Commemorating Indian soldiers of the First World War

By John Cheves

Next month sees The Chattri Memorial Service take place, on Sunday 13 June at 2.30pm in Patcham, Brighton. All are very welcome to attend this half hour Service, which is believed to be the only one of its kind in Britain. During the First World War (1914 –18) over one and a half million Indian men saw active service alongside British troops in Europe. 12,000 Indian Soldiers, wounded on the Western Front, were hospitalized at sites around Brighton and Hove. These included York Place School, the Dome, the Corn Exchange the Royal Pavilion and Brighton General Hospital all converted into Indian Hospitals. While in Brighton every religious rites were respected, as would be in any military hospital in India.

The Chattri, unveiled in February 1921, bears the inscription, in Hindi and English: “To the memory of all the Indian soldiers who gave their lives for the their King-Emperor in the Great War, this monument, erected on the site of the funeral pyre where the Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton, passed through the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicated.” Lots more information about The Chattri can be seen at www.chattri.com while a wealth of information about Brighton and Hove's Black History can be seen at www.black-history.org.uk