SKINNER’S CHURCH

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The one time in life people definitely remember there’s a God – is when they are dying, or think they are dying. One man surely did. He was James Skinner, who vowed, while lying wounded in the battlefield of Uniara in 1800, to build a Church if he survived. Skinner is also reported to have built a temple and a mosque, though details of them are unknown.

A hop, skip and a jump away from Kashmere Gate and the Metro station and you are there. But asking directions from a Delhi rickshaw wala we were literally taken for a ride and poorer by some rupees when we got there.

The Church, St. James Church, is the oldest church in Delhi, consecrated in the year 1836. It is mentioned in the history of the first struggle for independence, 1857. Designed by Major Robert Smith it was built between 1826-36 to a cruciform plan, with three porticoed porches and a central octagonal dome. It was consecrated on 21 November 1836. It was built at Skinner’s own expense and at a cost of 95,000 Rupees.


The Church has a Cruciform layout, an octagon at the centre, above the pillared octagon rises the eight-leafed dome surmounted by other eight pillars supporting the metal orb and the cross.

James Skinner lies buried in the chancel before the high Altar. At the four corners of the chancel are tablets listing the Commandants of the Regiment that he founded in 1803 as well as the Regiment officers killed in action.

On either side of the high Altar are two magnificent nineteenth century stained glass windows – the Crucifixion and the Ascension. The third is in the vestry – the Resurrection.

The pulpit with its exquisite wood and marble carvings is the rostrum from where the word of God is preached. A velvet lectern-fall with the crest of Skinner’s Horse adorns the pulpit.

The imposing brass lectern shaped like an eagle with the spread out wings is used for reading the Holy Scriptures.

The pipe organ, originally installed in 1899 is the musical instrument used during worship.

The Font inside the west door of the church is used for baptism; carved out of a single block of stone, the designer was Swinton Jacob, an architect associated with modern Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan.

On the walls, inside the church are numerous memorial tablets as well as some photographs evoking memories of a bygone era.

The Church garden is the only green spot of any significance in this otherwise congested and busy Kashmere Gate area. On one side of it is a small graveyard, the last resting place of many of Skinner’s family members.

Lying buried, in front of the Church are also two of Delhi’s historic personalities. Thomas Theophilus Metcalf, British Resident in Mughal Emperor’s Court and William Fraser, Agent to the British Governor General in Delhi both good friends of James Skinner.

Next to Fraser’s tomb a large stone cross stands as a memorial to the Martyrs of Delhi.

JAMES SKINNER

James Skinner was an Anglo Indian military adventurer in India, who became known as Sikandar Sahib later in life, and is most known for two cavalry regiments he raised for the British, later known as 1st Skinner's Horse and 3rd Skinner's Horse at Hansi in 1803, which still are a part of the Indian Army.

Skinner was born in 1778 in Calcutta. His father was Lieutenant-Colonel Hercules Skinner, an officer in the East India Company Army of Scottish origin, while his mother was a Rajput princess, daughter of a zaminder she was taken prisoner at the age of fourteen, and came under the care of his father, then an ensign, who treated her with

much regard, and subsequently they had six children, three girls and three boys, David, James and Robert. When he was 12 years old his mother committed suicide, he was first educated at an English school in Calcutta, and then at a boarding school.

He was a fluent writer in Persian, the court and intellectual language of India in his day, and wrote several books in Persian, including "Kitab-i tasrih al-aqvam" (History of the Origin and Distinguishing Marks of the Different Castes of India).

Skinner died at Hansi, Haryana) on 4 December 1841, at the age of 64. He was first buried in the Cantonment Burial Ground at Hansi and later after a period of 40 days, he was disinterred, and his coffin was brought to

Delhi, escorted by 200 men of Skinner’s Horse, subsequently he was buried in Skinner's Church on 19 January 1842 in a vault of white marble immediately below the Communion Table.

It is said that James Skinner had fourteen wives and many children. Many of his family members and their descendants are buried in Skinner's family plot, north of the Church, where he lies buried today.

To get there, the easiest way is to take the metro and get off at the Kashmere Gate station. Out of Gate 1, one is just a couple of yards away from Kashmere Gate or whatever is left of it. Across the road from the Gate, you will see the Church. Just cross over!

KASHMERE GATE

The Kashmere Gate is the northern gate to the historic walled city of Delhi built by Military Engineer Robert Smith in 1835. It was the area around the North gate of the walled city of Delhi, leading to the Red Fort. The gate was facing towards Kashmir, so it was named as Kashmiri Gate.

When Britishers first started settling in Delhi in 1803, they found the walls of the old city, Shahjahanabad lacking repairs, especially after siege by Maratha Holkar in 1804; subsequently they reinforced city's walls. They gradually set up their residential estates in Kashmere Gate area, which once housed Mughal palaces and homes of nobility. The gate next gained national attention during the Mutiny of 1857. Indian soldiers fired volleys of cannon balls from this gate at the British and used the area to assemble for strategizing fighting and resistance.

The British had used the gate to prevent the mutineers from entering the city. Evidence of the struggles is visible today in damages to the existing walls (the damage is presumably cannon ball related). Kashmere Gate was the scene of an important assault by British Army during Indian rebellion of 1857, during which on the morning of September 14, 1857 the bridge and the left leaf of the Gate were destroyed using gunpowder, starting the final assault on the rebels towards the end of Siege of Delhi.

After 1857, the British moved to Civil Lines, and Kashmere Gate became the fashionable and commercial centre of Delhi, a status it lost only after the creation of New Delhi in 1931. In, 1965, a section of the Kashmere Gate was demolished to allow faster movement of vehicular traffic, since then it has become a protected monument by ASI.

Source of information: Wikipedia and Church visitor’s guide.

Photographs: Taken by me during a recent visit to the Church

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