Today two Memorials exist in Brighton to commemorate the Indian soldiers that passed through the Brighton hospitals during the First World War 1914 – 1918. The First is the gateway to the Pavilion grounds from the South. The second is the Chattri which is located on the South Downs near Patcham.

14c_postcards_33Pavilion Gateway

The Pavilion gateway was a gift from the Princes and people of India to the inhabitants of Brighton & Hove, as a thank you for caring for her sons. It was erected as a permanent memorial to the use of the various Brighton buildings for the Indian wounded. On Wednesday 26 October, 1921 his Highness the Maharaja of Patiala accepted an invitation to perform the ceremony of unveiling and dedicating the new gateway and presenting it to the Corporation of Brighton for the use of its inhabitants.

15a_Chattri_05022The Chattri

The memorial now known as the Chattri was erected after the war, and unveiled by the Prince of Wales on the 21st February 1921. The memorial was built on the exact spot where the bodies of Indian soldiers had been cremated. The Chattri bears the following inscription, in Urdu, Hindi and English:

“To the memory of all Indian soldiers who gave their lives for 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”.

Today the Chattri can be seen from many parts of the town – a white memorial within an area of green, marked off by a square of trees. Since June 2000 a commemorative service in honour of the Sikh and Hindu soldiers who died in Brighton during the First World War.