A LITTLE-KNOWN BRAVEHEART – ANNIE CLEMMER FUNK

“I am the Resurrection and the Life, sayeth the Lord; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.”

The centenary (1912 – 2012) of the worst maritime disaster in history is being remembered around the world on 14^th/15^th April. On the night of 14^th April, 1912, the giant ocean liner, the Titanic, pride of the Cunard White Star Line and claimed to be ‘unsinkable’ by its builders, went down in the icy waters of the North Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg.

The Titanic Starting on Her Maiden Voyage, 10 April, 1912

Over 1,500 people perished in the disaster and only 750 odd could be rescued  by the Carpathia and other liners and the lifeboats of the Titanic.

April 15, 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, just five days after it left Southampton on its maiden voyage to New York.

Not many people are aware that there is at least one Indian connection in the Titanic disaster. As reported in the Times of India dated 14 April, 2012 and other websites, there is a small town called Janjgir-Champa tucked away in a remote corner of Chhatisgarh. It is difficult to believe that such a place could have sent a passenger to England for the luxury liner Titanic.

However, this indeed happened and the passenger was a missionary lady called Annie Clemmer Funk, who had made this town her home. Her name bears an uncanny similarity to Anne Frank of Holland, who also died a tragic death at a young age during World War II. Annie Funk was among the 1,500 souls who perished on board Titanic on April 15, 1912. Annie was on her way to visit her ailing mother in America.  

She served as a missionary in the Central Province (a part of which is today’s Chhatisgarh) of India from 1906 to 1912. After several assignments in the USA, she volunteered to go overseas. We can imagine her courage and the tremendous dedication she showed to her work in selecting such a remote area of India in 1906 without any previous experience of the country or its people. Her belief in the Lord sustained her. A photo of Annie is given below:

Annie arrived in India as a Mennonite missionary in 1906 from America and served in Janjgir-Champa on her mission. In 1908, she opened a one-room school and hostel for poor girls and taught 17 students initially. She also learnt Hindi during her India stay so that she could communicate better with her students. The school was later renamed as Annie C. Funk Memorial School.

Not much is left of Annie's school with only outer walls surviving the wreckage of time but her story is a legend in Janjgir-Champa. All that is left of Annie's time here is a small plaque that describes her brief but extraordinary life and her tragic death on board the liner.

 Her work at Janjgir Champa was interrupted one day by a telegram, which urged her to come home to as soon as possible, and that her passage was paid. She was not told that her mother was close to death. From Janjgir-Champa, Annie reached Mumbai via rail and boarded a ship for England. She was to take the 'SS Haverford' from Southampton for America but the ship was laid off because of a strike by coal labourers.

She was guided to another ship - a new one called the Titanic. Some were saying this was a modern marvel that "God, himself couldn't sink." Though it cost more, Annie was assured that passage on the Titanic would get her home in record time. She boarded as a second class passenger after paying ₤13. The ship sailed from Southampton on the 10^th April, 1912. It is reported that she celebrated her 38^th birthday on the 12^th with her co-passengers.

On the 14^th April, near midnight, the ship struck an iceberg, in spite of repeated warnings. The "unsinkable" dream ship began to sink into the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.  Although elaborately furnished, sadly, it lacked an essential safety feature -- sufficient lifeboats for all 2, 207 passengers. It was immediately evident that many would not be saved. What about Annie? An unconfirmed report has it that Annie Funk, already seated in a lifeboat, gave up her seat to another woman - a mother with children. Whether true or not, those who knew her said, "That would be just like Annie." Annie, along with 1500 others, perished in the greatest catastrophe yet known. The mighty Titanic was no more. The date was April 15, 1912.

