|
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.
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.
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.
1914-1918
- Wounded Indian Troops at the Brighton Pavilion
Two Indian Memorials exists in Brighton
The Chattri Memorial Service 22nd June 2003
Muslim taken from Brighton
to a Mosque in Woking for burial
top
of page
|
