James O’Neil was a traditional Irish harper in the early 19th century. We have only two sources which mention him. But we can join these two and try to find the context for them, to start to tell his story.
Studying at the Irish Harp Society
We first meet James O’Neil at the Irish Harp Society School in Belfast, where he was studying the traditional Irish wire-strung harp full-time under Arthur O’Neil. In the minutes of a meeting on Tuesday 2nd January 1810, (mis-written 1809), there is a complete list of the pupils then living at the Harp Society House, along with their ages (from 13 to 19), where they were from, and who had recommended them. You can see the whole list in my post about Bridget O’Reilly.
James O Neil / from Dungannon C of Tyrone / aged 17 / Entered Feby 1809 / recommended by Dr James McDonnell Vice President
Irish Harp Society minute book (Belfast, Linen Hall Library, Beath Collecton, box 5.1)
This entry tells us a lot about him. If he was aged 17 on 2nd Jan 1810, we can calculate that he was born in 1792. We don’t have a specific statement that he was blind, but all the descriptions of the pupils imply that they were all either blind or partially-sighted.
The minute book says he is “from Dungannon”. There is another younger boy, Patrick O’Neil, who was listed as being “from near Dungannon” so I assume that James may have been actually from Dungannon town rather than out in the countryside nearby. Arthur O’Neil himself was originally from Drumnastrade, about four miles south of Dungannon, so I am sure there were loads of O’Neils in the area who may have known each other or been related to each other.
James O’Neil was recommended to the Society by Dr James McDonnell, who was Vice President of the Gentlemen Committee who ran and funded the Society. Every student had to have recommendation from someone of sufficient social class and this in itself would be a fascinating study, to try and draw connections between the sponsors, the Gentlemen of the committee, and the boys themselves. It may say something about James O’Neil’s potential that Dr McDonnell recommended him; or he may have been known to McDonnell somehow.
Anyway, in February 1809, James O’Neil was enrolled as a full-time boarding student at the Harp Society school. When he joined, there were four boys already there. William Gorman had already been studying for eight months; Patrick McGrath had been there for five months, Edward McBride had been there three months, and Patrick O’Neil had been there about one month.
The minute book and newspaper reports give us snapshots of what the boys were doing, but only snapshots, because they focus on the affairs of the Gentlemen of the Committee – rules, fundraising, organising the next meeting, that kind of thing.
Only a month or so after James O’Neil had enrolled, a report in the newspaper describes a St Patricks Day dinner held by the Gentlemen Committee and supporters of the Harp Society. The Gentlemen sat in a dining room ornamented with “transparencies” (presumably illuminated glass panels) of St Patrick and Hibernia, and “an ancient Irish harp decorated with garlands of shamrocks” was suspended in the middle of the room. After the gentlemen had enjoyed their dinner, there was entertainment. First of all, Arthur O’Neil was brought in, and he played some tunes on the harp: Patrick’s Day, Mrs Crofton, and the Fairy Queen. Then two “amateurs” (perhaps two of the Gentlemen) sang a “duet, written to the old Irish air of Kitty Tyrrell”: “Last Minstrel of Erin, how sweetly thy fingers / in strains of wild melody sweeps o’er the strings / while each lengthen’d vibration seems slowly to linger…”, and several other songs presumably in similar classical style. Then James Cody, the piper and music collector, was brought in, and played some tunes on the pipes. Drinks were circulated around the Gentlemen, and “the heart, alive to the sensations excited, began to expand more freely”, Patrick O’Neil and his classmates were finally brought in to the room:
Eight Blind Boys, supported, clothed, and instructed on the Harp, by the Society, were admitted. … They were received with repeated bursts of applause. After playing some airs, as a specimen of their progress, highly flattering to their aged teacher, they retired, and the company prepared for the usual routine of conviviality…
Belfast News Letter, 21 March 1809 p2
It is interesting that “eight blind boys” are mentioned. We know that James O’Neil was the fifth boy to enter; Valentine Rainey was also admitted in February, making six. There are also three “day scholars” listed in the 2 Jan 1810 minutes, so two of them must have been attending before March 1809.
