Cathedral of St. George (Chennai)

The temple was opened in 1815 . They say that the church was completed by the people themselves with the help of the lottery fund. It cost 41,709 pagodas, and along with the furniture, organ and the remuneration of the architect for his work, his cost increased to 57,225 pagodas. 1 pagoda was the equivalent of 3.50 Indian rupees.
The chief engineer of the British East India Company, Colonel J. L. Caldwell, designed the church, and his assistant, Captain De Havilland, completed the construction. The construction site with a favorable location was called the Choultry Valley. Although the head of the military chaplains service had been worshiping since 1815, it was not until January 6, 1816, that the first Anglican archbishop of Calcutta , His High Reverend Thomas Fanshaw Middleton, consecrated the church for "service to God in accordance with the customs of the Church of England."

Since 1815, the church has grown significantly in many ways. The southeastern part of the territory of the Cathedral was reserved for the cemetery. The first funeral that took place at it was the funeral of De Havilland's wife. The cemetery's fence consisted of military regalia, among which were muskets and bayonets captured by the British armed forces at the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799. The directors of the British East India Company presented the tower clock to the trustees in 1828. This tower clock was installed on three sides of the bell tower of the temple, whose height was 149 feet. The belfry was completed in 1832. The altar seat was donated to Miss De La Foundation. The bells and the chimes were purchased with donations from Mr. Banburi and Rev. Thomas Foulkes, respectively. The copper altar cross was donated by the chief of medical service Cornish. The preaching chair was a memorable offering of friends to Archdeacon Warlow. The episcopal throne was a gift from F.E. Knil. The litany bench and clergy benches were carved from wood by V.S. Whiteside of the Madras Civil Service. The Golden Chalice and Discos for Holy Communion were donated by Lt. Col. Herbert St. Clair Carruther in 1908. They weighed 3 pounds and 7 ounces (1.6 kg) of 750 gold. On the bowl was a diamond decoration in the shape of a cross. The fencing of the altar was erected by P. Orr and his sons in memory of Edward William Orr, a member of the choir, who died in 1913 . The marble font for baptism was a gift for the parishioners.

St. George became famous as the Cathedral of Madras in 1835 . ^[1] The altarpiece depicts the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the form of an alabaster sculpture, above which is a statue of St. George of black marble, the patron saint of England, in whose honor the church is named. The altar was later lengthened by a semicircular apse with a radius of ten feet. The sacristy and the chapel of Our Lady were also added later. In 1884, the trustees replaced the roof of the stucco nave with a teak roof and covered it with papier-mâché trim.

At the left entrance to the cathedral is a statue of his high Reverend Daniel Corrie, the first bishop of Madras (1835–1837). An employee of many schools, he is depicted with an open Bible in priestly vestments and a golden tassel from a student's headdress, blessing an Indian boy in a loincloth. At the main entrance is a bas-relief of his High Reverend Thomas Diltry, Bishop of Madras (1849–1861). One who ordained 151 priests is depicted blessing two young priests, Rev. Lugard and Rev. Murphy, during the visit of his son Archdeacon Diltry. At the entrance to the aisle of the Virgin, there is a bust of his High Reverend Frederick Jell, Bishop of Madras (1861-1899). Nearby is a high relief statue of Reginald Geber near the chapel with an altar.

The cathedral has a memorial tablet in memory of the first Indian bishop of Madras, his High Reverend David Chellappa (1955-1964), erected by parishioners of St. George. The dedication of David Cellapp as the first Indian bishop in Madras in 1955 was an important event for the cathedral. Two other memorials in honor of the Indians are the memorial in honor of Dewan Bahadur N. Subrahmanyam (1841-1911), the general manager of Madras , who founded the hospital in Kalyani and donated capital for its maintenance, and Dr. R. D. Paula, who died in 1975 a year after "a long and dedicated service to the church, state and society . "

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