company
Built by	Chinna Chetti (earlier fort); East India Company (later fortifications)
In use	c. 1690–1785
Materials	Earthworks, brick and masonry
Demolished	Fortifications largely razed by the French in 1758
Battles/wars	French attacks on Fort St David (1746–1747) French capture of Fort St David (1758) Siege of Cuddalore (1783)
Events	Acquired by the East India Company in 1690 Seat of the Government of Madras, 1746–1752 Captured and largely demolished by French forces, 1758 Retaken by the British, 1760 French occupation, 1782–1785 Final British possession, 1785
Garrison information
Past commanders	Charles Floyer (Governor, 1747–1750) Robert Clive (Deputy Governor, 1756)
Garrison	619 Europeans and 1,600 sepoys during the siege of 1758
Occupants	East India Company

Fort St David is a ruined former East India Company fort at Cuddalore, on the Coromandel Coast of Tamil Nadu, India. Established on the site of an earlier fortified trading post and acquired by the Company in 1690, it developed into one of the principal English strongholds on the south-eastern coast. After the French capture of Fort St George in 1746, Fort St David served as the seat of the Government of Madras until 1752.

The fort was repeatedly contested during the Carnatic Wars because of its proximity to French-controlled Pondicherry. It was captured by French forces under Thomas Arthur de Lally in 1758, after which its fortifications were largely demolished. The fort was named after Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, a reference to the Welsh origins of Elihu Yale, Governor of Madras at the time of the Company's acquisition of the site.

History

Plan of Fort St David in 1758

Early settlement and fortification

The site of Fort St David lay at Devanampattinam, near the mouth of the Gadilam River, on the Coromandel Coast. During the early seventeenth century the area formed part of the territories of the Nayaks of Gingee. Its position close to the coast and to the textile-producing settlements of the Cuddalore region attracted several European trading companies.

In 1608, the Dutch East India Company obtained permission from Krishnappa Nayaka of Gingee to establish a fortified trading post at Devanampattinam. Construction was begun, but the project was subsequently abandoned after Portuguese opposition to the establishment of a Dutch base in the area. Trade nevertheless continued through the port, which handled commodities including sandalwood, camphor, spices, textiles, porcelain and metals.

A fortified establishment was subsequently constructed by the local merchant Chinna Chetti. A later account recorded that, before the English occupation, a wealthy local merchant had established warehouses at the site and protected them with earthworks and cannon against raids.

East India Company acquisition

Following the Maratha occupation of Gingee, the fort came under the authority of Rajaram I, son of Shivaji. In 1690, while the Marathas were under pressure from the Mughal armies besieging Gingee, the property was offered to competing European interests. The East India Company acquired the fort during the governorship of Elihu Yale at Madras, after negotiations in which English, Dutch and French interests had competed for control of the site.

The Company's acquisition included not only the existing fortification but also adjoining territory. According to contemporary tradition, the extent of the grant was determined by firing cannon from the fort in several directions, with the surrounding land reached by the shot being included in the Company's possession. The settlements incorporated in this manner became known locally as the "cannonball villages".

Expansion under the British

Fort St David became an increasingly important Company establishment during the first half of the eighteenth century. James Macrae, who was associated with the settlement before becoming Governor of the Madras Presidency in 1725, was among its early administrators. From about 1725 the Company's defences at the site were substantially enlarged and strengthened.

The fort remained comparatively small internally but developed an extensive defensive system. By the middle of the eighteenth century it was rectangular in plan with four principal bastions. Its defences included a northern hornwork, two large ravelins, a wet ditch, brick scarp and counterscarp, a covered way and a glacis. By 1758 the four corner bastions each mounted twelve guns, while the hornwork mounted a further thirty-four.

The adjoining Company establishment also included a factory house. This had originally been acquired as a residence for the Deputy Governor in 1707 and was subsequently enlarged to accommodate warehouses, commercial stores and apartments for members of the Company's council.

