Connemara Market, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). The Palayam Market was established in 1857, but its arched gate was added later, and inaugurated by the then Governor of Madras, Baron Connemara, in 1888. Initially set up in the Palayam cantonment to supply the army, it was now a popular shopping place for the whole town. It was named, of course, in Connemara's honour.
Connemara's three-day visit on this occasion is recorded in detail in the Travancore State Manual, which reported his effusive speech at the banquet verbatim. Praising the Maharajah, he said,
I have had occasion during the last few days to read accounts of almost every branch of His Highness' administration and to visit many of the public institutions of the State, and I can tell you that almost every one seems to be in a prosperous condition. I think he has every reason to be satisfied with the advancement that his State has made during the last few years, and every reason to be thankful to the Almighty for the blessing and success that have attended his rule. [614]
Trivandrum had indeed become something of a model state. In an earlier speech, on the occasion of celebrating Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, the Maharajah himself had given much of the credit to the British:
To the influence of Her Majesty's supremacy is due also whatever of prosperity and enlightenment Travancore has attained to; for her Representatives have guided our footsteps in the i)ath of progress, and her countrymen have contributed largely to raise our people and develop our resources. [614]
However, there is no doubt that the success and humanity of the administration here had owed much to a very fruitful collaboration between both sides.
Photograph above right by Patrick Tully, originally posted on Flickr, and available on the Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0) licence. Other two photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use these images too without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
Travancore State Manual. Trivandrum: Travancore Government, 1906. Internet Archive. Contributed by Harvard College Library. Web. 8 May 2019.
Created 8 May 2019