Who played the airs, and what did they play? I don’t think the Irish Harp Society owned eight harps at that point; and of the eight boys, we know that two had only been studying for one month; the longest any of them had been studying was William Gorman who had nine months study under his belt.
We have a report of another dinner organised by the Gentlemen of the Society, this time in honour of Edward Bunting, on Wednesday 20th December 1809. “About fifty gentlemen … sat down to a sumptuous dinner, elegantly served up, with excellent wines, &c.” It seems that Arthur O’Neil was at the dinner as well. After the dinner, there were formal toasts and speeches, and then after that Arthur O’Neil
led into the room his 12 blind pupils, one of whom is a female, Miss O’Reilly, – their entrance exhibited a scene peculiarly impressive; but when Miss O’Reilly and two of the youths strung their harps, and played some trios, duets, &c., they were followed by most enthusiastic applause…
The Irish Magazine or Monthly Asylum for Neglected Biography, Jan 1810 p5-7
Now we have the full compliment of students from the Jan 1810 list, but only three play. I have already suggested that as well as Bridget O’Reilly, the other two may have been Edward McBride and Valentine Rainey. Presumably James O’Neil and the others stood neatly in a row.
Two months later we have a similar show of the pupils at the St Patrick’s day dinner. After the dinner and speeches,
The Pupils of the Society, consisting of one female, Miss O’Reilly, and eight boys, all blind, and neatly, though plainly and uniformly dressed, were introduced into the room, and convinced the gentlemen present by their improved performance, that the attention of their venerable tutor O’Neill, had not been bestowed in vain on the rising talents of his scholars, some of whom promise fair to attain the highest eminence in their profession. After their departure, the toasts recommenced…
Belfast News Letter, 20 March 1810
We are not told if they all played here or not. I am sure the Society did not own as many as nine harps. Only nine pupils were there; perhaps the three day scholars were not present.
By this stage James O’Neil had been a student for just over one year. His most senior classmate William Gorman had been studying for a year and nine months.
Society finances
Normally I don’t like to dwell on the business of the Gentlemen, because I am trying to focus on the lives of the individual harpers. But I think the fact that the Society was having serious money troubles is relevant to the next stage of our story. The minute book is full of resolutions to try and get the subscribers to actually pay the money that they had pledged to; the Society had apparently stopped paying Arthur O’Neil his salary after 1808 so that they owed him serious amounts of money; and we know there was a shortage of harps (perhaps partly because at this date there were not established harp makers to buy traditional floor-standing wire-strung Irish harps from). On 22nd May 1810, the minute book records that the two top pupils, McBride and Rainey, could not be sent out to perform because of a “deficiency of harps”.
Dismissed from the Society
Rule 13, in the minutes of the General Meeting of 18 Nov 1809, gave the Gentlemen of the committee the power to expel students:
13. If any pupil be found either thro’ incapacity or neglect, not to have improved as was to have been expected, he shall be removed and another admitted in his place
Irish Harp Society minute book (Belfast, Linen Hall Library, Beath Collecton, box 5.1) p27
Seven months later, at the meeting of 19th June 1810, we see this put into action. Only four committee members were present, Edward Bunting, Rev E Groves, William Radcliffe, and John McAdam.
Ordered – that Jas O Neil and Wm Gorman (agreeing to a former resolution) be immediately dismissed the Society as incapable by nature of Learning the Harp.
Irish Harp Society minute book (Belfast, Linen Hall Library, Beath Collecton, box 5.1) p56
There is no record of any other student being admitted. I think that the Society finances were so strained that they may not have felt able to admit a new beginner. On the other hand I have a couple of names of traditional harpers in the late teens or early 20s who I can’t otherwise account for, so it is possible that one or two new boys were admitted in James O’Neil’s and William Gorman’s places.
I find this episode fascinating but mysterious. By June 1810, William Gorman had been a full time harp student under Arthur O’Neil for two years (he entered in June 1808). James O’Neil had been studying full-time for one year and four months (entered Feb 1809). Yet the resolution does not give practical explanation for them not being up to standard. “incapable by nature of learning the harp” seems like the kind of statement a teacher might make after a few weeks, not after two years of full time study.
