Tamil Nadu Timeline

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Tamil scholar F. W. Ellis dies at Ramnad

· Ramanathapuram

Francis Whyte Ellis, Collector of Madras and founder of the College of Fort St. George, died of cholera on 10 March 1819 at Ramnad.

Ellis began working for the East India Company at Madras in 1796 and was appointed Collector of Madras in 1810. Learned in Tamil and Sanskrit, he established the College of Fort St. George in 1812, and a year later helped equip it with a press using Tamil types. Indian scholars such as Pattabhirama Shastri and Muthusami Pillai collaborated with him on the languages of south India. Cholera ended the life of Francis Whyte Ellis at Ramnad on 10 March 1819.

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