A unique and unprecedented record of the people of Madras (Chennai) before the advent of the census in India.

This document was presented to John, 13th Lord Elphinstone (1807-1860) upon his departure from the post of Governor of Madras by the city and includes the names of 12,558 Indians residing in Madras and its surrounding area, written in their various hands. It represents an unparalleled cross-section of 'Madrassi' society and reveals the impact of British Rule on the lives of Indians in 1842. Printed in Telugu and Tamil as well as English, the address was clearly intended be read and understood by its signees as well as its recipient, as evidenced by an individual echoing the title by signing themselves as an 'inhabitant of Madras'. It likely conveyed the news of the Governor's departure, and the city's thanks and generous relationship with the Governor, to many for the first time.

The whole document was not together from the beginning but distributed as separate leaves amongst the city and surrounding towns, as evidenced by the names on some of the versos being upside-down and running into the margins which have latterly been clamped together. The effort in distributing and organising the creation of the document reveals the importance placed on the process of name collection, displaying those names to the Governor, and of the Governor himself in the lives of the Indians of the city as well as the wider province of Madras. Some leaves are headed with the towns they were sent to: 'Chingleput', 'Challoor' (Challur), 'Arcot', 'Cuddalore' (Kadalur), 'Trichinopoly' (Tiruchirappalli), 'Salem'. More than simply physical, this address records the processes used to interact with the people of India and how that engagement was relayed to the government.

The array of names alone opens up a world of cultural information. Each name in each script, in each size, and each hand, reveals the diversity of literacy and education across the social spectrum of Tamil Nadu. Where people have not been able to sign their own name, or be present for the signing, family members and acquaintances have filled in; there are runs of names in the same hand, or in the same ink, across all scripts. Certain surnames appear frequently, such as Coomaraswamy, Naik, Row, Pillay, Appawswamy, Naidoo, with some appearing dozens of times in different regions. The pride in one's profession is also on display with individuals describing themselves as a 'Marattah Translator', 'Acting Goomastah', 'Tobacco Superindt', 'Register in the Zillah Court of Chittoon', 'Deputy Head Writer of the Court', and more reflecting the breadth of the literate strata of society. One 'Goomastah' even apparently applied his seal, dated 1248 AH (1832), giving us a glimpse into the potential length of time taken to compile this document.

Whole groups also signed en masse (the 'Masulipatam Auxiliary Hindoo Literary Society' are fully represented) and although religions are not fully expressed many individuals end their names in their caste or title, such as as 'Bramin' or 'Chetty', giving a glimpse into the self-identification existent within the Hindu castes. This is especially significant as the self-identification of caste, as opposed to the Westernised paradigm of caste as understood and projected by the British onto Indian society, is far more accurate and genuinely reflective of how those Indians perceived themselves in 1842.

The first census of India is widely considered to be the 1865 census of the North-Western Provinces, instigated by the later stages of British Government Rule following the Rebellion of 1858, meaning this document predates any formal attempt to record the lives of Indians by 20 years. Some hands are shaky, some small, some simply giving a surname or title, but thousands made the effort to leave their name, and not one individual signed with a mark instead of an understandable word. For many of the 12,558 people in this document, it was likely the only opportunity for their name to be preserved.

John Elphinstone, nephew of Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859), was Governor of the Madras district from 1837 to 1842 and then later the Governor of Bombay during the Rebellion.

Folio (62.5 x 36.5 cm); 47 single folios of parchment, with a total of 12,558 manuscript names signed to both sides in triple columns in numerous scripts including English (Latin), Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, and Arabic, and covering address page printed in English, Telugu, and Tamil on parchment, all bound by a gold-plated clamp with engraved title to upper margin, sometime folded and two pages wrinkled but else in remarkable preserved condition.