There must be a story behind this.
Anyway that was it, James O’Neil was dismissed, but he was obviously not presented with a harp or a certificate of ability and good conduct. As a blind boy he would not have many options in life, not many opportunities to earn a living. He would have been 18 or 19 years old.
Even though he did not have a harp, or a certificate, he nonetheless had the enviable experience of having studied full time for 16 months with a highly respected teacher and tradition-bearer in the old Irish harp tradition.
Joining the army
Two years later, in 1812, James O’Neil joined the British Army, and became an army harper.
This morning, eleven fine young fellows, raised in the last month by Lieut. Hodgson, of the 86th, marched to join the regiment, now quartered at Ashford; they went off in high spirits, cheered by the melodies of one of the party (James O’Neill) the celebrated harper, from the Belfast Society – equally devoted to Mars and Apollo, with his harp slung at his back, he, no doubt, will ensure a welcome from his countrymen, for whose gratification he goes amply provided with the most select native airs.
Limerick Gazette, Fri 2 Oct 1812 p3
This article seems very clear. James O’Neil the harper from the Belfast Society must surely be our man. He has got hold of a harp from somewhere, and he can play a lot of Irish tunes on it.
Five months previously, the 86th regiment of foot had been re-named and re-badged. I think there must be a connection between the addition of the Irish harp to the insignia and colours of the regiment, and the recruiting of a traditional Irish harper five months later.
…in May, 1812, the royal authority was given for this corps being styled the “EIGHTY-SIXTH, OR ROYAL COUNTY DOWN REGIMENT OF FOOT;” at the same time the facing was changed from yellow to blue, the lace from silver to gold; the Irish “HARP AND CROWN” was placed on the buttons, and the “HARP” was added to the distinctions displayed on the regimental colours.
Historical Record of the Eighty-Sixth Foot, p46
Now I am not a military historian so I don’t want to get too tangled up in this but as far as I can see the 86th had a depot at Ashford in Kent in 1812 (Steve Brown, British Infantry Regimental Depots 1804 – 1812). As I understand it, the depot is where new recruits would go, and where officers on leave would be, and where correspondence would be sent, while the regiment was away overseas. And at this period the 86th regiment was on duty in India.
The Historical Record of the Eighty-Sixth Foot has a good overview of the history of the regiment at this time, so I will just summarise the bits that may be relevant for James O’Neil.
We can imagine James O’Neil and his ten companions making their way to Ashford. Perhaps they would be trained there, or at least formally enrolled in the army. I am not sure what James O’Neil’s status would be, as a (perhaps blind) harper, whether he would be attached to the regimental band or drummers or if he would be attached to the colours as a kind of living embodiment of the Irish harp emblem that had recently been awarded. I think James O’Neil’s path as an Army harper could have gone in two slighty different ways depending if he was with Lieut. Hodgson, or if he was with the colours.
After the Royal grant of the new emblems and colours in May 1812, they had to be taken out to the regiment in India. I don’t know exactly when this happened but I think it is possible that James O’Neil (if he was the Regimental Harper) may have gone out with them.
… a detachment consisting of Captain Michael Creagh, Lieutenants Home and Perry, Ensigns Goold, Bradford, Caddell, Henry, and Moreton, had joined at Masulipatam, bringing the new regimental colours.
Historical Record of the Eighty-Sixth Foot, p47
The regiment had been at Masulipatam since Autumn 1813 so this detachment could have arrived there any time from then on. The voyage could take 6 months or so.
Meanwhile, Lieut. Hodgson and his new recruits remained in the South East of England, perhaps for training, I don’t really know. The Historical Record refers to them as “volunteers from the militia”. At the end of 1813 they were formed into a brand new 2nd batallion of the 86th regiment, intended for service in the Napoleonic wars in Europe, and they were variously stationed in Hythe, Colchester and Deal, preparing to go to Holland. Napoleon abdicated on 11 April 1814 and the war officially ended before they ever got to Holland, and so the 2nd batallion was disbanded towards the end of 1814 and they all set off for India to join the main body of the regiment there. The Historical Record, p47, says “On the 11th of September [1815], Major Baird, Captain Edwards, Lieutenants Mc Laurin, Webb, Leche, and Hodson, Ensigns Stuart, Law, Russell, Holland and Home, with sixteen serjeants and two hundred and thirty rank and file, (the effectives of the late second battalion,) arrived at Masulipatam.”
