Note: There are 6 Pages about Mac. Please read in the following order:
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – Introduction
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – Origin and Early Years
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – The Stalwart Who Never Was
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – The Post-Lovedale Years
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – From Rugby to Ruin
Mac – Wilfred Joseph McMahon – Then and Now
In the 1890s Joseph McMahon, a train driver of Bhusawal Railway Colony, married Winifred Adelaide Ribero (she also used surname Menzis). The couple had three children: Reginald Joseph, Helina Winifred and Vernon Wilfred. Vernon Wilfred was the father of Wilfred Joseph, who is the subject of this and other Pages. Helina Winifred died in infancy and when Vernon was a year old, his mother Winifred Adelaide died of measles. Widower Joseph remarried but dumped Reginald and Vernon into St. Francis De Sales Orphanage in Nagpur. This wasn’t unusual in the Anglo-Indian community as, if a widower remarried, his new wife wouldn’t accept children from a previous marriage. The orphanage, run by the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales gave Reginald and Vernon a basic education. The brothers left the orphanage at sixteen as was customary and emerged as Telegraph operators in the Railway Colony of Mhow. At their peak the two brothers earned a paltry 50 rupees a month but accommodation, exactly as in the case of all Railway Colonies was virtually free.
On the 16 of January 1924, humble telegraphist Vernon Wilfred Joseph McMahon aged 29, mentioned above married Margaret Delphine Braganza, aged 22 daughter of John Braganza. The witness for Vernon was Robert Stanislaw Woodman and the witness for Margaret was Edward Titus. On the same day, telegraphist Victor Egidius D’Souza, aged 26, son of Cajetan Xavier D’Souza married Annie Braganza, aged 19, daughter of John Braganza. The witnesses were Robert Stanislaw Woodman and Edward Titus. Obviously Margaret and Annie were sisters. However, whereas Margaret signed her own name, John Braganza signed on behalf of Annie suggesting she was illiterate.
On the 28th of February 1925, telegraphist Vernon Wilfred Joseph McMahon and Margaret Delphine McMahon were blessed with a baby boy, Wilfred Joseph who was baptised on 7 March 1925. This was the baby boy we got to know as Mac.Next day, on 1 March 1925, telegraphist Victor Egidius DeSouza and Ann DeSouza were blessed with a baby girl Phyllis Marie who was baptised on 1 March 1925. It would seem that the two sisters, Margaret and Annie, married on the same day in the same year produced children in the year following their marriages, within hours of each other! Thus Wilfred had a cousin from his mother’s side within a day of his birth. Below are the Marriage Certificate of Vernon and Margaret, Victor and Annie and the Birth Certificate of Wilfred and Phyllis. Note: although the certificates describe the place of abode as Indore, all events really took place in Mhow which can best be described as an overspill town to Indore. Mhow was an Army cantonment and was packed solid with Anglo-Indians. Mac was one such Anglo-Indian. For the pedantic among us, a cantonment is a civilian area controlled by the Military. These Anglo-Indians were given jobs in the Railways and allied trades such as telegraphy. These jobs were not open to Indians. The Anglo-Indians were all Christians; there were never any Hindu/Muslim/Jain/Sikh Anglo-Indians!
The community of Anglo-Indians outside of Lawrence School Lovedale was resented and derided as imperial lackeys and British stooges. This continues to be the case albeit that community has now virtually disintegrated! Certainly in his early years and up to the age of 31 when Mac joined Lawrence School Lovedale, he was an integral part of the Anglo Indian Railway Community of Mhow. To me, having studied the History of the community, it explains the behaviour of the character which had a devastating effect on my life and that of my parents who spent all the hours and treasure God gave them, on sending my siblings and I to Lawrence School, Lovedale.
