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Family History

Introduction

Thomas Heppolette is at present the earliest recorded male ancestor in the Heppolette Family tree and is thought to have been born about 1790. His exact place of birth and Country of origin remains a mystery awaiting discovery.

What we do know is that Thomas like his Son Emanual served in the ranks of the H.E.I.C. more commonly referred to as the Honourable East India Company. Both Thomas and Emanuel were enlisted as Trumpeter's in the 7^th Madras Light Cavalry and according to records spent at least some of their army life as part of the standing Garrison within Fort St. George, Madras.

Fort St.George

Located on the old Coromandel Coast now the present day Bay of Bengal, Fort St.George (pictured above) was the first British fort of the colonial era and as such played a major role in aiding the expansion of British Imperial power within the Indian subcontinent. Construction of the Fort by the British East India Company began in 1640 and continued on and off for another 150 years. Though initially built as a trading outpost it soon became a bastion from where the Company successfully challenged the power of both the local potentates and their colonial rivals down the coast at Pondicherry, the French.

St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Church, Madras

By 1680 housed within the walls of the Fort was the first Anglican Church to be constructed in India, St. Mary's Church (pictured left). It is in this Church where the names of several Heppolettes have been recorded, and at one time or another it must have been an important part of their lives.

The British East India Company

Obviously, relating the early origins of the British East India Company is not my aim, however it provides a necessary backdrop in trying to gain a perspective on how early generations of Heppolette's including Thomas and Emanuel lived their lives. In the late 18^th and early 19^th Century places like Fort St. George and Fort William in Calcutta epitomised a garrison town way of life. They were implicitly interdependent communities where the inhabitants lived in close proximity to one another and where families lived socialised and all to often at a young age, died together. These same families had close ties with other families. More often than not a couple getting married would have fathers that were friends or served together in the same regiment. It would be a rare occurrence indeed for a person in these circumstances to marry outside of their community

The Power of Community

Communities like most social structures are dynamic given that they evolve and eventually change due to external influences as well as from those within. The Heppolette Family as an integral part of these communities was no exception.

Thomas and Emanuel together with their families relied on the British East India Company for their way of life as no other option was available. However, by the mid 18th Century the stage was set for a radical change that would profoundly affect future generations of Heppolettes, as a new expansionism began with the dawn of the railway era on the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian Railways

As the records show the advent of Railway building in India was particularly significant as later generations of Heppolettes turned their back on the military in favour of new horizons. The lure of the railways for a hitherto military family is unclear, maybe the remuneration or the way of life was better or perhaps there was less chance of being killed or injured, it could have been for any one reason or a combination of all.

Whatever the reason for the change it seems that the old sense of community perpetuated in the new railway towns, whereby railway families married into railway families. It seemed that only the company had changed whilst the families precondition remained the same.

What went before it seems is not so much different to what occurred after, to generations of Heppolettes, as my Father his Father and Grandfather give testament to. Next page