So whether he travelled with Lieut. Hodgson, or whether he had travelled earlier with the colour detachment, we can imagine James O’Neill the harper with his Irish harp arriving in Masulipatam at some point in 1814 or 1815.
The regiment had been in Masulipatam from late 1813 all through 1814 and 1815, though a part had went to Secunderabad near Hyderabad at the beginning of 1815.
In January, 1816, the head-quarters were removed to Hyderabad, where they remained nine months, and afterwards returned to Masulipatam, where Captain Chadwick had arrived, with forty-six recruits, from England, in the preceding August.
Historical Record of the Eighty-Sixth Foot, p47-48
The Historical Record gives a lot of detail about the regiment’s exploits in India after that. The regiment was ordered to return to England in 1816, but these orders were cancelled. The return was again ordered in April 1818, and the regiment went to Madras (now called Chennai) to get on the ship, but they had to stop off at Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) to “supress the hostile agressions” of the natives there. Eventually they all got back to Madras, where they finally had finished their work in India. Some of the officers and men transferred to other regiments so that they could stay in India, but the remainder left Madras in April 1819, landing in Gravesend in England on 23 October 1819.
Was James O’Neil still with them? Had he even gone to India? Did he stay in India? Had he died in India? Had he changed to a different regiment to have a career as an Army Harper elsewhere? Maybe some more hints will turn up.
My map shows places mentioned above. You can zoom in, and touch a dot to see its name, and click it to see more information. You can also view the map full screen.
Seán Donnelly has written an interesting article about Irish pipers in the regiments, concentrating on the lame piper Paddy O’Kelly who was piper to the 86th regiment in the 1830s. Though there is no mention of harpers in this article it gives a good impression of the role of these kinds of unofficial musicians in the army.
Donnelly, Seán, ‘Little Paddy’ among ‘The Irish giants’: an Irish piper in the 86th Royal County Down Regiment, 1833–5, Familia: Ulster genealogical review 30, 2014
Wonderful — an outcast among the outliers, and another modest success story! Is there any hope of connecting him with the “group of gentlemen in India” who bankrolled the Dublin Society? Wouldn’t that be sweet?
As always, your work continues to suprise and delight me. Well done!
Yes that is my next task – to look through the list of 86th officers, and see who of them is on the subscription lists for the second Belfast (not Dublin…!) Harp Society. I already spotted Captain Jas Chadwick who subscribed £2 10s
Your book arrived in the post this morning by the way, looking forward to getting stuck in! It is a beautiful thing in every way even without reading a word!
The only names I have seen in common between the 86th officers (from the Historical Record) and the Irish Harp Society subscription lists (from the Irish Harp Society Calcutta 1828) are Captain Chadwick, and Lieutenant John Campbell (d. 1819). I don’t know if these are even the same people.
My goodness, how dumb of me! I guess I had somehow gotten it into my head that that reprise of the Belfast Harp Society in the 1820’s took place in Dublin. Good thing for me, I’m not a historian. That misapprehension has lasted about thirty years! Oops.
There was a Harp Society in Dublin from 1809 to 1812, at the same time as the first Belfast Harp Society. However it seems to have been a total flop, it had a much higher class of Gentlemen than the Belfast one and it organised a couple of classical music concerts (featuring the traditional harper Patrick Quin playing in the interval) but I don’t think it produced any real teaching of traditional harp students. I have other opinions about its legacy but I am keeping my mouth shut at this stage! You can read more in this excerpt from Frank Callery which is a fair overview.
Thanks for another great post Simon. I read them all with great interest.
Maybe there is also a connection to the story told by Edward Bunting (1840 intro p.66):
The capital of Oude at Lucknow is about 1000 km from Calcutta. Neither Lucknow or Calcutta is on the Ganges but perhaps but it would be a reasonable way to travel between them.
