NATIVE STREET NAMES OF MADRAS-1

Hi Friends,

Taking off from where I left in my last post, I am now on a mission to try and find out the history behind our native street names..its an enormous exercise and just glancing through the Eicher map of Chennai, I guess it will take me a long time before I am done, considering the number of lanes and by lanes in the city, many of which are intriguingly and exotically named. Not all of them may have an interesting story behind it, but nevertheless, its a small attempt at trying to trace the development of the city through its various characters.

This exercise will throw up further questions regarding the names for which answers would be welcome..

My first post in this series is about Telegraph Abboy Lane in Kondithope..

This street name had intrigued me until today, when I chanced upon who this character could have been..

I found a reference in the London Gazette to a G.Abboy Naidu, who in March 1894 had been declared insolvent. He was employed as an Inspector in the Telegraph Department of the Madras Railways and was a resident of Malayaperumal Street, George Town, which is not very far away from where today the Telegraph Abboy Lane is.

So my surmise is that the Telegraph Abboy Lane is named after this person..a reference is also found to this street as Telegraph Abboy Naidu lane, with the caste being dropped after the G.O cancelling all references to castes in street names.

But did he contribute something major to the locality he was resident of? Or why else was his name given to the street?

Answers welcome..