I quote Nobel Prize winning author V.S. Naipaul about the Anglo-Indian community. This is taken from his book ‘An Area of Darkness’ written in 1964 when Mac, then aged 39 was at the peak of his career. My brother had already been in his ‘House’, Nilgiri, for 5 years and I was to enter in 1965:
‘this is a mimicry not of England, a real country, but of the fairy-tale land of Anglo-India, of clubs and sahibs and syces and bearers. It is as if an entire society had fallen for the casual confidence of a trickster. Casual because the trickster had gone away, losing interest in his joke, but leaving the Anglo-Indians flocking to the churches of Calcutta on a Sunday morning to assert an alien faith more or less abandoned in its country of origin….Leaving ‘civil lines’, ‘cantonments’, leaving people ‘going off to the hills’; magic words now fully possessed, now spoken as of right, in what is now at last Indian Anglo-India, where smartness can be found in the cosy proletarian trivialities of Women’s Own and the Daily Mirror, and where Mrs. Hauksbee, a Millamant of the suburbs, is still the arbiter of elegance.‘
Please see my Page: Anglo-Indians, Naipaul and Jitu Savani
Mhow was packed solid with Anglo-Indians. For the pedantic among us, a cantonment is a civilian area controlled by the Military. These Anglo-Indians were given jobs in the Railways and allied trades such as telegraphy. Such jobs were not open to Indians. The Anglo-Indians were all Christians; there were never any Hindu/Muslim/Jain/Sikh Anglo-Indians!
The Anglo-Indians thrived in such societies. They were never highly paid but jobs were guaranteed in low-skill low wage-trades. They spoke only English and were totally loyal to the British. None of them ever took part in the fight for freedom. In fact, they sided WITH the British. A few years after Independence, the Anglo-Indian community of Mhow, exactly as happened in the rest of India virtually collapsed. Not though, before Mac was fully integrated and thrived in that community. Today there are just 5 Anglo-Indian families left and they are in the process of disintegrating, not least because of internecine fights among themselves. Wilfred Joseph’s niece, Linda Dalal, for example is the occupier of the family home (in reality now reduced to a shanty within a slum) but Linda, a lovely lady, spends most of her time in Dubai with her two sons Navneet and Neeraj who live and work there. I used the word ‘occupier’ deliberately as houses within the Railway Colonies were always owned by the Railways but repossession proceedings are lax! Neither Mac nor any relative has ever had the financial nous to purchase such a property and in any case the Railways wouldn’t sell!
Below is Wilfred Joseph’s family tree that started with his grandfather Joseph McMahon.
Various characters are mentioned and I shall amplify in the writing that follows. Needless to say that people will be surprised to note that Mac did in fact, have a girlfriend! Her name was Audrey Guerra but more about her later. I set out below a map of Mhow and will tie that with various characters mentioned in the family tree:
Let us start at the bottom right: You will notice the Railway Colony. The colony has virtually crumbled. One of the houses in this colony is still occupied by Linda Dalal, Wilfred Joseph’s niece although it looks like any house you will see in a slum.
In the middle of the map you will notice Rajeshwar Hr. Secondary School. This was formerly known as Sacred Heart School and attached to that school is Sacred Heart Church. Then as now the school is very Christian and I can only assume that the school, founded in 1892 had a name change due to political reasons. I went inside and met the Head, Father Irudayaraj Antony. This is the school where Wilfred Joseph was both, a pupil and subsequently a teacher before he moved to Lawrence School where he remained for 19 years.
Further up the map you will see the Head Post Office. This is where Wilfred Joseph’s father Vernon worked as a telegraph operator. After that you will see St Mary’s Higher Secondary School where Wilfred Joseph’s girlfriend Audrey Guerra studied and subsequently taught music. She was known as the ‘Singing Miss’. Before Audrey taught music at the school, Audrey’s mother was also a music teacher there. Audrey’s daughter Colette too was a pupil at the school. Colette is alive and occupies the house left by her parents; the said house is, you’ve guessed, crumbling! Colette is now a recluse and not in a sound mental condition. She was abandoned by her husband and both of her daughters were taken, compulsorily into mental homes. I visited St Mary’s School and met the Head, Sister Manisha. Sister Manisha was taught music by Audrey and when Audrey died, sang at her funeral.