How can we date this episode (bearing in mind that communications were very slow and letters or people could take six months either way)? I don’t think we have the minutes of a Harp Society meeting in Belfast to discuss this. If Rainey was teacher the meeting must have been in 1822 or later; if the application was made through Fulton when he was in Calcutta, it must have been made in 1820 or before (Fulton returned to London in 1820 and died in 1830). That gives us a pretty tight window, and I don’t think it unreasonable to think of the King approaching Fulton in 1820, and the Harp Society discussing the proposal maybe a year and a half later in early 1822. Though we should also bear in mind that Bunting’s memory or notes may not have been reliable, and that there may be errors of fact in his account.
The King at that point would have been Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah, who had a European wife, employed Europeans and was a patron of the arts. Had he heard James O’Neil play the harp? The comment about the King enjoying the harp because of the similarity of its music to Indian instruments suggests to me that he had heard traditional wire-strung Irish harp being played.
The image below shows Ghazi-ud-Din entertaining Lord and Lady Moira to a banquet in his palace in 1820–22. Perhaps this gives us a vision of a possible context for James O’Neill to play the harp before the King. You can see British army officers on the left in their tall black hats.
Francis Rawdon (1754-1826), second earl of Moira and later first marquess of Hastings, went out to India in 1813 after being appointed governor-general. He was at Lucknow twice I think, the first time on his epic illustrated journey up the Ganges from June 1814 to October 1815; he was with Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar in Lucknow in October – November 1814. (see J.P. Losty, Picturesque views of India; Sita Ram; Lord Hasting’s journey from Calcutta to the Punjab, 1814-15 Roli Books, New Delhi, 2015).
Francis Rawdon was back at Lucknow in March 1818. This is when Rawdon encouraged Ghazi-ud-Din to promote himself to King (thus becoming King of Oude), and it is also when Rawdon met the alcoholic Irish piper Jerry Gahagan who was working for Ghazi-ud-Din at Lucknow at that time. (see The Marchioness of Bute (ed.), The private journal of the Marquess of Hastings, London 1858, vol 2 p288.
The painting of Francis Rawdon dining with Ghazi-ud-Din seems most likely to date from the 1814 visit; but the kingly crown has been overpainted in or after 1819.
Anyway it seems unlikely given this timeline that James O’Neill could have gone to Lucknow.
I also wonder about Jerry Gahagan, whether his presence at Lucknow in 1818 is what became garbled into Bunting’s story? We can reconsider the request for a harper; Rawdon had been an early patron of Patrick Byrne, sponsoring him to go to Belfast to study under Arthur O’Neill c.1810, and from 1817 he was the lead subscriber to the Bengal Subscription raising money in India to bankroll the Irish Harp Society school in Belfast. In the account of subscribers dated 1819, Rawdon is listed for 30 guineas (£31 10s), while the second subscriber is down for 12 guineas.
So it could have been Rawdon himself who spotted Ghazi-ud-Din’s interest in European culture, and made the connection between wire-strung harp and wire-strung Indian classical instruments, and suggested perhaps in 1814, that what Ghazi-ud-Din really needed was an Irish harper and an Irish piper to be sent over from Belfast. Yet Rawdon does not hint that Gahagan’s presence at Lucknow is anything to do with himself; he seems a little surprised to find an Irish piper there. Perhaps seeing Gahagan there was what prompted Rawdon to suggest getting a harper over.
Either way, Bunting himself was obviously involved in the receipt of the request back in Belfast, but may have totally garbled the sequence of events and the people involved. The whole story may have been a few years earlier than I was guessing above. Hopefully more will turn up in due course!
Hah! So the piper got blotto and fell overboard on his way to gig. Sounds like a pretty extravagent death to me. Am I the only one to appreciate the hilarity of it? Please tell me he went down playing. I see bubbles in the Ganges. I wonder what tune it was. Was he in fancy dress?
Mabe served the ‘gentlemen’ right for not giving one of ours a break. I see the hand of Rainy here. If he couldn’t take the gig then nobody shall have it! I know it’s kind of unhistorical of me, but now that this world, freshly peopled by blind boy harpers, is emerging from the fog, I can’t help but enjoy the wildest speculations…
Those ‘gentlemen’ must have been awful hard to please. You’d have to have the perfect blend of expertise, obsequiousness, good manners, sobriety and god knows what else, to be deemed worthy of being shipped off to India to play for a king.
