Sawyerpuram

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (November 2006)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (December 2006)

Sawyerpuram is a town panchayat in Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu, India. Since missionary Dr. G. U. Pope ministered in this place the population is predominantly Christian. This place is an historical and religious place.

It was first a settlement of persecuted Christians on land provided by Mr. Sawyer, an Anglo-Indian layman in the employ of the East India Company. The village thus formed in 1814 was gratefully named after him as Sawyerpuram. The Christian settlers quickly organized themselves, and by 1838 had built for themselves a small church and a school attended by 10 children. However, it was with the advent of intrepid young Dr. G. U. Pope in 1842 that Sawyerpuram shot into prominence in the annals of missionary history. He established in 1844 the renowned “Sawyerpuram Seminary”, which for a long time was the nursery of hundreds of Indian clergymen, teachers and catechists. The esteem in which this reputable centre of learning was held can be seen from the fact that the Oxford University contributed to the formation of a suitable library within its walls. Dr.G.U Pope is a Tamil Patron. His popular translations include Tirukkural and Tiruvachagam.

Dr. G U Pope’s efforts were equally directed to the extension of the Church. He built the All Saints Church at nearby Subramaniapuram enduring extreme hostility and insult. The lovely red-brick Holy Trinity Church at Sawyerpuram was built by Rev. Huxtable and Rev. Sharrock and dedicated on 11 November 1877 by the Most Rev. Johnson, Metropolitan of India.

Sawyerpuram was also the venue of the first experiment in “Medical Evangelism”. From the small beginning of a clinic set up in 1854 there sprang up St. Raphael’s Hospital, which became increasingly popular and did signal service during the outbreak of epidemics following the famine of 1877-1879.

It is significant that Dr. Pope’s Seminary blossomed into a College and was affiliated to the University of Madras in 1880. Rev. Sharrock was its first Principal. Bishop Caldwell thought it good to shift the College along with the High School to Tuticorin, leaving Sawyerpuram with a Middle School in 1883. Again the school got developed and at present it is a Higher secondary school with a history of more than 160 years. Many educational institutions were also developed and Sawyerpuram is well known in southern districts of Tamilnadu for its educational institutions. These include; the Holy Trinity Church, the Pope Memorial Higher Secondary School, Popes College, Dr. G.U Pope Engineering College & St. Mary's Girls' Higher Secondary School, Sawyerpuram.