St George's Church - where the Raj worshipped

Hyderabad is my favourite big Indian city; I used to rave about Calcutta, but its “shabby charm” has now turned into “dilapidated disfunctionality”. The Deccan Queen, on the other hand, is happy to parade the old family jewels, and — a bit like Queen Elizabeth joining Twitter — is happy to embrace all those new-fangled ideas, like hi-tech startups, shopping malls and metro lines.

Hyderabad - where old and new collide

The Taj Mahal Hotel, Abids is our favoured accommodation in the city. It’s an old-fashioned place that’s full of character located in the traditional commercial district of the city. There aren’t many older buildings left in this busy district, and those that do remain are often hidden behind contemporary blocks. And so it wasn’t until the end of our most recent visit that we got around to investigating the old church we had only glimpsed in passing. It was a short walk from the hotel, and is actually a part of St George’s Grammar School, founded in 1834, a decade before the church.

The school’s chowkidar (watchman) happily ushered us in through the gate and allowed us to wander around both outside and inside the church at will. Inside we were delighted to find a gentleman who was repairing the seating of the pews. I want to describe him as “dapper”, because he had that air about him, but he’s wearing a white t-shirt, which isn’t dapper at all, but he certainly rocked it. The original design of the seating would have been created in cane, and although he was obviously using a plastic version, he was sticking to the “cannage” pattern — and since we are on a fashion theme here, think Christian Dior.

Funny how a lot of history comes down to conflicts between the English and the French. The two European nations spent a couple of hundred years trying to outmuscle each other in India. The British had been a fixture in the state of Hyderabad since 1795, when the extant Nizam of Hyderabad appointed a British Resident from the East India Company as an advisor to his court. As a result the British community increased significantly in numbers, not just court officials and military but business people, too.

Nizam's donation

In 1836 the Nizam donated land on which a church could be build to serve the spiritual needs of the British community, and voluntary subscriptions for its construction were raised. It was not consecrated, rather it was licensed; this meant it was open to all protestant worshippers, and not exclusive to one congregation. It was originally named Christ Church; when and why it changed to St George’s, I don’t know, but I guess it was something to do with the school.

The walls of the church are adorned with plaques commemorating the good and the great of the British and Anglo-Indian communities of Hyderabad. A simple marble tablet celebrates Major Thompson Chamarette, Chief of Staff of the Nizam’s army, born 24 April 1868, died in 16 July 1942, and remembered as a “regular worshipper and warden of the church”. He came from one of the city’s most notable British families – his grandfather Andrew Chamarette, of Huguenot descent, had served in the Survey of India, and was posted to the Nizam’s Dominions between 1817 and 1845.

A more ornate brass plate is dedicated to Lieutenant George Brady of the Ordnance Department of Her Majesty’s Service, who died in 1885, at the age of “47 years 2 months 18 days”. One of the most elaborate, however, is the ornately carved marble panel for Henry Bowen (1812-1886), who was for 30 years private secretary to the prime minister of Hyderabad, Sir Salar Jung.

The Oateses were another well-known Hyderabad family, and a handsome shield-shaped plaque exalts Reginald Greaves Oates (1 December 1871-29 January 1947), “divisional engineer HEH The Nizam’s PWD. 38 years service…” It wasn’t all burials, of course: one of Major Chamarette’s sons married an Oates daughter, and the wedding took place in St George’s on Boxing Day 1928.

There is a small, overgrown cemetery next to St George’s church, but we couldn’t get close enough through the tangle of shrubs and roots to read any inscriptions (also a bit scared there may have been snakes in there!). There isn’t room for many graves here; once this burial ground was full, parishioners were buried in the Christian Cemetery of Narayanguda, to the east of Abids: Wikipedia tells me that the cemetery’s electricity bills are in the name of Prophet Isaiah.