[2][3] The history of the Madhya Kerala Diocese dates back to the work of the Church Missionary Society in the state of Travancore.

The Diocese of Travancore and Cochin (in the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon) was erected with its See at Kottayam in 1879 and John Speechly, then Principal of the Cambridge Nicholson Institute (CMS Theological college, Kottayam), was announced as the first Bishop of Travancore and Cochin.

Speechly was consecrated a bishop on 25 July 1879 at St Paul's Cathedral; he arrived at Kottayam on 27 January 1880.

[5] In 1888, Speechly left for England and was unable to return, and Noel Hodges (1890–1904), a CMS Missionary from Ceylon followed him as diocesan bishop.

During the episcopate of Hodges, the first missionary enterprise of the diocese was organised as its Home Mission, was started at Adoor in 1903.

Hodges retired in 1905 and was succeeded by Hope Gill (1905–1925), who was consecrated in Westminster Abbey and arrived in Kottayam in 1906.