Yale and its Madras connection | St. Mary’s Church, Chennai - Storytrails
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Yale and its Madras connection | St. Mary’s Church, Chennai

Yale University in Connecticut has an interesting connection to Chennai. Elihu Yale, a Governor of Madras, who gave his name as well as his money to create Yale University had a rather scandalous life in India.

What connects the Yale University in Connecticut with St. Mary’s Church in Chennai, India? Here’s an interesting story from history… Yale University is named after Elihu Yale, a Governor of Madras, India. But his professional and private lives were scandalous and he was eventually removed from the Governorship for his illegal trading. So why was the Yale university named after him?

Images sourced under Creative Common 4.0 licence and 3.0 licence, and from the public domain. All images were sourced using Wikipedia

Watercolour of the Yale campus, facing north by Richard Rummell – Collection of Arader Galleries

Elihu Yale Coat of Arms from the National Library of Wales

Yale University Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database

Yale Old College at Dusk from Wiki user: Namkota

Bransford College Yale from Wiki user: Nick Allen (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us…)

Plas Grono- Theodore Diedrickson Jr. – Yale University Manuscripts & Archives Digital Images Database

Johnston’s View of Yale College from the Yale University Art Gallery

Cotton Mather- Taken from Peter Pelham, artist – http://www.columbia.edu/itc/law/witt/…

British East India Company Coat of Arms – From TRAJAN 117

(https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Us)

END OF STORY

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