A memorial to Annie was erected at the Hereford Mennonite Church Cemetery in Pennsylvania. Its inscription reads:

ERECTED BY THE EASTERN DISTRICT CONFERENCE OF THE MENNONITE CHURCH IN MEMORY OF ANNIE C. FUNK MISSIONARY IN INDIA 1906-1912 DAUGHTER OF JAMES B. AND SUSAN FUNK BORN APRIL 12, 1874. DIED APRIL 15, 1912 AGED 38 YEARS AND 3 DAYS. SHE WAS COMING HOME ON HER FIRST FUR- LOUGH, WHEN DEATH OVERTOOK HER IN THE WRECK OF THE STEAMSHIP TITANIC OFF THE COAST OF NEWFOUNDLAND.- HER LIFE WAS ONE OF SERVICE IN THE SPIRIT OF THE MASTER-"NOT TO BE MINISTERED UNTO BUT TO MINISTER.

Annie is being remembered in the US on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. A documentary titled 'Remembering Annie Funk' is scheduled to be screened in her homestate, Pennsylvania, according to the Mennonite Heritage Centre website.

I think that, on this 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we must let the world know of the priceless story of a Mennonite woman who gave herself to the people of Janjgir, India and perhaps, died sacrificing her life to save another.

In the timeless prose of Charles Dickens, “It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

Acknowledgements: Thanks are due to the Times of India, The Hindu and the website of the “Mennonite Church, USA, Historical Committee & Archives” for the information used here. I would also like to thank Google Images for the picture of the Titanic.

SIR A. R. BANERJI - A FORGOTTEN CIVIL SERVANT - CONCLUDED

Sir Albion’s career is a bit hazy after 1929. Not much information is available on the Internet except that he suddenly surfaces at the World Congress of Faiths (WCF), 1936, London, as the Honorary Treasurer. From 1936 to his death in 1950, it is difficult to get information about him. I would like to know whether his illustrious career abruptly ended in 1929, when he left Kashmir, or it took a different course.

We know that he was a thinker, philosopher and author, who thought about a wide range of subjects: spiritual matters, social problems, the poverty of India, political affairs and a host of other things. It is possible that he inherited his father’s leanings towards social service.

He became a prolific author, having written several books. An incomplete list is given below:

The Cover of one of his books is shown below:

From the information available about him, it is clear that Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerji was no ordinary man. He was highly educated, and an able and just administrator, who served several Indian princely states with distinction. It is clear from the above list of books that he was concerned about the India of his time, the poverty of the people, social injustice, political oppression (although he was himself a member of the so-called “steel frame” of the British Raj, the Indian Civil Service or the ICS). Also, it appears that he was deeply interested in Hindu philosophy and spirituality.

I would like to know more about this gentleman who passed away, probably in Calcutta, sometime in 1950. The place and date of his death could not be confirmed from the information on the Net.  There seem to be differences of opinion. I shall be grateful to anyone who reads this if he/she could provide me with further details about his life and work from 1929 to his death in 1950.

Coming back now to what I stated in the beginning of this post, during the course of my researches on Sir Banerji, I wrote to one of the gentlemen who had  posted an article about him on the Web for more information. He responded positively and we found that we had common interests. This was some months ago and today we correspond regularly on various subjects which interest us. What I found interesting was that all this could happen because I enquired about Banerji Road in Kochi and the picture of Sir A.R. Banerji hanging in the museum at the Hill Palace near Kochi. A long gone ICS officer helped to bring together two people – thank you, Sir Albion and may your soul rest in peace!

Acknowledgements:

·          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_Rajkumar_Banerjee

·          http://www.enotes.com/topic/Albion_Rajkumar_Banerji

·          http://cochinblogger.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/who-was-the-banerjee-in-banerjee-road/

·          http://muralirvarma.blogspot.com/2008/05/sir-albion-raj-kumar-banerji-ics.html

·          http://wn.com/Albion_Rajkumar_Banerji

·          http://www8.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/albion-rajkumar-banerji

·          http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Necrothesp/Honours_Lists/1925_Honours_Lists#section_7

·          Ref.: http://www.edinburgh-gazette.co.uk/issues/13713/pages/927/page.pdf

·          http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n89-199421

SIR A. R. BANERJI - A FORGOTTEN CIVIL SERVANT - PART TWO

In AD 1911, during the Delhi Durbar of the King Emperor George V and Queen Mary, Sir Albion Raj Kumar Banerji was honoured by  the title, the Companion of the Indian Empire, CIE.