A news clipping (Dublin Weekly Nation, Sat 29 May 1858 p8) gives a re-telling of this story from Miss Teresa Esmonde. She repeats Bunting’s story (and credits Bunting) but also adds that the tune was “Carolan’s celebrated air, ‘The Humours of Whiskey.’”
So… I’m taking a page out of your book, Simon, and trying to keep myself rooted to facts. In actual fact, there are no alligators in the Ganges, so I’m going to go out on a limb here and speculate that the piper may possibly have been eaten by crocodiles. I love being an historian!
Bunting doesn’t say where the Indian King had heard the wire strung harp played, does he? Had that King been to England or Ireland? Because, if not, your theory is not so far fetched at all.
Where else would he have heard it?
In my post on William Gorman I give more information about the two boys being expelled. It looks to me like the expulsion was for bad behaviour and not for musical incompetence.
James O’Neill is listed in the 86th Regiment Register of Service:
This one-line listing gives us a lot of useful information to fit in with what we have discussed above. Perhaps the most significant is the entry that he died in Masulipatam on 3rd December 1814. In my transcription above I have put square brackets around the 4 because I am not 100% sure of the reading; it could possibly be 6.
We seem to have a disparity with his age; the harp school minutes say he was 17 in Jan 1810, but the regimental register says he was age 17 (and possibly one month), presumably on enlistment on 1 Oct 1812. However the 7 is very smudged and could possibly be a mis-formed 9; the month colum just has two dashes as if it is the same as the one above, but a lot of that column has the two dashes so perhaps we have to ignore the month column. Anyway, we can’t be sure when he was born, between 1792 and (August/September) 1795. He may have lied about his age either to the school or to the army, or possibly even both.
The register says he was from Killyman parish. Most of the Irish recruits have the same name listed under “town” and “parish”; there is not a town of Killyman; the village now called Killyman used to be called Laghey corner, and is in the townland of Laghey. So I don’t think we can be more specific than to say he was from Killyman parish. The parish actually stretches across the border between counties Tyrone and Armagh, but I suppose we can presume that James O’Neill came from the Tyrone side of the parish, closer to Dungannon town. There are 10 O’Neill households listed in Killyman parish in the Tithe Applotment books of 1825, and 11 in the Griffiths valuation of 1860. Any of these could be James O’Neill’s relatives.
I think the thing that I find must curious about this is that he seems to have been enlisted in the regiment just like all the other soldiers. We even get told that he has grey eyes alongside his other distinguishing features. There is no hint here that he might be blind or partially-sighted or otherwise unfit for service.
Ancestry.co.uk also has digitised facsimiles of two volumes of muster lists and payment lists from the 86th Regiment, from the UK National Archives in Kew, under the classmark WO 12. Piece 8892 covers the 1st Battalion (in India) from 25 Dec 1814 through to 24 Dec 1815; Piece 8948 covers the 2nd battalion (in England) from 25 Jan 1815 through to 24th March 1815. I looked through these two volumes but unfortunately I could not find James O’Neill in either volume. This may confirm that he was already dead in India before 25 Dec 1814, and that the year number should be read as “4” not “6”.
8948 appears to be the only muster roll for the 2nd battalion in England, but the UK National Archives has other muster rolls for the 1st battalion in India, but I am not finding them online. At some point it would be good to check them, to see if James O’Neill appears in any of them.
WO12/8889 is the muster roll and pay book for 1811-1812.
WO12/8890 is for 1813
WO12/8891 is for 1814
WO12/8892 is for 1815 which I looked at online.
WO12/8893 is for 1816
So at the moment we still are no further along in understanding his role within the regiment, or when he travelled out to India. But at least we now know for certain that he did get there.
I am sure that there is a lot more work that could be done on these documents from the 86th regiment, to track down Rooney, and Hodgson, and understand more about the process of recruitment, and about the movement of troops in India and in England. But this will do for now.
