Indian Press on the Assassination of Robert William D. Ashe in the Madras Presidency, 1911-1912

Abstract

Vanchinatha lyer, a native of Shenkottah, employed with the Shenkottah Devasthanam of Erstwhile Travancore State and a committed Swadeshi nationalist, planned to kill Robert William D.Ashe, Collector of Tinnevelly District, took revolver shooting practice at Pondicherry in January 1911 to retaliate the District Collector for the arrest of V.O.Chidambaram Pillai and Subramania Siva, who were convicted and imprisoned for their anti-British activities in the Tinnevelly district in March 1908. The members of Bharath Matha Association and Neelakanda Brahmachari decided to field Vanchi lyer to annihilate R.W.D.Ashe in June 1911. On 17th June 1911, Ashe and his wife left Tinnevelly railway station by train to catch the Boat mail at Maniyatchi. Vanchi and Sankara Krishnan too travelled in the same train. Vanchi dressed in a green coat and white dhoti, pointed his French made pistol at Ashe and shot dead. Vanchi, who himself committed suicide after the incident at the Maniyatchi Railway Station. The political revenge changed the entire course of Swadeshi movement in the Madras Presidency.