The Cochin State Manual written by Sri.C.Achyutha Menon I Edition 1911 is an authoritative work on the erstwhile Princely State of Cochin. In the preface to the book, Mr.Menon writes as follows:

‘The Manual owes its being to the present Diwan of Cochin, Mr.A.R.Banerji, I.C.S. Not only did the idea originate with him, but the work itself was started under his orders and carried out under his supervision. Although the book is thus an official publication, I am solely responsible for the correctness of the facts and comments contained in it.’

In the book, Southern India by Playne Wright Somerset, originally published in London by Foreign and Colonial Compiling and Pub. Co, 1914-1915, the following could be found:

‘A.R. Banerji CIE, of the ICS was appointed Diwan in May 1907 and no previous holder of the office has succeeded to the same extent in gaining the confidence of a Rajah, in promoting the welfare of the State and in securing the affection of the people. There is universal feeling of the deepest regret throughout the State that this very able official is now retiring, and he will be remembered in Cochin for many years to come as one who has laboured for the moral intellectual and temporal good of the whole community.

The country was hampered by heavy debts and by many difficult problems when Mr.Banerji took up reins of office, but he has the satisfaction of knowing that the revenue of the State has greatly increased during the tenure of his Diwanship; that the various departments are in smooth working order; and that those frowning rocks of complex problems and the crippling effects of a depleted treasury have been safely passed. His successor is J.W.Bhore of the ICS who has been Under Secretary in the revenue department of the Madras Government.”

After a great stint in Cochin, Sir Banerji served as Diwan of Mysore from AD 1922 to 1927. Owing to historical reasons, the Diwans of Mysore were an integral part of the administration of Mysore from 1881 to 1946. Sir Banerji was responsible for the constitutional reforms inaugurated in Mysore in 1922 under the great maharajah Sri Krishna Raja Wodeyar IV who was one of the most celebrated rulers among the Indian States. Paul Brunton, the philosopher and mystic traveler , who has many wonderful books to his credit,  had stayed with the Maharajah and has paid eloquent tributes to the philosopher-king as a role model for rulers over the world.’”

It is also reported that Ernakulam enjoys piped water supply today thanks to the efforts of A.R. Banerji. Yes, the scheme under which water is brought to Ernakulam from the Periyar River was his brainchild.

Albion Rajkumar Banerji was awarded the Star of India for his services to the Empire in June, 1921, while he was serving as the Diwan of Mysore. The Royal proclamation to this effect is reproduced below:

CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS

OF KNIGHTHOOD.

St. James's Palace, S.W. 1,

3rd June, 1921.

The KING has been graciously pleased, on

the occasion of His Majesty's Birthday, to

give orders for the following promotions in and

appointments to the Most Exalted Order of the

Star of India:

To be Companions of the said Most Exalted

Order:

Albion Rajkumar Banerji, Esq., C.I.E.,

Indian Civil Service, First Member of the

Executive Council of His Highness the

Maharaja of Mysore.

Albion Rajkumar Banerji  was further honoured with a knighthood (Knight Bachelor) in the Birthday Honours List gazetted  on 03 June, 1925.

After his assignment in Mysore, the British Government sent Sir A.R. Banerji to the troubled State of Kashmir as the Prime Minister in 1927. He resigned from his post in 1929 (being the first and only person  holding that post to do so on moral grounds) following differences with the Dogra monarch on the latter's lavish lifestyle that was sustained by a poor population. He wrote:

“Jammu and Kashmir state is labouring under many disadvantages, with a large Mohammedan population absolutely illiterate, labouring under poverty and very low economic conditions of living in the villages, and practically governed like dumb driven cattle. There is no touch between the government and the people, no suitable opportunity for representing grievances... The administration has at present no or little sympathy with people's wants and grievances...”

SIR A. R. BANERJI - A FORGOTTEN CIVIL SERVANT - PART I

I am appending this to my last post on our Kerala trip. A very important development in my life took place during this visit in October, 2011. A long gone ICS officer was instrumental in my making a new friend online. It came about this way.

