When Danish ships anchored at Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) in 1620, they planted
not only a flag but also a cross. From a humble chapel inside Fort Dansborg, to
Zion Church (1701), to Ziegenbalg’s Tamil mission, and finally the handover to
the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) in 1919, Tranquebar became the
cradle of Protestant Christianity in India. What follows is a roll-call of
service — chaplains, missionaries, Moravian brethren, Leipzig pioneers, CMS
visitors, and early Tamil clergy — each of whom left their mark on this small
coastal town that shaped global mission history.
I. Danish Chaplains of Zion Church (1620–1706)
The Danes first worshipped in the chapel of Fort Dansborg, then built Zion
Church in 1701, the oldest standing Protestant church in India.
1. Bartholomaeus
Pessart — one of the first recorded Danish chaplains in Tranquebar.
2. Christian
Bonorden — mid-1600s chaplain for garrison and settlers.
3. Jacob Wilcke —
long-serving chaplain before 1700.
4. Thomas Brochmann — officiated around 1701
when Zion Church was built.
5. Jonas Bruun — active at the time Ziegenbalg
arrived.
6. Lauritz Smith — mediating chaplain during early missionary
conflicts.
7. J. Ivarson — double role as chaplain and mission pastor.
8. K. E.
Mold — chaplain who also assisted the mission.
9. Hans Knudsen — pastor at Zion,
supporting the Tamil work.
10. Henning Munch Engelhart — remembered with
affection as a gentle chaplain of Zion in the late 18th century.
IV. Leipzig Evangelical Lutheran Mission (1840–1919)
II. Danish–Halle Lutheran Missionaries (1706–1820s)
In 1706, the first two Halle missionaries arrived: Ziegenbalg and Plütschau.
Over the next century, 54 missionaries served in Tranquebar and its satellites.
1. Heinrich Plütschau — co-founder, first schoolmaster.
2. Bartholomäus
Ziegenbalg — pioneer Tamil Bible translator and educator.
3. Johann Ernst
Gründler — scholar, carried Ziegenbalg’s legacy.
4. Johann Georg Bövingh — early
assistant, brief tenure.
5. Benjamin Schultze — ordained at Tranquebar, later
founded Madras mission.
6. Nicolaus Dal — catechism helper.
7. Johann H.
Kistenmacher — early assistant.
8. Matthias Bosse — leader from 1725–49.
9. C.
F. Pressier — died at Tranquebar.
10. C. T. Walther — preacher and catechist.
11. Andreas Worm — died young.
12. Samuel Richtsteig — short service, died in
Tranquebar.
13. J. A. Sartorius — stationed at Cuddalore.
14. J. E. Geister —
Madras/Cuddalore connections.
15. G. W. Obuch — died in service.
16. J. C.
Wiedebrock — 30 years’ service.
17. J. Balthasar Kohlhoff (sen.) — served 50+
years.
18. J. Z. Kiernander — later pioneer in Bengal.
19. J. P. Fabricius —
major Tamil scholar in Madras.
20. Daniel Zeglin — long-time pastor.
21. Oluf
Maderup — Danish pastor, Zion Church (1742–76).
22. Jacob Klein — 44 years’
service.
23. J. C. Breithaupt — trained in Tranquebar.
24. C. F. Schwartz —
giant of mission, later Tanjore.
25. David Poltzenhagen — died in Nicobar.
26.
G. H. C. Hüttemann — Cuddalore–Tranquebar link.
27. Peter Dame — died on journey
to Tanjore.
28. W. F. Gericke — evangelist from 1767.
29. J. F. König — 27 years
at Tranquebar.
30. F. W. Leidemann — buried at Tranquebar.
31. W. J. Müller —
died within a year.
32. Christoph Samuel John — Tamil Bible translator (42
years).
33. J. C. Diemer — short tenure.
34. J. W. Gerlach — later to Calcutta.
35. J. P. Rottler — later Madras leader.
36. J. J. Schollkopf — brief stay.
37.
Christian Pohle — moved inland.
38. L. F. Rülsen — died shortly after arrival.
39. J. D. Mentzel — 1781–84.
40. P. R. Hagelund — 1786–88.
41. J. C. Kohlhoff
(jun.) — ordained 1787, Tanjore.
42. J. D. Jänicke — Tanjore/Palamcottah.
43. A.
F. Caemmerer — often sole missionary.
44. C. W. Pätzold — Tamil scholar.
45. E.
P. H. Stegmann — later Zion pastor.
46. W. T. Ringeltaube — later LMS in
Travancore.
47. I. G. Holzberg — Tanjore and Cuddalore.
48. L. C. Früchtenicht —
dismissed 1802.
49. C. H. Horst — died 1810.
50. Daniel Schreyvogel — ordained
1813, resigned 1826.
51. C. A. Jacobi — died 1814.
52. J. G. P. Schneider —
Tanjore 1819–26.
53. L. P. Haubroe — Madras/Tanjore.
54. David Rosen — later
Nicobar colony leader.
III. Moravian Missionaries (1760–1803)
Arriving in 1760, they set up the Brüdergarten at Tranquebar as a base for
Nicobar work.
55. G. J. Stahlmann — led the first party.
56. A. G. Völker —
preached in Tamil and Portuguese.
57. Christoph Buttler — catechist and teacher.
58. Benjamin Heyne — physician, later botanist.
(Over 70 Moravians cycled
through; 47 died. Mission closed 1795, property sold 1803.)