Carnatic Wars

Fort St David assumed exceptional strategic importance during the Carnatic Wars, when the British and French East India companies competed for influence on the Coromandel Coast. Its proximity to the principal French settlement at Pondicherry made it a recurrent military objective.

Following the French capture of Fort St George and Madras in 1746, Fort St David became the principal English stronghold on the Coromandel Coast. It served as the seat of the Government of Madras from 1746 until 1752. A French expedition organised from Pondicherry attacked the position in 1746. The defenders then numbered about 200 Europeans and 100 Topasses, but the approach of a large force belonging to the Nawab of Arcot caused the French force to withdraw. Another French attempt in 1747 was also unsuccessful after the appearance of an English squadron offshore.

Charles Floyer became Governor of Fort St David in 1747, during the period in which it functioned as the chief English settlement after the loss of Madras. Robert Clive, who had earlier served at the settlement, was appointed Deputy Governor in 1756. Contemporary Company records continued to list him in that position while he was commanding British forces in Bengal.

French capture and destruction

Fort St David, c. 1763, by Francis Swaine

A major French offensive against Fort St David began in April 1758. Thomas Arthur de Lally, newly arrived at Pondicherry, initially sent approximately 1,000 European troops and a similar number of sepoys under the Comte d'Estaing, before joining the operation with additional forces.

At the time of the siege the garrison comprised 619 Europeans, including 286 effective troops, 83 pensioners and 250 sailors from two British vessels that had been run ashore, together with approximately 1,600 sepoys. The two Royal Navy vessels were the 24-gun sixth-rates HMS Bridgewater and HMS Tryton, which were run aground and destroyed to prevent their capture.

French batteries and trenches were gradually advanced towards the fort during May. By 1 June their siege works had reached the foot of the glacis, while sustained bombardment had disabled or forced the withdrawal of several British guns. Concluding that the defences could not withstand a general assault, the garrison negotiated terms with Lally. French grenadiers entered the fort and the defenders surrendered on 2 June 1758.

Following the capture, orders were issued to dismantle the fortifications. Much of the masonry was blown up with gunpowder and material from the ruined works was subsequently removed for other construction. The destruction was sufficiently extensive that Fort St David was never restored to its former role as a major fortress.

Later history

British forces under Eyre Coote regained control of the Cuddalore area in 1760 after the decline of French military power on the Coromandel Coast. Although the wider settlement continued to be of military and administrative importance, the demolished fort was not reconstructed on its former scale.

The surviving East India Company factory buildings continued to be used after the military importance of the fort had declined. The factory house served at different periods as the residence of the Commercial Resident and District Collector, as a customs office, district court, auxiliary court, jail and civil and sessions court. The courts were removed to Manjakuppam in 1866, after which the building served as the district jail until 1885. It was rented to Parry & Co. that year and sold to the company in 1886.

By the nineteenth century the principal fortifications had already been reduced to ruins. Contemporary descriptions referred to surviving earthen mounds, fragments of masonry, casemates and subterranean chambers as the remaining traces of what had once been one of the principal British strongholds on the Coromandel Coast.

Monuments and memorials

Several historic burial grounds serving the European community associated with Fort St David developed in Cuddalore Old Town, including the cemeteries at Erusappa Chetty Street, Vannarpalayam, Sloper Street, Christ Church and the Church of England Cemetery. These are treated separately from the fort itself in the historical inscriptional record.

Recorded monument within the site of Fort St David

Monument	Date	Erected by	Commemorates	Details
Nettle memorial	3 February 1862	H. E. Busteed	Nettle, Busteed's dog	Cotton and Baliga recorded a small monument within the site of Fort St David erected by H. E. Busteed, who had been stationed at Cuddalore. Its Latin inscription commemorated his dog Nettle, which had been killed by a snake during the night. The catalogue noted that the monument remained among the foundations and broken masonry of the ruined fort.

References

Bibliography

• Clowes, W. L. (1898). The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to the Present. Vol. 3. Sampson, Low, Marston & Co. OCLC 421848674.
• Cuthbertson, David Cuningham (1945). Autumn in Kyle and the Charm of Cunninghame. London : Jenkins.