Michael Bastian John was 32 and Isabella 20 when their first child was born, yet all he says on Page 2 of his House Register is this:
- Child a girl was born on Monday the 17th May in the year 1915 at 2.30 am and was baptised at St John’s Church, Kuala Lumpur, FMS. Her name “Mary” (Ivy).
Written vertically on the left was her place of birth: Chow Kit Road, Kuala Lumpur Delivery.
And vertically on the right: God-parents Mr & Mrs A. Gabriel.
He signed off on the bottom right side of the entry. Later, he added a note: Joined school on 16th August 1920.
There is no telling if Ivy’s birth was the most joyous of occasions for the couple. She was born nearly four years after they married. What took them so long? Did Isabella miscarry, but Michael did not consider that loss an event to record? Did they endure whispers and teasing by curious family members nudging them to get moving on starting a family? There is only one photo of Michael with any of his children, first-born Ivy, when she was about a year old.
ii. Child a boy was born on Wednesday the 26th September in the year 1917 at 11.25am and was baptised at the above Church. His name “Justin”. God-parents: Mr & Mrs A. Manuelpillai
Justin was born at Pudu Road: Mrs Daily’s house Delivery. Like Ivy Mary, he was baptised at St John’s Church.
My grandfather started his House Register in 1917, the year Justin arrived three days before his 35th birthday. Was that the momentous occasion, when he was bursting with pride at fathering a son, that moved him to start recording the family details? His brief entry provides no hint that he was that kind of Indian man, or if he and Isabella felt a special joy at the birth of a son.
iii. Child… a girl was born on Monday the 14th October in the year 1918 at 12.30am and was baptised at the above Church. Her name, “Isabella” (Girly).
The baby was born at Petaling, and her godparents were Mr and Mrs J.A. De Cruz.
Twenty months later, Michael took out his notebook for the birth of another daughter.
iv. Child… a girl was born on Saturday the 3rd July in the year 1920 at 11.51pm and was Baptised at the above Church. Her name, “Bertha”.
Bertha was born at 42, Weld Road, and her godparents were Mr R.C. Lopez and “Mrs Colundasamy (Louisa)”. It is the first time MB John reveals that the family lived at a house along Weld Road, at the foot of Bukit Nanas, near St John’s Church, St John’s Institution and the Infant Jesus Convent. He does not mention that “Mrs Colundasamy (Louisa)” is his younger sister.
This child died in infancy. On Page 4 of his notebook, MB John wrote:
Bertha IV Girl, Died on 25th April 1921 at No. 42 Weld Road at 12.15am aged 9 Months & 22 days.
How could Isabella and Michael not have been overwhelmed by grief at their baby’s death that day? Yet he gave nothing away, merely signing off on the entry, as always. Did Isabella weep for days after? Did Michael? Ivy was now six years old, Justin, four, and Girly, three.
The entry for Elizabeth’s birth is smudged.
A year after Bertha’s death, Isabella gave birth again.
v. Child a girl was born on Wednesday the 3rd of May in the year 1922 at 5.45am and was baptised at St John’s Church, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday, the 13th May 1922. Her name “Elizabeth”. Godparents Mr & Mrs F.P. David. Baptised by Rd Fr V.M. Renard.
Elizabeth was also born at 42 Weld Road.
MB John turned 40 that year. A day after his birthday, he used his best handwriting to record the death of his widowed sister: Louisa D. Colandasamy. Born 4th November 1886, married 31.8.1906, Died 30th September 1922 at Petaling. Age 36 years.
The “36” is smudged and written over. Did a teardrop wet the page? Over two years, he had lost a child, had another and buried his sister.
Louisa was married to Davis Colundasamy who died sometime before she did. They had five sons whom everyone would always refer to as the “D.C. brothers” because of the way they were named, with their father’s names as their first two names, followed by their given names – D.C. Joseph, D.C. John, D.C. Albert, D.C. Jacob and D.C. Michael.
Louisa’s second son, John, was 13 when she died. Almost a quarter of a century later, he would marry Michael and Isabella’s youngest daughter Agnes. John and Agnes were my parents.
Eight months after Louisa’s death, Isabella had another daughter.
vi. Child a Girl was born on Monday the 28th May in the year 1923 at 2am and was baptised at St John’s Church KL on Saturday the 9th June 1923. Her name “Beatrice”. Godparents Mr & Mrs M.L. Gomez. Baptised by Rev Fr Renard. (Mrs Gomez [Faustina] was at Quilon.)
