Does anybody know how many Indian War Memorials there are ? these two are WW1 ... one in England one in France welcome to chattri.com - The Chattri Memorial Service During the First World War (1914-18) over one and a half million Indian army soldiers saw active service alongside British troops. Twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded on the Western Front were hospitalised at sites around Brighton. These included York Place School, the Dome, the Corn Exchange and the Royal Pavilion. The fifty-three Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton were taken to a peaceful resting place on the Sussex Downs near Patcham for cremation, after which their ashes were scattered in the sea, in accordance with their religious rites. The Muslim brothers in arms, totalling nineteen, were buried in a purpose built burial ground near to the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking. Built in 1889, the mosque is the oldest of its kind in north-west Europe. After the end of the war, the contribution made by the Indian Army was seen as crucial in defeating the enemy, and two monuments were erected in recognition and appreciation. The first of these, the Chattri Memorial, was built on the Downs near Patcham to honour the Indian soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. The Chattri, which means umbrella in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, was designed by E.C.Henriques from Mumbai. The dome and its eight pillars are built from white Sicilian marble. Three large granite slabs lie over the original concrete cematory bases. The design symbolises the protection offered to the memory of the dead. The Chattri bears the following inscription in Hindi and English: To the memory of all the 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 throught the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicated. After some years of neglect, the Patcham branch of the Royal British Legion resurrected the pilgrimage in 1950. They established and continued with this annual tradition until 1999. In 2000, responsibility for organising the memorial service passed on to a local Sikh teacher, together with the Undivided Indian Ex-Services Association. The service is attended by the Mayor, the Chief Executive, the local MP, city councillors, representatives of the British armed forces, the Indian Army and veterans of the Undivided Indian Army, the Royal British Legion, the police, and local people. http://www.cwgc.org/CWGCImgs/Neuve-Chapelle Mem.JPG The village of Neuve Chapelle is some 5 kilometres north of La Bassee and 20 kilometres west-south-west of Lille. The Memorial is 800 metres south-west of the village on the east side of the road from La Bassee to Estaires. The Memorial takes the form of a circular enclosure, in the foreground of which is a column nearly 15 metres high, recalling the pillars of Asokar, surmounted by a Lotus capital, the Star of India and the Imperial Crown. On either side of the column two carved tigers guard this temple of the dead. The column and the tigers are supported by a "podium", on the near side of which is carved "INDIA 1914-1918", while on the far side are the Battle Honours of Indian units on the Western Front. From the ends of the podium a pierced stone railing extends half-way round the circle, and the ends of the semicircle are marked by two small domed "chattris", roughly East and West. The far semicircle is enclosed by a solid wall on which are carved the names of over 4,700 soldiers of the Indian Army. Also engraved on the Memorial is the following inscription: TO THE HONOUR OF THE ARMY OF INDIA WHICH FOUGHT IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM, 1914-1918, AND IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE RECORDED AND WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE. In 1964 a Special Bronze Panel was designed to add to this memorial the names of 210 servicemen of undivided India who died during the 1914-1918 war, whose graves at Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery, East Germany, were unmaintainable. Although this plaque still exists, these graves were reinstated following the renovation in 2005 of Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery in Germany and which is now the official point of commemoration. Also to be found at this site is the Neuve-Chapelle 1939-1945 Cremation Memorial. In 1964 the remains of 8 Indian soldiers (including 2 unidentified) were exhumed from Sarrebourg French Military Cemetery Extension and Cremated. The names of the 6 identified soldiers are engraved on panels at the Neuve Chapelle Memorial, together with the following inscription: 1939 - 1945 IN HONOUR OF THESE SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN CAPTIVITY IN NORTH-WEST EUROPE AND WHOSE MORTAL REMAINS WERE COMMITTED TO FIRE. There are 39 members of the 1914-1918 Indian Forces commemorated here who are now known to have been cremated at Patcham Down, Sussex.
I would like to go and see the Memorial next time I am in the area. I've seen pictures of the spot during the war, and the funeral pyre. And a few pictures of wounded Indian soldiers in the grounds of the Pavilion. And this is a good (though a bit overblown) introduction Sikh sacrifice in Belgium - SikhiWiki, free Sikh encyclopedia. For anyone interested in the Indians fighting on the Western Front I would highly recommend: Sepoys in the Trenches: Indian Corps on the Western Front, 1914-15 by Gordon Corrigan
Royal Memorial Chapel Sandhurst The Indian Army World War 2 Memorial Royal Memorial Chapel - Memorials/The Indian Army World War 2 Memorial
