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Not the Wedding Dupatta of Contetty of Tellicherry

The family has in its possession a silk shawl, which is said to have been the shawl or dupatta worn by Contity, a "native woman of Tellicherry" when she married Lt/Col Matthew Murray in the English Church in Tellicherry about 1784. Lt/Col Murray was serving in the Indian Army. His bride was certainly a woman of high caste, and legend has it that she was the daughter of a Raj. This dupatta (or shawl) appeared to be testimony to her high status, as it is of the finest silk and beautifully handwoven. Matthew Murray served in the Honourable East India Company, in the Bombay Presidency, Indian Army. His military history in India began in 1771 at Bombay. From 1785 he was Captain Commandant, 3rd Battalion of Sepoys. During this period he married, and in 1796 he was promoted to Lt Colonel, 1/4th Battalion Native Infantry commanding at Cannanore (Kannur), Kerala, India. While his bride's name has come down to us as "Contity" or "Contiby", it was spelt "Contetty" when her granddaughters were named after her. However the legendry silk shawl was NOT created until after 1820 and more probably in the 1830s, and the technique of its weave proves that it was created in Scotland. This is therfore not the shawl of Contiby! This family icon is certainly beautifully woven of fine silk and has a colourful floral pattern woven at each end. The dupatta is ecru coloured. The shawl has been very carefully preserved in the family, its guardianship being handed on from generation to generation in trust for the whole family.So whose was it? Was it a gift? Perhaps it was given to Mrs Wilhelmine Murray prior to her departure for New South Wales in 1843. The Murrays were certainly well connected at the time to the Maxwells, Littles and Browns for example. And they were given a special community send-off. We may never know, but though it is a treasure, it was not woven in India nor before 1820. Its dimensions are 3m x 660mm and it came from Scotland.

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