Registered Charity 273422 ISSN 0141-6588

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Volume 14 Number 5 Spring 2017
Editor: Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones MBE
British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA)
THE COLONEL'S HILL
President
Sir Mark Havelock -Allan Bt QC
'We are a small community of local residents who love and admire the
Vice-Presidents Chairman Colonel Clement Hill monument since our childhood and we are eager to
Field Ma rshal Sir John Chapple, GCB, Sir Mich ael Dav ies , KCB
CBE , DL protect and preserve the same . We need your immediate help ...the glory of
Mr David Mahone y Executive Committee
Dr R. J. Bingle (Records , BL Archi ves
the Monument is at immediate stake. ' This heartfelt plea was sent to
Th e Rt. Revd. Dr Michael Nazir-Ali
The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Slim, & Church matters) BACSA by Mr Ravi Hedge from Uttara Kannada District in the southern
OBE, DL Mr David Blake OBE (Rec ords,
Web site, & F!BIS liaison)
Indian State of Kamataka late last year. His letter laid out in considerable
Mr Alan Tritton CBE , DL
Lad y Wade-Gery Ms Valerie Haye (2'' hand book sa les) detail a description of the monument that has been protected by the Rotary
Dr Rosemary Raza (General Meetings Officer )
Bri gadier Ian Rees (Mililt ary Liais on Officer ) Club of Honnavar since 1980 and the imminent threat today from the
Honor ary Secretary
Mr Peter Boon Mr s V.W. Robinson (Event s Offic er) National Highways Authority of India . It is a measure of BACSA ' s good
Mr Clive William s OBE
Barn End, London Road
(Communications Officer) reputation that an appeal like this has been made to us and has been
Blewbury, Didcot, OX 11 9PB
tel: 012 35 8504 10
answered.
Honorary Membership Secretar y
em ail: secretary@ bac [Link]. uk Mr Chri stopher Ca maghan
4 2 Rectory Lane The Honnavar monument is little known and certainly not on any tourist
Honorary Treasurer Kin gs Langley
Mr Charles Greig Hert s WD4 8EY trail. It doesn't mark the site of a battle, but it is clearly cherished by local
20 The Butts tel : 01923 26745 8 people. Clement Delves Hill was born in December 1781 at Hawkstone
Brentford email: memb ership@[Link] g.
Midd x TW 8 8BL Hall , near Prees , in Shropshire, the sixth son of Sir John Hill , baronet.
Tel: 020 8 568 6760
email: treasurer@ [Link] .uk
Three of his elder brothers were commissioned into the army , rising to
distinguished positions so it is not surprising that Clement joined the Royal
Editor
Dr Rosie Llewellyn -Jones , MB E
Hor se Guards as a comet in 1805 and also progressed through the ranks ,
135 Bumtwood Lane reaching the positi on of Major General in 1837. During his military career
London SW 17 OAJ
Tel: 020 8 947 9131
Clement fought in the Peninsular War, acting as aide-de-camp to his
Email: rosieljai@[Link] .uk illustrious brother General Sir Rowland Hill. Another brother , Robert
Chambr e Hill was also fighting alongside his two siblings. Clement was
slightly wounded during an encounter , and he received a more serious
NOTES ON BACSA
injury at the battle of Waterloo when he was skewered through the thigh by
The Association was formed in 1976 and launched in Spring 1977 to bring a sword thrust. Luckily he survived and unlike his soldier brothers he chose
together people with a concern for the many hundreds of European cemeteries, to join the East India Company ' s Madras Army where he commanded the
isolated graves and monuments in South Asia. Mysore Division.
There is a steady membership of over 1,100 (2017) drawn from a wide circle of
interest - Government; Churches; Services; Business; Museums; Historical & Late in life, at the age of sixty , he married Harriet Emma, daughter of John
Genealogical Societies. More members are needed to support the rapidly 'Mad Jack ' Mytton , a noted Shropshire eccentric . Harriett was only
expanding activities of the Association - the setting up of local committees in twenty -three at the time, which must have raised some eyebrows ,
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Malaysia etc., and building up
particularly as her father had died in a debtor 's prison. We do not know if
the Records Archive in the India Office Collections at the British Library; and
many other projects for the upkeep of historical and architectural monuments. Harriett accompanied her husband to India , but the couple were not to
The Association has its own newsletter Chowkidar, which is distributed free to enj oy married life for long. On 20 January 1845 Clement took a 'pleasure
all members twice a year and contains a section for 'Queries' on any matter trip ' to the spectacular Gersoppa Falls, some thirty-five miles from
relating to family history or the condition of a relative's grave etc. BACSA also Honnav ar, and here he met his death. We don't have any details, so cannot
publishes Cemetery Records books and has published books on different aspects speculate on whether he drowned or suffered an apoplexy, the old term for
of European social history out East. Full details on our website: a heart attack. We also don't know exactly where he was buried two days
www .[Link] later - whether it was in Honnavar itself, or beneath the monument that
bears his name , and is today under threat.
Founded by the late Theon Wilkinson, MBE
© British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia
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What we have discovered, while researching Clement Hill's life is that his visited it recently tells us that 'a fter 25 years of being disheartened by the
elder brother Rowl and, who became Commander-in- Chief of the British state of cemeteries in the subcontinent this was a rare occasion that I was
Army was celebrated in his native county of Shropshire by a splendid amazed by the state of preservation of both the compound and the graves
monumental column that stands outside the Shire Hall in Shrewsbury. It is themselves. This is particularly curious given that the East India
the tallest Doric column in England, taller than Nelson's column, and work Company's behavior during the Polygar wars is widely reviled in
on it began in 1814, a year after Rowland's victory at Water loo. India ... and yet only a mile away is this immaculate white -washed
Clement's monument at Honnavar was clearly inspired by his brother's compound standing in fields with all the graves intact and no litter or
column in Shrewsbury. graffiti to be seen .'

