The Removal to Chundiculi,
(1841)

The Rev. Robert Pargiter,

(1846 - 66)


It was no doubt in large measure the success of the boys' English Seminary that prompted the Church Missionary Society to form the plan of starting a boardinig school forgirls also. Thebungalow at Nallur was decided to be the best place for this new venture, and it therefore became necessary that the boys' school should find a new home. So it came to pass that in 1841 the English Seminary was transferred to Cbundiculi. No buildings were at first put up for this purpose, but the School was carried on in rented premises. Classes were also held under the tamarind tree, which still exists by the side of the hall. The School was now called "The Chundiculi Seminary," and the Rev. J. T. Johnstone, who had just then arrived to start work in the district of Chundiculi, was also appointed Principal of the Seminary, with Mr. John Hensman as Head-master.

The same year the old Portuguese Church of St.John the baptist at Chundiculi, with its congregation of ninety, was handed, over to the Church Missionary Society. Services were held in this Church by Mr. Johnstoiie, and the boys of the Seminary also
attended them.

In 1846 Mr. Johnstone was compelled to go to England on furlough owing to ill health, and the management of the School was handed over to the Rev. Robert Pargiter, who bad come out to Ceylon as a Wesleyan missionary,,
but had been admitted into the Anglican Church as Deacon in 1846. Mr. Johnstone returned to his district after a short stay in England, and on his return he gave an account of his ministry to the society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, as follows : "Being on my return to Ceylon shortly after a temporary sojourn in England for health, 1 take the opportunity of making a humble request to the venerable Society on behalf of my Church in Jaffna. We have a regular English Service at which a considerable portion of the inhabitants of Jaffna attend, and which is the only one connected with our Church which is held in the evening. It is consequently both an important and an interesting Service. Through the kindness and liberality of the Government considerable repairs have been done to the Church, which is an old Portuguese building; but we are still wanting a Bible and a Prayer-book for the Service. My request of the Society is for a grant of the Bible and the Prayer-book (quarto size) for the use of the Church of St. John's at Chundiculi, Jaffna. The attendance at the evening Service at St. John's which was commenced by me four years back, is such as strikingly manifests the attachment not only of the Europeans but of the Dutch and Portugusese descendants to the truly Scriptural forms of our beloved Church. 1 have yet also to prefer another request. 1 have connected with my station, a very large and increasing number of young natives, who are well instructed in English, and professors Of Christianity; but though regular attendants at the Service of the Church, 1 am wholly unable to supply them with copies of the Liturgy. May I therefore beg a grant or as many small Prayer-books as the Society may consider proper? Most of these cases require a gratuitous distribution, as the young people have little or no resources of their own; but a present of our Prayerbook is, next to the Word of God ' the most valued and acceptable that can be made." Mr Johnstone's requests were granted and he was able to distribute Prayer-books to his students.

Mr. Johnstone continued to work in the district after his furlough till 1849, when through the illness of Mrs. Johnstone he had to return to England, where later he became Rector of Beccles, Suffolk.

The Rev. Robert Pargiter was, both in the metaphorical and literal sense, the builder of the Seminary. When he took charge in 1846, he transferred the School from the rented buildings and the few temporary sheds Mr. Johnstone had put up, to a large hall adjoining the East end of the old Church. In 1859 the old Church was taken down and the present edifice put up by the Government. At the same time, a new school building on the present site was erected by Mr. Pargiter, and opened in 1861. Part of the ground was granted by Government, and for the remainder the Seminary was indebted to the. late P. A. Dyke Esq,, then the Government Agent, and one who took a deep interest in all Church work. It was during Mr. Pargiter's time also, in 1851, that the Seminary was divided into six classes ; the sixth class was the lowest one ' - and the first class was the one preparing for the Matriculation examination of the Madras University, to which the School was affiliated. Reading, Writing, Composition, History, Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, Trigonometry, Latin a,'ld Tamil formed the programme of instruction, and the pupils paid fees from one shilling to eight shillngs a quarter.

Mr. Pargiter had a valuable assistant in Mr. John Philips, who was Head-master of the Seminary from 1848 to 1853. Mr. Philips was a pupil in the Nallur seminary just before its removal to Chundiculi, when he joined the Cotta institution for a further period of study, coming back to the Chundiculi Seminary in 1848 as Head-master. He was a man full of vigour ; but unfortunately, in 1853, owing to a misunderstanding between him and the Rev. James O'Neil, who was then the Superintending Missionary at Nallur, he resigned his post and went to Kandy as Superintendent of a coffee estate. Of Mr. Philips' life we find the following account in the issue of "The Morning Star:" "His home, wherever he lived, was a model of a well-ordercd Christian household, where every duty had its appointed place. He was a consistent Christian throughout his life, and did a good deal of practical Christian work wherever he happened to be employed. He was to the last a constant reader and thinker, and accepted no opinions merely because he found them in print. His conversation was therefore original and interesting, though it was always on serious subjects, for. he was never given to scandal mongering or idle gossip. He was slow to promise but absolutely faithful in performance. Few of those who came in contact with him could have failed to be struck with his unique personality."

