Sir Charles Oakeley

Sir Charles Oakeley was Governor of Madras when the Company broke the power of the Rajas of Vizianagaram. The fight came at Padmanabham, near Visakhapatnam, in July 1794.¹ Oakeley himself wrote the letter that warned the Raja, and the promise that brought his son back.¹² See East India Company and Vijayarama Raju II.

Governor of Madras

Maclean’s list of Governors shows Oakeley in office from 1 August 1792 to 7 September 1794.³

The Vizianagaram estate taken over

The Raja Vijayarama Raju had fallen far behind with his peshkash (tribute).⁴ By 1793 the arrears had grown to more than eight lakhs of rupees.⁴ The Madras Government threatened to take over the estate, and sent troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Prendergast.⁴ The Raja offered to pay part of the arrears in instalments, but the Board of Revenue and the Government refused.⁴ On 2 August 1793 Prendergast took possession of the Vizianagaram fort.⁴

The Board of Revenue wanted more than the money.⁵ It wanted to cut down the Raja’s troops, and to help the lesser zamindars whom he had driven out of their lands.⁵ So the Raja was ordered to go to Machilipatnam on an allowance.⁵ He marched a few miles and then stopped.⁵ Then he moved his camp to Padmanabham, between Vizianagaram and Bheemunipatnam (then Bimlipatam).⁵

Oakeley’s warning

Spies reported that the Raja meant to fight to the end, as the Bobbili family had done against Bussy.⁶ When the news reached Madras, Oakeley wrote to the Raja himself.¹ He promised that the Company would settle every just claim of the Raja’s troops.¹ But the Raja must come to Visakhapatnam at once, with his usual attendants only.¹ If not, he would be treated as in “armed and wilful disobedience”, and the troops would act against him.¹

No reply came.¹ On 5 July Prendergast was ordered to enforce the Government’s orders, after giving the Raja twenty-four hours.¹ At dawn on 10 July 1794 he attacked the camp at Padmanabham.¹ The Raja was killed, with many of his followers.¹ See Padmanabham.

The promise to the young Raja

The Raja’s son, Narayana Raju, was a boy of eight.⁷ His guardians fled with him into the hills, and armed men gathered round him.⁷ Oakeley then sent an engagement under his own hand, dated 20 August 1794.² It promised the Company’s protection to the boy and to all the late Raja’s family and followers, if they returned within thirty days.²

Oakeley left office on 7 September 1794.³ Carmichael’s Visakhapatnam manual says that his successor, Lord Hobart, sent a new kaul (written promise) in the same terms.⁸ Narayana Raju came in and received it.⁸ See Lord Hobart and Vizianagaram.

Footnotes

1. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 53 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 55 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. C. D. Maclean (ed.), Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Vol. II (1885), p. 269, list of Governors of Fort St. George (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. W. Francis, Madras District Gazetteers: Vizagapatam, Vol. I (1907), p. 50 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 51 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 52 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

7. Francis, Vizagapatam (1907), p. 54 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

8. D. F. Carmichael, A Manual of the District of Vizagapatam (1869), p. 223 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²