The army base at Masulipatam was not in the town (now called Machilipatnam), but 3 or 4 km south east, at Bandarkota or Bandar Fort. You can see the place on Street View:
Or you can take a guided tour on Youtube:
I found a very detailed map of Masulipatam fort and town from a survey done in early 1818, just a few years after James O’Neill was there. Below, we will look at a detail of the map, cropped in to the fort. There is a key to the lettered buildings, which you can use to see what was where:
a Commanding officers quarters
b Commissariat store room
c Arsenal (where the guns and weaponry was stored and maintained; this is the “Dutch fort” building still standing, shown in the street view and video above)
d Park (apparently the buildings across the road to the NW of the “Dutch fort” building, though I am not 100% convinced by this)
e Dispensary
f Hospital (some of the walls of these two e and f are still standing, on the next block NE of the “Dutch fort” building)
g New Barracks (opposite the hospital to the NW. I understand that this was more recently a jaggery factory so the extant structures may not include remains of the new barracks)
h Old Barracks
i Sepoys Barracks (I don’t see any trace of these two barracks h & i on the satellite map; the site of them is fields on the W edge of the village)
j Burying Ground (I think this is in the N corner of the village, to the North of the road from Masulipatam town, though I am not 100% sure of this. This block is now a mixture of houses and fields)
k Officers Quarters (nothing visible now, this block is open fields)
l Bagrams House
m Main Guard
n Magazines (where the gunpowder was stored; there are three of these marked on the map; one is in the SW corner of the fort, where there appears to be a wall remaining; another is towards the NE corner; the third is the old Dutch church at the very South of the village, shown in the video tour.
o Protestant Church (this was a large classical basilica built through the first half of the 19th century, beside the bell-tower, between the “Dutch Fort” Armoury building and the “Dutch Church” magazine building. No trace remains except possibly scars visible in the field on the satellite view. A photo was published by F Penny, The church in Madras, 1912, v2 fp178)
p Roman Church (the Catholic burying ground is still there in the SE corner of the village, though I don’t see any traces of the church. The Cyclone Memorial of 1884 is in this graveyard as well.)
q Solitary Cells
r Guard Room
s Custom House (right at the very south of the fort; there seems to be a structure on the same footprint still there now on the satellite view)
t Acaumbarashwar Swamy Paga
u Nursimha Swamy Pagoda (these two Hindu temples, t and u, are still there in the same locations)
v Flag Staff
It is very easy to collate this 1818 map against the online satellite view and Street View of the village, to find the traces of a number of these buildings still standing either complete (the Arsenal, the southern Magazine, the two temples), or ruined (the Hospital), or fragments incorporated into houses. The street grid of the fort is pretty much still intact in the present day village, and the moat around the fort defences can be traced on the satellite map, though a much bigger outer moat has since been dug, perhaps for drainage or perhaps as additional defense after 1818.
There are two different manuscript copies of the 1818 map on John Brown’s Zenodo page “Old Survey of India maps”. The one I have cropped above is signed “Copied by W. Howell Asst. Surveyor”, and the other one is signed (I think) “Mountford”. Comparing these two copies can help with some of the key letter readings. Howell’s letter for the square plot in the NW corner, which I think was the burying ground, could be read as either d or j; Mountford’s copy is clearly labelled j.
The map also shows a “new burying ground” some way to the E of the fort; now this is in the middle of what I assume is paddy fields, and I see no trace of a burying ground or enclosure on the satellite view.
None of this really helps us to know where James O’Neill’s body might have been buried. If he was Church of Ireland, then he could be in the burying ground (j) near the road to the city, or he could be in the “new burying ground”, or he could possibly be by the now disappeared church next to the Arsenal; I don’t know if any graves were put there. If he was Catholic he may be in the burying ground at p, near the cyclone memorial.
But it does give us an amazing insight into the place he was for the last few days, or weeks, or months of his life. Did he go to the Armoury to be issued with his musket? Did he stay in the Old Barracks? Was he treated for his illness in the Hospital? Did he attend services in one of the two Churches? Did he play his harp for the officers in the Commanding Officers Quarters?