In search of his ancestral roots in Ooty

Fifth generation descendant of John Sullivan, founder of The Nilgiris, makes a visit

Colin Charles Fiennes planting a sapling at the Sullivan Court Hotel in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. Photo: D. Radhakrishnan.

Beginning Tuesday, it was an exciting and emotional two days for 58-year-old Englishman Colin Charles Fiennes.

A fifth generation descendant of John Sullivan, the founder of modern Nilgiris, Mr.Fiennes was on a visit here to find his ancestral roots. Among other places, it took him to the Sullivan Memorial created at the Pethakkal bungalow put up by Mr.Sullivan at Kannerimukku near Kotagiri,the cemetery attached to the Saint Stephen’s Church where Mr.Sullivan’s wife Henrietta and daughter Harriet have been buried and a hotel bearing the name of Mr.Sullivan here.

Pointing out that the nature of the emotions he experienced were hard to explain, Mr.Fiennes told

The Hindu here on Wednesday that the feeling was similar to the one he felt at the grave of John Sullivan near London which he had visited during the course of his research. When asked to elaborate,he said, “i have been researching my genealogical connection to John Sullivan for many years and found that I am a direct descendant of him. The Nilgiri Documentation Centre, which has been researching John Sulllivan confirmed it. I am truly happy to be in the Nilgiris where the John Sullivan story began”.

Chipping in Dharmalingam Venugopal the director of the Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) which runs the Sullivan Memorial pointed out that Mr. Fiennes’s great grandfather Rupert Edward Sullivan, a Colonel of the Indian Army, was the grandson of John Sullivan. Mr. Fiennes’s father,Charles Patrich Fiennes Sullivan was a captain in the British army. Mr. Fiennes is among several researchers trying to unlock the remarkable contributions of John Sullivan. Stating that the John Sullivan trail began sometime in 1985 with a desire to discover the life and times of the man who discovered Ooty and established the first hill station there in 1823,Mr.Venugopal said that for many years it led to nowhere with information trickling out in bits and pieces. Many times they were misleading or half true.

Thus it was believed Mr.Sullivan had a running feud with his masters, the East India Company who withheld his benefits on his retirement and that he returned to England a dejected man struggling to bring up his seven children before finally dying in penury. He was buried in an obscure grave. However the trail took a dramatic turn after the dawn of the digital era when tones of archival records about the East India Company and its officials were made available on the internet. From then on it was only a matter of time and patience. Sullivan’s story turned out to be totally different after his grave was discovered in 2009.

Sullivan retired and left for England in 1841 with an annuity. Pointing out that he was fascinated by every bit of information he was able to dig up about Mr.Sullivan, Mr.Fiennes said that he was gratified at the fact that he had in the early days touched various aspects of life in the Nilgiris including culture,farming and engineering. Comparing the Nilgiris to parts of England, Wales and Scotland, he said that it shares striking similarities with that of Switzerland. He hoped that its environment will be protected. Mr.Fiennes planted a sapling at the Sullivan Court hotel to mark his visit.