Beatrice was born at the Kuala Lumpur general hospital.
My grandfather’s handwriting changes from here on, through what would be the final decade of his life. There is no more of the calligraphic script and his entries – already so brief — become even more straightforward.
One year after Beatrice, another son arrives.
vii. Child a Boy was born on Saturday the 16th May in the year 1925 at about 3am and was baptised at St John’s Church, K. Lumpur on Saturday the 23rd May 1925. His name “Cyril”. Godparents Mr & Mrs S.G. De’Netto.
A different priest, Father Dwell, baptised Cyril, who was born at “the new house No.19 Hicks Road K. Lumpur”. This was also in the Weld Road area, but the family did not stay long at the new address.
By the time Isabella gave birth again, the following year, they had moved from the town centre to Setapak on the outskirts. Was this the period when my grandfather’s luck began running out, gambling became a problem, and they had to move to cheaper lodgings?
Two sons and a daughter were born in Setapak.
viii, Child a Boy was born on Thursday the 12th August 1926 at about 2pm in No.13 Setapak and was baptised at St John’s Church K. Lumpur on Saturday the 21st August 1926. His name “Alexander”. His godparents Mr & Mrs P.B. Loabe
ix. Child a boy was born on Sunday the 23rd October 1927 at 7pm in No.13 Setapak and was baptised at St John’s Church on Saturday the 29th October 1927. His name “Theodoret”. Godparents Mr & Mrs F.M. Gomez.
x. Child a Girl was born on Sunday the 24th March 1929 at about 10pm in No.13A Setapak and was baptised at St John’s Church on Saturday 30th March 1929. Her name “Agnes”. Godparents Mr R.C. Lopez and Miss Roselene Lopez.
Agnes, Michael and Isabella’s youngest daughter, was my mother. Eighteen months after she was born, Isabella gave birth for the last time. She was 35 and Michael, 47, when their eleventh child arrived.
xi. Child a Boy was born on Tuesday the 4 November 1930 at 1.20am in No.26 Weld Road, and was baptised at St John’s Church on Sunday the 9th November 1930. His name “Charles”. Godparents Mr & Mrs John Pereira, Cheras Estate.
MB John put away his notebook after that.
The next time he made an entry was in the middle of May, 1934, to jot down that his son Theodoret had started school. Four months later, on September 20, he died nine days short of his 52nd birthday.
He had filled his House Register over 17 years.
My grandfather spent about three decades in Malaya and never saw his hometown Trivandrum again. His notebook says nothing of how his fortunes changed over the years he spent in Kuala Lumpur with Isabella, or if their ever growing family ever wore them down. There were tears, for sure, but where was the laughter, when did they share good times, with whom?
Those early decades of the 20th century were a period of great development in Kuala Lumpur, when some of its finest landmarks were built, from public administrative buildings to schools, religious houses of worship and the magnificent mansions of the Chinese towkays who thrived from tin mines, commerce and the transformation going on everywhere.
Near Weld Road, where Michael and Isabella spent many years, they would have seen St John’s Institution, the Catholic boys’ school founded in 1904, grow from simple beginnings to become a landmark red brick building on Bukit Nanas. Their sons, grandsons and a granddaughter would attend that school through to the 1970s.
They could have walked, or taken a rickshaw, and passed the point where the Gombak and Klang rivers merged, giving Kuala Lumpur its name which means “muddy confluence”.
They would have watched a collection of beautiful new buildings rise and transform the town centre, from the row of government buildings and supreme court to the KL Railway Station and the headquarters of the Malayan Railways Administration.
Michael and Isabella would be long gone when their sons, nephews, a daughter-in-law and son-in-law would work as clerks, government administrators and accountants in these buildings through much of the century.
Did they sometimes linger at the Padang, the patch of green at the town centre, to take in the view of the impressive government buildings and clock tower, St Mary’s Anglican Church and the Selangor Club, the colonial institution they would not have been allowed into because it was the preserve of the Orang Putih, the white men and women?
They could not have imagined that the Padang would be the spot where Malaya would declare independence from Britain in 1957, or that their sons and grandchildren would one day be able go into the clubhouse for drinks and a meal, taking in the view of the civic centre, as only the colonials once could.
Michael and Isabella never went home to Travancore, but to see Kuala Lumpur at the time, it was not at all a bad place to leave their children.
To be continued.
Part 4: Michael and Isabella’s children.
I don’t know where this will go, but I’ll just write down what I know and maybe someday someone else will figure it out.
Alan John 