Documentary Group Project - Refocusing Perspectives
Following the outbreak of the First World War, Indian troops were scheduled to be garrisoned in Egypt. Early British losses in August 1914 saw them dispatched to Europe. Having arrived in late September, they were fighting around the Ypres area (Belgium) only a few weeks later. Wounded Indian soldiers were transported from the Western Front to Brighton, where they were distributed amongst buildings temporarily converted to hospitals (including the Royal Pavilion). Recovery and treatment saw many men either returned to the Front Line or sent home. Care was taken to respect the cultural and religious needs of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Muslim men who died were taken to the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking to be buried in accordance with Islamic tradition. The bodies of fifty-three Hindus and Sikhs were taken to a funeral pyre (ghat) on the nearby South Downs for cremation, prior to their ashes being scattered in the English Channel. It seems that very few of the soldiers stayed in Brighton beyond 1915. However, one notable impact was the building of a Chattri on the site of the ghat. An annual service of remembrance is now held there, with recent ceremonies attended by the Indian relatives of those cremated.
Annual commemoration at the Chattri, built on the site of the Burning Ghat. David Barnes
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