APPENDIX A

Pioneer Biographies
of the British Period to 1947 

Barnett Ford (1824-1907)

Barnett Ford was born 1824 of well-to-do parents at London. His father was a lawyer who sent him to King William's College, Isle of Man, for his higher education. In 1841 he joined the British army in India as ensign and steadily rose through the ranks to colonel in 1871, seeing active service with the sappers during the second Anglo-Burmese War 1852-1853.

Appointed Superintendent of Port Blair in 1864, Ford took up his new position with enthusiasm, energy and a great deal more good-will towards the aborigines that his predecessor, Col. Tytler, had ever shown.

It was Ford who instituted the practice of using the Andamanese to recapture convicts. Until then, the Andamanese had ignored or more often robbed and killed any convicts on the run they found wandering through their jungle. The escapees did not always see it this way but Ford's policy saved many of their lives - if too often only so that they could be hanged legally at Port Blair for their escape.

Before the new policy could bear fruit, it received a setback when a violent incident occurred. A group of Andamanese tried to raid the food store of a convict. The latter defended himself by threatening the raiders with a gun (armed convicts were an oddity instituted by Colonel Tytler). The Andamanese shot and wounded the man and then made good their escape, letting off arrows in all directions, killing one and wounding several more convicts.

Ford could not let such a provocation pass but instead of a punitive expedition, he stopped the supply of presents and of all supplies to the Andamanese and did not allow any further visits or exchange of goods on Ross island. The Andamanese were told that such incidents would not be tolerated. After three months, his policy of "coldness" was gradually relaxed and normal relations resumed.

Ford was the first Superintendent to realize the danger of keeping Andamanese in the Home under the supervision of convicts. His suggestion of appointing an Army school master and his wife for the instruction of the aborigines and to have a European officer in direct charge of the Andamanese Home were, to his disappointment, rejected by higher authority on financial grounds. The harmful practice continued.

There was administrative backbiting when a report by one Major Davies in 1867 condemned the administration at Port Blair, going so far as to attack Ford personally. The accusations were made in such immoderate language that they were not taken seriously and damaged Major Davies rather than Ford who was allowed to continue with his reforms.

While Ford's policies towards the Andamanese could, by the standards of his time, be said to be enlightened, the same cannot be said of his treatment of the convicts. True, he removed much of the arbitrary cruelty had had characterized many of the punishments handed out by previous administrations but what Ford wanted to put in their place was well-organized cruelty. In the words of an Indian historian:

According to his proposals Viper island [a small island within Port Blair harbour] was to be a place where punishment was to be actually inflicted on offending convicts. In this island all sanctioned means for severe punishment viz. solitary cells, lock-ups, stocks, and whipping posts were to be maintained. Convicts were to be chained together as a measure of punishment. Members of chain-gangs at Viper island were to be put on the hardest labour. All such punishments were to be awarded after a regular investigation by the Superintendent's Court. The moral effect of such a place, where severe punishment could be safely inflicted, was expected to be great. The fear of being sent to Viper island was also supposed to act as a check against crime elsewhere. All convicts on their arrival in the Andamans were to be lodged in Viper island to witness the system of punishment for a month before they were sent to other places in the penal settlement so that the severity of punishment at Viper island may produce a deterrent effect on them. The {British] Government of India, while approving of the above proposals of the Superintendent, considered the punishment of working in fetters as a sufficient penalty and advised him to take recourse to chain-gang only in extreme cases. Construction of a jail at Viper was started in 1867 for giving effect to above proposals. The only other form of punishment prevalent in the Andamans was the flogging of convicts by their convict officers. A convict officer could inflict six stripes before any inquiry was conducted by a responsible official.

Ford left the Andamans 1868 and continued his career in the British army in India. He retired as major-general in 1875 and died in London on 7th March 1907. 

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