A majority of Purasawalkam residents would be familiar with the Lawder’s Gate bus stop close to the late Kv Al Rm Alagappa Çhettiyar’s house, Lakmi Vilas, and between the nowdefunct Bank Manickam Mudaliar Park and Gangadaréswarar Temple.
Who was this Lawder, after whom this bus stop remains named? James Lawder was a medical doctor, in charge of the native infirmary in Purasawalkam, which was attached to the Monégar Çoultry (Kanji Tôtti Hospital, later renamed the Stanley Medical College & Hospital). Leprosy was a major problem in the eighteenth century Madras. Because of high numbers of leprosy patients, the government expanded the Monégar Çoultry facility. The native infirmary at Purasawalkam, established in 1809, was annexed to the Monégar Çoultry in July 1840 to treat patients of leprosy. James Lawder served as the doctor in charge in the Purasawalkam facility.
James Lawder was born on March 9, 1788, and he qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) of England on January 17, 1812. He joined Madras Medical Service as Assistant Surgeon on July 13, 1822, was elevated to Full Surgeon on 1 February 1835, and elected to the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS) of England on August 26, 1844. He retired from active service on February 15, 1848 and died in the UK on February 21, 1860. Earlier to his commission in Madras, he had served in the Peninsular War and in USA in 1814. He was one of the 29 officers of the Indian Medical Service to be elected as a Fellow of the English Royal College of Surgeons in 1844. He married Anna Maria in 1820 and they had two sons Edward and William.
The Directory of the English Royal College of Surgeons says (page 687): “He (Lawder) retired on half pay on 22 June 1820.” Implications of this statement are unclear.
Historian Jane Buckingham refers to Lawder’s contributions to public health in Madras in the following contexts: he took substantial interest and leadership in organising appropriate ventilation in the then newly constructed hospital (1840) because Dr Walter Gaven King’s (who is celebrated in the name King Institute of Preventive Medicine in Guindy) Madras Manual of Hygiene emphasized good ventilation in hospitals; Lawder also insisted on the construction of a 10’ (c. 3 m) tall compound wall to the ‘Leper Asylum’, whereas the government preferred of a 7’ (c. 2 m) tall compound wall for economic reasons. Lawder believed in clamping strong restraints on patients of leprosy, principally for restricting the spread of the ‘dreaded’ disease; Lawder seems to have preferred the asylum to remain a ‘prison’, rather than a ‘retreat’ for patients.
Valmay Young (http://valmayukuk.
tripod.com/id39.html, accessed on 20 July 2009) indicates that James Lawder resided on Poonamallee Road. Could this be a possible reason why the bus stop in Purasawalkam is known as Lawder’s Gate? Or, did his residence exist somewhere at the place now called the Lawder’s Gate, because no street names – as they are now – could have existed, except the road to Poonamallee from Fort St. George, and hence his house was identified on Poonamallee Road? James Lawder’s elder son Edward James Lawder was born in Madras on November 5, 1821 and died in London March 2, 1900. Edward served the Madras Army as a General and married Dora-Jane Moore-Lane in 1845. Dora-Jane was the daughter of the Irish surgeon Thomas Moore-Lane, who practiced ophthalmology and was the second superintendent of the Madras Eye Infirmary (1824–1844) (later the Egmore Ophthalmic Hospital). No details of William (b. 1823) could be traced.
(The author is a senior lecturer in Ecological Agriculture at Charles Sturt University, Orange, New South Wales, Australia)