In complete contrast to the deplorable town of Mhow, the two schools, Rajeshwar (previously known and Sacred Heart) and St Mary’s are superbly run, with well maintained buildings, great play areas and wonderful staff. The pupils in both schools were very happy. One may wonder why and my conclusion is that the Church is heavily involved in funding both. Make a note of the involvement of the Church as this played a very important role in the life of Mac and we, his humble pupils felt the repercussions of that many years later! The premises are very new and could not have been the same as when Wilfred Joseph studied there.
In the photographs below: on the left Railway Colony House allocated to Vernon and occupied by his granddaughter Linda (Mac’s niece) as a squatter. This was where Mac was brought up along with his brothers Keith and Len. On the right is the Post Office where Vernon (Mac’s father) was a Telegraph Operator:
The photos below (Left to Right) are of Keith (Mac’s brother) and his wife Doreen, the graves of Keith together with his mother Margaret and next to that in the smaller grave Doreen and on the right, Mac’s brother Lenny
Below are two photographs of Rajeshwar Higher Secondary School , formerly Sacred Heart School where Wilfred Joseph studied and taught. On the right, Jitu with Father Irudayanath Antony, the Principal of Rajeshwar High School.
Below Left: St Mary’s Higher Secondary School where Audrey Guerra, Mac’s lady friend was a pupil, and like her mother a Music Teacher. On the Right: Jitu with Sister Manisha
Wilfred Joseph was born into a family that was dirt poor. His father Vernon and his uncle Reginald were earning Rs 50 (50 bucks) per month at their peak. The family lived within the tight-knit Anglo-Indian Community and were blissfully unaware of the trauma that India was going through in the freedom struggle, the World War, the famine etc. Wilfred’s father Vernon as a telegraphist could eke out barely enough money to support his wife and three sons only because housing, virtually free, was job-related and education for the three brothers didn’t cost anything in Sacred Heart Catholic school.
Audrey Guerra was from the family that had a business called Guerra and Sons, started in the early 1900s and were the official photographers to the Army stationed in Mhow. Audrey and Wilfred were childhood sweethearts who cycled together.
Having completed School in Mhow financed by Sacred Heart Church, Wilfred Joseph went to Agra University, financed by the Church as his father Vernon on 50 bucks a month couldn’t afford the fees and ancillary costs such as transport, clothes, food and books. Initially, he obtained a Bachelors Degree. Within Agra there was a thriving Anglo-Indian community. Wilfred Joseph then returned to Mhow and taught at Sacred Heart. This is what was expected of students whose University education was financed by the Church. He went on to obtain a Bachelor of Teaching Diploma at Ajmer Teacher Training College. Ajmer also had a thriving Anglo-Indian community and indeed still has an Anglo-Indian community although it cannot be described as thriving; most Anglo-Indians now take in students learning English as the community is reputed to be good in teaching that language. Finally, Wilfred Joseph returned to Agra and obtained a Masters degree, once again financed by the Church. Following that, he continued to teach at Sacred Heart, as was expected by the Church that financed his studies.
Father Lenzen was a German Catholic Priest who was Principal both, when Mac was a pupil as well as when he taught there.
Astonishingly, the tiny little Anglo-Indian community left in Mhow today remember that Vernon and Margaret, Mac’s parents, as well as Audrey and Mac spent virtually all their free time gambling, drinking and smoking. Vernon on 50 bucks a month could not possibly have afforded such a lifestyle. That irresponsible behaviour explains why Mac lived his life the way he did, abrogating his responsibilities as a Housemaster in Lovedale and dying in penury many years later!
At some stage, Audrey dumped Wilfred Joseph and fell for an Army Officer, Ken Kannan. Perhaps that is the reason why in early 1956 Wilfred Joseph joined Lawrence School Lovedale which is located a thousand miles away from Mhow. This was the time when Headmaster of Lawrence School, K.I. Thomas was easing out the unskilled, unqualified Anglo-Indian staff but Wilfred Joseph went against the trend and joined, albeit he was well qualified and experienced as a teacher.
Below is a photo of the house still occupied by Audrey’s daughter Colette. The once beautiful house is now run down and crumbling:
