St. Paul's was originally a garrison church, raised by the British India army of the Madras Government, built using prison labour.

[1][2] St. Paul's is an imposing structure amidst the chaos of the fish market, service bus stand, and the State Bank of India.

After the fall of Tippu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War of 1799 at Seringapatam, Mangalore once again fell into British Control, annexed into the Madras Presidency.

Mangalore went to become a strategically important port for the East India Company, and hence a small army unit was maintained to preserve law and order in the Canara region, and for guarding the border passes into Mysore Princely State.

[2][1] The construction site of the St. Paul's Church, Mangalore, was at the Fort St Sebastian, the main seat of British power in Canara, on a 0.5-acre (0.2 ha) plot.

[4] After construction, the internal area of the church is 57 by 25 feet (17.4 m × 7.6 m), with sufficient place allowed for the pulpit, sanctuary, lectern and clergy stall, could seat nearly 100 people.

[3] St. Paul's Cemetery is located on Old Kent Road,[5] near the railway tracks of the Mangalore Central Station, and is the resting place of many officers of the East India Company and British citizens.

A notable grave is that Brigadier General John Carnac, Commander-in-Chief of forces at Bengal, who in 1761 defeated Shah Zaddar, and died in Mangalore, aged 84, on 29 November 1800.