12 years before the SIR rush, Mark Tully had queued for a KMC birth certificate
Times of India | 28 January 2026
KOLKATA: Twelve years before the Special Intensive Revision of rolls triggered a mad scramble for birth certificates at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarter, celebrated journalist Mark Tully had queued up for the document. A British citizen, Tully who was born in Tollygunge on Oct 24, 1935, needed the birth certificate to apply for an Overseas Citizen of India certificate that would allow him to enter and live in India without the requirement of a visa.
In an e-mail sent to then KMC mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Aug 5, 2013, Tully wrote: "I was born on October 24, 1935 and my full name, which should be in your records, is William Mark Tully. My father's name was William Scarth Carlisle Tully and my mother's name Patience Treby Tully. I was born at 6 Regent Park, Tollygunge. My birth was registered by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Alipore, 24-Parganas on November 21, 1935. I would be most grateful if you could assist me in obtaining the copy of my birth certificate."
A known name in the well-heeled section of society, Tully was BBC's 'Voice of India' for nearly half a century and reported on all major incidents in South Asia since 1965: Indo-Pakistan conflicts, Bhopal gas tragedy, Operation Blue Star, assassinations of Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv, and demolition of the Babri Masjid for BBC.
However, getting hold of the certificate proved tougher than any other assignment he had faced in his illustrious career. A civic official had remarked that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to retrieve the record. "Since KMC is governed by The Registration of Births And Deaths Act, 1969, there are constraints. With Tollygunge being a separate municipality and not part of KMC at the time, we do not have records. Hence, the document, if issued, will be a no-birth records certificate. He can apply for it only after producing an affidavit from a first class magistrate after convincing him that he was born in Kolkata," the official had pointed out.
After being unsuccessful in procuring the birth certificate, Tully had reached out to TOI Kolkata. “I am eligible for OCI but need a birth certificate as part of the documentation. Since I have lived all my working life in India and love the country of my birth, I wish to continue staying here without worrying about visas,” he had explained.
TOI had passed on Tully's request to the health department that is in charge of birth certificates. Atin Ghosh, member mayor-in-council (health and engineering), took up the matter personally and pursued it till the job was done.
“After receiving the request, we undertook a comprehensive search of relevant records with the state government and obtained the relevant birth report from the archive,” recounted Ghosh.
Locating the records was no mean feat given that William Mark Tully was born on October 24, 1935. The birth was registered by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Alipore, 24-Parganas on Nov 21, 1935.
"We are glad that we, alongwith TOI, could help an internationally acclaimed journalist who was not just born in Kolkata but had worked in India and loved the country of his birth," said KMC health advisor TK Mukherjee who was then the chief municipal health officer. Tully had been bestowed with the Padma Bhushan and Padma Bhushan.
Much to Tully's delight, he received the coveted document on Nov 26, 2013, and subsequently applied for the OCI card. He continued to live in the country of his birth till he died in a hospital in Delhi on Jan 25. He was 90. Tully had once remarked: “I feel I am a citizen of the two countries I feel I belong to, India and Britain.”