Sometimes I think the Corporation of Chennai exists solely for my amusement and the long life of this column. I wonder what Eric Conran-Smith, after whom this lane and its adjoining road are named, would have thought of it. It is also rather ironic that our civic body should have done this, for Conran-Smith was its Commissioner, and what’s more, a statue of his is in the foyer of Ripon Buildings. A survey of the signboards in Gopalapuram, where I found this gem, revealed another variant – ‘Conron’ Smith. Civic memory is clearly short.
A copy of Who’s Who in Madras 1935 , gifted to me by the family of T.K. Singaram, one of my many gurus in heritage, revealed some details about E.C. Smith. Born on December 3, 1890, he was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Having passed the Indian Civil Services exam in 1915, he served as Sub-Collector and Magistrate before becoming Private Secretary to the Governor of Madras, during the tenures of Lords Willingdon and Goschen. He was Commissioner, Corporation of Madras, from 1928 to 1931, and the statue at Ripon Buildings was put up for his ‘valuable services’ during his tenure there. Awarded the CIE, he became Secretary, Department of Local Self-Government, Madras, a post he held when my copy of Who’s Who was published.
One of the probable ‘valuable services’ rendered was the expansion of the Corporation’s education department. To encourage more students to join, Conran-Smith came up with the idea of a Corporation Education Exhibition in 1931. Held between January 13 and 19 that year, it featured events and competitions for students of Corporation schools. The Mayor, P.T. Kumaraswami Chetty, and the then Chairman of the Corporation’s Standing Committee for Education, K. Venkataswami Naidu (later Mayor in 1938), were enthusiastic supporters of the idea, and everyone from the Governor downwards attended the event. Conran-Smith also extended the Scout Movement to Corporation Schools. Both Conran-Smith and his wife Gladys, whom he married in 1922, were enthusiastic gardeners and active members of the Agri-Horticultural Society, Madras.
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By 1940, he had moved to Delhi, by which time he had also effected a change in his name — his second Christian name had been hyphenated with his surname, and he became E. Conran-Smith. His first posting in the capital was that of officiating Home Secretary. In 1945, he became Secretary of the War Transport Department. Knighted a year later, of the order of the Knight Commander of the Indian Empire, he became a member of the Viceroy’s Caretaker Council, being Member for War Transport, Railways, Posts and Air. It was in that capacity that he dealt masterfully with a strike of the Post and Telegraph employees in 1946. A confidante of the viceroy Lord Wavell, he was commended in the former’s journal as being quick and business-like.
Sir Eric Conran-Smith retired from service and returned to England in 1947, where he was an active member of the East India Association. He passed away in 1960.