While driving through Kochi city one evening, our driver casually mentioned that the arterial road we were passing through was called Banerji Road. Since I was from Bengal, I was intrigued by the Bengali name of Banerji. I wondered how the road in Kochi came to be named after someone from distant Bengal.  Our driver did not know. Nor could we find the reason from anyone else that evening. The question remained in my mind.

The next morning, we started by road for the hill town of Munnar, famous for its lush green landscape dotted with tea gardens. On the way, we stopped to visit the famous Hilltop Palace of the erstwhile Rajahs of the Kingdom of Cochin. The palace itself was quite large though not as opulent as those of the Mughals found in Delhi, Agra and elsewhere in northern India. There is a museum on the first floor where pictures and articles from the days of the kingdom are displayed. While walking through the museum, my attention was drawn to a portrait of a young man in formal dress with many decorations on his chest. He cut a smart figure and I was drawn to the inscription at the base of the painting which said, Sir A. R. Banerji, Diwan of Cochin, 1907-1914. I had found the Banerji of Banerji Road at last!

As we were in a hurry to get on to Munnar and further south in our tour of Kerala, I could not make any further inquiries at that time. The matter had to wait until we completed our tour, about a week later.

On my return to Delhi, I did a systematic search on the net to get more details about Sir A.R. Banerji. I found quite a bit of information in different blogs and other websites. His background is interesting.

Albion Rajkumar Banerji was born of Indian parents in Bristol, England in 1871. His father was Sasipada Banerji and his mother’s name was Rajkumari. Sasipada Banerji was born in 1840 in Baranagore near Calcutta and grew up to be a reformist Hindu. He married a young girl of 13 at the age of 20. In 1861, he joined the Brahmo Samaj  and was involved in the social reformist movement in Bengal.

He met the English educationist and reformer Mary Carpenter during her visit to India in 1868 and went to England on her invitation with his wife. A son  was born to them on October 10, 1871 in Bristol (some sources say London). He was named Rajkumar after his mother and the name ‘Albion’ was prefixed to his name, probably because he was born in England. Upon his birth, he was hailed as the first Brahmin baby born in Britain and a letter was sent to Queen Victoria by Mary Carpenter informing her of his birth.

Albion Rajkumar Banerji later returned to India in 1872 with his parents and subsequently studied at the then famous school “General Assembly’s Institution”, which was inspired by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and started by the Rev. Alexander Duff, a young and dedicated missionary, who arrived at Calcutta, India’s colonial capital at that time, to set up the first English medium institution of India.

Albion later graduated from the University of Calcutta and went to England for higher studies. He obtained a Master’s degree from Balliol College, Oxford University and cleared the Indian Civil Services examination (the famous ICS) in 1894. In 1895, he took up his first posting as the Assistant Collector and Magistrate in Madras Presidency.

SIR ALBION RAJKUMAR BANERJI

Rajkumar was later appointed as the Diwan of Cochin and served there from 1907 -1914

 A lot of research has been done on this period in his life and is reported in

 http://muralirvarma.blogspot.com/2008/05/sir-albion-raj-kumar-banerji-ics.html

The same is reproduced below without any changes:

“After his studies in England, Albion joined the Indian Civil Service, the elite group of civil servants in India. It is interesting to recall that 500 such officers ran the British Indian Empire stretching from Baluchistan to Burma. The ICS officers comprised the administrative backbone of British rule and its officers – both English and native – were largely incorruptible, known for their intellectual integrity and unwavering impartiality. So just was their tenure in remote, rural districts that even today, several decades later, their names are invoked with reverence, even by those who never knew them.

Mr.Banerji had a most distinguished career and was the Diwan, the role equivalent to that of the Prime Minister, in two princely states, viz. Cochin and Mysore. Between AD 1907 and 1914, he was the Diwan of Cochin under Maharajah Rama Varma XV, (Ozhinja Valiya Thampuran meaning the one who abdicated the crown) who reigned from AD 1895 to 1914 and brought much prosperity to the State.