In 1853 Mr. Robert Wi'liams, an Old Boy of the Seminary and of the Cotta Institution, and one who had been employed in the Mission since 1849, was appointed Head-master in succession to Mr. John Philips. He continued in that position till his death in 1866, and "the general workiig of the School was more or less under the immediate eye of the Head-master."

A Governrnerit grant-in-aid was received until 1862, when, by the introduction of new rules which the Church Missionary Society felt to be incompatible with it, principles, restrictions were placed upon scriptural instruction, and the grant was consequently relinquished. From that tinic for nearly tcn years the School was maintained by fees, additional grant from the Society, and private support. The School work was in no way affected. The Principal, in order to satisfy the parents of his pupils, asked the Government Inspector, the Rev. J. Marsh, who was once the Principal of the Cotta Institution. to inspect the School. Reports of the Inspector were always favourable and pointed to the fact that in spite of the withdrawal of the Government grant the School was maintained on the proper lines, and good work was being done. In 1863 the School presented for the first time, students for a public examination, namely, the Matriculation examination of the Madras University. Amongst those who took up the examination we find the names of Mr, Jeremiah Evarts, who later became the Head-master of the School; of Mr. Arumugam, who was for some tinie the Secretary of the Jaffna Kachcheri; and of Mr. Annamalai, who became a Government Surveyor in the Straits Settlements.

Besides the Head-master, amongst those wlo were of very great assistance to the Principal in, maintaining the standard Of education in the School during this Period, we read of Cleveland, who was in charge of the Lower School, 'a stalwart man with a stern look, a good disciplinarian, rather partial to the betel leaf like many a Government officer of his time ;' of Mr. Joseph Canagasabai, a shrewd man, rather erratic in his ways, clever at finding short methods to solve intricacies in Grammar and Arithmetic and in unlocking the springs of knowledge in dull-headed boys'; and of Mr. Beadle Suppiramaniam, an excellent teacher, of temper, and often venting his energy on the unfortunate palms of delinquents'.

We may perhaps mention here the names of three pupils who were in the Seminary in the early sixties and who to-day, at the Centenary, rank as three of the oldest Old Boys- Mr. Martin Luther, who afterwards joined the Staff and served the School for a period of no less than forty years, Mr. J, M. Hensman,
B.A., who held a very high position as an educationalist in S. India, and retired as the Principal of the Kumbaconam College, securing a Fellowship at the Madras University (later, for many years he was a Vice-President of the College 0. B. A,) and Mr. V. Casipillai, who was one of the only two who passed the Madras Matriculation in 1867 from Jaffna, the other candidate also being from this School. Mr. Casipillai joined the legal profession), was a leading lawyer for many years, and later became Crown Proctor. He was also interested in educational work, being at one time the Vice-President and Chairman of the Board of Management of the Jaffna Hindu College.

Thus we see how during Mr. Pargiter's long regime the School became established or, a strong basis. It had won the confidence of the whole public, Christian and non-Christian alike. One day a Brahmin brought his son to be admitted. The Principal said to him : "We teach the Bible and 1 shall make a Christian of him if 1 can." The Brahmin replied "I know it, the Bible precepts are good for a son to learn, and as to his becoming a christian, the christian religion is good, it is better than Hinduisim. If he wishes to become a christian, he may, but I would rather he did not, at least, before I die".

In 1866 there was a fearful visitation of Cholera in the Peninsula, and one of the first victims was Mr Robert Williams the Head-master. By his death in October of that year the school suffered a very heavy loss. The Rev. George Champion who was one of the tamil pastors of that time, writing of Mr Williams, says: "His ability to conduct such a School, his lively interest in the work, and self-denial in the cause of his Saviour are well-known. He was a good soldier in the army of Christ. His aim was always to glorify Him. His proachings, teachings, conversations with the boys both in the School and out of it, were remarkable for their faithfulness, clearness and sincerity."

The same year the Principal retired from his school work. For the following twenty years he was an Association Secretary of the C.M.S., and then for next twenty years vicar of a country parish near Oxford from which he retired in 1906. He died in 1914 , in his ninety ninth year. All through his life St John's College found 'a constant place in his thought and prayer'. One of his pupils, Mr F.R. Bartolomeusz, says of him: "His firmness in matters of routine, and the strict discipline he exercised, form the characteristic features of his administration; and as youngsters we dreaded being reported to him, although by nature he was known to be kind hearted, thus combining "Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re". His sermons drew generally a large congregation and they were soul-stirring ones, delivered with pathos and earnestness".

At this juncture, owing to the out break of cholera, work in all the schools had to be suspended. In the case of the Seminary it was only for a short time, and the work was re-started early in 1867.