News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 06 September 2010
At midday on
Sunday 26 September, a new war memorial, built by the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission, will be unveiled in Sussex, paying tribute
to some of the one and half million Indian soldiers who fought for
the British Empire during the First World War.
Over the past few months, the Commission's stonemasons
have built a new memorial, which bears the names of 53 Indian
soldiers who died during the Great War. This new memorial stands a
few metres from the existing Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation
Memorial, often referred to as the Brighton Chattri.
The Chattri Memorial, which stands on the Sussex Downs
overlooking Brighton, commemorates all those Indian soldiers who
fought during the First World War and was built on the site where
Hindu and Sikh soldiers, who died following hospitalisation in
Brighton, were cremated. Unveiled in 1921, a memorial service has
been held there every year since.
Among the guests attending the unveiling ceremony, which is open
to the public, will be the Director-General of the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission, Richard Kellaway; His Excellency The High
Commissioner of India to the UK, Nalin Surie; representatives of
the British Indian community and veterans from the Undivided
Indian Ex-services Association and the Royal British Legion.
The unveiling of the new memorial is being filmed as part of a
new education resource being prepared by the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission, which examines the often overlooked
contribution of servicemen and women from India during the two
world wars. This education pack will be released in October 2010.
Ends.
For further information, please contact the Commission's
PR & Media Manager Ranald Leask on 01628 507204 or 07887
860541 or ranald.leask@cwgc.org
Notes for Editors
1. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth
War Graves Commission is responsible for marking and maintaining
the graves of those members of the Commonwealth forces who died
during the two world wars; for building and maintaining memorials
to the dead whose graves are unknown and for providing records and
registers of these 1.7 million burials and commemorations found in
most countries throughout the world. For more information visit www.cwgc.org
2. High quality photographs of workmen installing the new
memorial can be downloaded here: www.flickr.com/photos/cwgc
Broadcasters can request HD footage of the installation by
e-mailing ranald.leask@cwgc.org
Radio interviews with a Commission spokesman can be conducted via
the Commission's in-house ISDN line.
3. Media planning to attend the unveiling on 26 September should
note the event begins at 12 noon. Vehicles, which are not usually
able to park near the Memorial, will be able to do so for this
event.
If coming into Brighton via the M23/A23 from London you will find
there is a roundabout at the end of this dual carriageway, on the
outskirts of Brighton Junction of the A23 and A27). At this point
keep in the left-hand lanes (signposted towards Lewes). Proceed up
the curving slip road, getting into the middle lane - to the mini
roundabout at the top: go straight over, crossing over the
Brighton by-pass (A27) to another mini roundabout, again cross
straight over into Braypool Lane (the Chattri is signposted here)
- bear right up the minor road for 50 yards or so then left up the
lane for 400 yards then into the field where indicated and follow
the track to the Chattri.
If you are coming from Brighton you go to the same roundabout
as mentioned above (Junction of A23 and A27), bear right here up
slip road and straight over two mini roundabouts into Braypool
Lane, then right up the hill for 50 yards, left turn up the lane
then into the field where indicated and follow the track to the Chattri.
4. History of the Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial.
In 1914, the Mayor and Corporation of Brighton offered the use of
Brighton Pavilion to the War Office, apparently believing that the
flamboyant Indo-Saracenic building would provide familiar
surroundings to recovering Indian soldiers. In December 1914, 345
injured soldiers were transported to Brighton by train. The King
and Queen, Mayor of Brighton, Chief Constable of Brighton and
other dignitaries visited frequently, and careful arrangements
were made at the Royal Pavilion to provide for the different
dietary and other cultural requirements of Hindus, Sikhs and
Muslims.
Although the great majority of soldiers recovered from their
injuries, some died. The 21 Muslim men who died were taken to the
Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey, and buried in accordance with
Islamic tradition in a new cemetery. The bodies of 53 Hindus and
Sikhs were taken to a remote location high on the South Downs
above Brighton, where a ghat (funeral pyre) was built so they
could be cremated and their ashes scattered in the English
Channel. This funeral rite was again carried out in line with
religious custom. In total, 18 men who were treated at the Royal
Pavilion died, ten of whom were cremated on the ghat. (The 56
other victims died at the Kitchener Hospital-now Brighton General
Hospital-or a temporarily converted school at York Place.)
In August 1915, a lieutenant in the Indian Medical Service and
the Mayor of Brighton, Sir John Otter, planned the establishment
of a memorial to the soldiers who had died in Brighton. Lt Das
Gupta made the proposal, but Otter took on the project almost
single-handedly; after leaving his position as Mayor he chaired
Brighton's Indian Memorials Committee. In December 1915
he made a proposal to the India Office for a memorial on the ghat
site. In July of that year, the land on which the ghat stood, and
the immediate area around it, was transferred from the Marquess of
Abergavenny to the ownership of Brighton County Borough. At the
same time, the India Office agreed to share the cost of building
and erecting the memorial with Brighton Corporation (the
forerunner of the present Brighton and Hove City Council).
Funds were raised during 1917. After delays caused by the need to
dedicate all available resources to the war effort, in April 1918
a Manchester-based building firm was awarded the contract to build
the Memorial. The main building material was marble; its arrival
from Sicily was delayed by more than a year, but building work
started in mid-1920.
A young Indian architect, E.C. Henriques, designed The
Memorial, which is sometimes known as The Brighton Chattri; Sir
Samuel Swinton Jacob, an English architect who was responsible for
many buildings in India and who helped pioneer the Indo-Saracenic
architectural style, provided guidance. Construction work started
in August 1920 and continued until the end of that year. Brighton
Corporation owned the memorial and took responsibility for its
maintenance and a cottage was provided nearby for a caretaker.
This added £1,117 (£33.3 thousand as of 2010) to the final cost of
£4,964 (£148 thousand as of 2010).
The Memorial was unveiled on 1 February 1921 by Edward,
Prince of Wales.
Contacts:
NDS Enquiries
Phone: For enquiries please contact the above department
ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk
Ranald Leask
Phone: 01628 507204
ranald.leask@cwgc.org