Revived the Lutheran mission after the Danish exit, established seminaries at
Porayar and schools at Tranquebar and Mayavaram.
59. J. H. C. Cordes — reopened
mission, founded Porayar Seminary (1841).
60. C. E. C. Ochs — Mayavaram mission,
girls’ orphan school.
61. J. M. N. Schwarz — Senior in Tranquebar (1872–84).
62.
E. D. Appelt — ordained at Tranquebar 1847; school overseer.
63. A. Melius —
short service (1847–50).
64. K. H. Schmeisser — died 1848.
65. C. F. Kremmer —
active at Tranquebar/Porayar.
66. A. Fr. Wolff — early Leipzig missionary.
67.
Julius Glasell — 1849–51.
68. J. C. G. Speer — 1852–53.
69. E. R. Baierlein —
covered Tranquebar 1857–58.
70. C. A. Ouchterlony — Swedish auxiliary.
71. G. K.
Lundgren — 1853–55.
72. J. F. Meischel — 1854–60.
73. Richard Handmann —
director, Porayar Seminary (1872–76).
74. S. S. Zehme — Tranquebar school head
(1893), seminary leader (1904).
75. Paul Gäbler — Leipzig leader, laid
Tranquebar Hall foundation (1935).
V. CMS/Anglican Links (1820s–30s)
76. G. T. Barenbruck — CMS missionary, served at Tranquebar/Mayavaram (1823–31).
77. C. T. E. Rhenius — studied Tamil at Tranquebar in 1814 before Tirunelveli
mission.
VI. Early Tamil Clergy
78. Aaron — baptized 1718, ordained 1733.
79. Diogo — ordained 1741, died 1781.
80. Ambrose — ordained 1749, died 1777.
81. Philip — ordained 1772, died 1788.
82. Rayappen — ordained 1778, died 1797.
83. Sattianaden — ordained 1790, died
1815.
VII. Directors & Visionaries (Germany → Tranquebar)
84. Karl Graul (1814–1864) — Director of the Leipzig Mission (1844–64), visited
India (1849–53), translated the Tirukkural into German, and promoted
indigenization of the Tamil Church.
VIII. Special Notes: CMS and American Mission Burials in Tranquebar
85. Rev. John Christian Schnarre (c.1781–1820)
A German Lutheran pastor
commissioned by the Church Missionary Society (CMS), he sailed with C. T. E.
Rhenius in 1814 as the first CMS missionaries to India. After arriving in Madras
in July, Schnarre spent months at Tranquebar learning Tamil under the
Danish-Halle mission, then returned periodically to support the school system
there. At the request of Rev. Caemmerer, he supervised and reported on the
Tranquebar schools, submitting detailed lists of teachers, pupils, and
examinations to CMS (1815–1820). These reports, printed in the Missionary
Register and CMS Proceedings, made him the link between the fading Danish
mission and the rising CMS presence in South India. In Tranquebar, he married
into the Schreyvogel family, and his grave still stands in the New Jerusalem
Churchyard, alongside those of his in-laws. After his death in 1820, his widow
continued in mission service, assisting Mrs. Rhenius at the Palamcottah Female
Seminary, shaping the earliest efforts in women’s education under CMS.
86. Rev.
J. J. Lawrence (1816–1846)
A missionary of the American Board of Commissioners
for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), Lawrence was part of the pioneering Madura
Mission. Known for his zeal in itinerant evangelism and school promotion in
southern Tamil Nadu, his career was cut short by illness. While traveling along
the Coromandel Coast, he died in Tranquebar in 1846 and was buried in the New
Jerusalem Church compound. His grave stands as testimony that the cemetery of
Tranquebar, originally the resting place of Danish-Halle and later Leipzig
missionaries, also became a common ground for Protestant workers of every
society—CMS, ABCFM, SPCK/SPG, Moravian, and Lutheran alike.
✍️ Together, the graves of Schnarre
and Lawrence remind us that Tranquebar was not only the seedbed of Lutheran
missions, but also a crossroads where different Protestant traditions converged,
struggled, and shared in the vision of bringing the Gospel to Tamil soil.
Epilogue: From Fort Chapel to TELC
From the chapel in Fort Dansborg (1620) to the consecration of the New Jerusalem
Church (1718), from the Moravian Brüdergarten to the Leipzig Seminaries,
Tranquebar’s 300-year history of mission is rich with sacrifice, learning, and
cross-cultural partnership. On 14 January 1919, the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran
Church (TELC) was born. Its Bishop still bears the historic title “Bishop of
Tranquebar” — a living reminder of the centuries of foreign mission that became,
finally, a Tamil church.
Sources & References
• Fenger, J. F., History of the Tranquebar Mission (1863) Internet Archive PDF
•
National Museum of Denmark, Tranquebar Initiative Link
• Fort Dansborg (Danish
Fort) description Wikipedia | TN Archaeology Dept.
• Zion Church (1701)
Wikipedia • Jerusalem & New Jerusalem Churches WorldCat entry/Fenger references
• Moravian Archives Bethlehem, Arrival of first missionaries in Tranquebar, July
2, 1760 Link
• Leipzig Mission history (Francke Foundations & TELC) Francke
Foundations | Leipzig Mission Society
• CMS records (Cadbury Research Library,
University of Birmingham) CMS Archive Guide
