theTelugus.com

Horsley Hills is a small hill station and tourist spot near Madanapalle in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh in southern India. The hill is one of the hills of the Eastern Ghats that runs along the east coast of India by the Bay of Bengal.

The hills is named after William D. Horsley, or W. D. Horsley. He was a member of the Indian Civil Service of the erstwhile British East India Company. He was the district collector of Cuddapah (Kadapa, Dr YSR Kadapa district) and it was under Madras Presidency. The hills is locally known as “Enugu Mallamma Konda”.

William D. Horsley was born in Chengalpet on 8 September 1834 to John Horsley who served in the Madras Civil Service from 1817-51 under the British East India. According to a report, John Horsley’s another son was Ralph Horsley, born in 1831 at Courtallam. He was murdered at Bellary in 1856 where he was posted as British East India Company’s Head Assistant Collector.

William D. Horsley, the British collector of Cuddaph district in the Madras Presidency, liked Yenugulla Mallamma Konda (yet to be renamed after him as Horsley Hills) to an extent that he built his summer residence here. He married Mary Pelly. They were blessed with a baby boy, whom the mother delivered on 31 May 1865. But their baby boy could not survive for more than a day.

K. Subbaiah, a security guard at Haritha, the guest house of AP Tourism Development Corporation, informed that William D. Horsley and Mary Pelly’s child could not survive for more than a day. A tombstone is marked in memory of the boy. K. Subbaiah said anyone can wonder why there is a tombstone for George Horsley who was born on 31-05-1864 and died on 31-05-1864 because the baby boy was born in the morning and died in the evening. The state government has refurbished the gravestone with a marble tombstone. 

Yenugu Mallamma Konda is known today as Horsley Hills: named after the father of George Horsley. The baby boy’s graveyard stands to this day and the boy’s father’s name on the hills: Horsley Hills.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here