Mr Hedge tells us that the Colone l Hill column is nearly 100 feet tall and Mr Willasey -Wilsey was in search of the grave of a remote ancestor,
stands on top of a hillock. (see back cover) It was erected by the 14th Dougald Gilchrist and he has told us about this unfortunate young man who
Madras Native Infantry at the request of Bombay Presidency officials to was born in Jamaica in October 1780 on the small Montpelier Estate where
commemorate this well-respected soldier. Interestingly although at the his father William was trying to grow sugar. Only a week after Dougald's
time of his death he was a Major-General, Clement is known locally as birth the family home was destroyed in a hurricane and the family fell into
Colone l Hi ll. There is also some understandable confusion with the word poverty and was forced to borrow heavily from relatives. At the age of
'h ill' and the family name, so the site is sometimes known as the Colonel's five, Dougald's father and two of his siblings died within a week of each
Hill. The monument itself is built with red laterite stone and lime mortar other, leaving the remaining family penniless . Dougald ' s widowed mother,
plaster. It is a beautifully designed massive column, an architectural and Frances then died in childbirth . Somehow Dougald and two surviving girls
engineering marvel and in superb condition, even today, 172 years after its reached England where the young boy, then aged thirteen, was promptly
erection . There are two further memorials to Clement Hill. A half-length sent as a midshipman on a voyage to China .
marble statue of him sculpted by Patrick MacDowe ll R.A. stands in Holy
Trinity Church, Bangalore and there is believed to be another in St. Chad ' s Dougald's uncle, George Harris had been appointed Commander -in-Chief
Church at Prees. of the Madras Army, and this connection probably prompted the young
man when he was seventeen years old, to join His Majesty's 74th Regiment
The threat to the Honnavar column comes from the Indian Nationa l at Calcutta. He was to take part in the siege of Seringapatam in 1799 that
Highways Authority that is currently widening the NH 66 road. resulted in the death of Tipu Sultan . Dougald emerged unscathed from this
Excavations for the new road are coming perilously close to the monument epic encounter, only to die two years later fighting the Polygars, the local
and although the Highways Authority have verbally confirmed they will chiefs in the Tirunelveli region. An attempt to seize the mud fort at
leave approximate ly 45 feet of the hillock, Mr Hedge fears that the old Panchalamkuruchi resulted in the deaths of a number of officers and men
structure will not be able to withstand the destruction and that this before the fort was finally captured and destroyed in 1801. The Polygar
designated area will be insufficient to protect the monument. Of course chieftain Veerapandya Kattabomman generously donated some land for a
India must have decent roads but surely a compromise can be reached cemetery and this is the site that survives today, surrounded by a wall. The
where interesting old structures can be protected . BACSA has written to demolished fort was reconstructed by the government of Tamil Nadu in the
the relevant authorities: the Deputy Commissioner of the District, the 1970s and now houses a small museum that pays homage to the Polygars
Archaeologica l Survey of India and the National Highways Authority. As and particularly to Veerapandya, who is hailed as a freedom fighter against
yet no answers have been received, but work has been halted for the time the East India Company.
being on the highway running close to the memorial.
The well-preserved inscription on Dougald's grave reads: Here lie the
MAILBOX remains of Dougald W Gilchrist Lieutenant of His Majesty's 74th Reg.
This Gallant youth who had not attained his one and twentieth year was
About eleven miles from the port of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu is the fort of killed on the twenty fourth of May AD 1801 in the breach of the Fort of
Panchalamkuruchi , a tourist attraction today in the lush greenery of this Panjaluncourchy in the moment of Victory. By his death his Majesty 's
southernmost Indian State. BACSA member Tim Willasey -Wilsey who Service lost an officer of great enterprise and valour and Society a beloved
and valuable member.

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It is believed that a member of his family erected the memorial stone and of his father [and] distributed money to every soldier. .. .' as well as a crowd
poor Dougald is also commemorated in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh of relatives. The governor general, Sir John Shore soon put a stop to this
on a plaque dedicated to the 74th Highlanders who died in India. One and after a brief four-month reign Wazir Ali was exiled to Benares. (There
curious feature that has not been remarked on before is that the graves of were also hints that he was plotting with the Afghans to overthrow the East
the officers differ markedly from those of the men, the non-commissioned India Company's rule.) Wazir Ali blamed George Cherry for his downfall
soldiers. Clearly the Army of the day did not see death as the great leveller
because Cherry had been the British Resident at the Lucknow Court at the
and the distinction in rank was preserved. (see page 108) time. A gang of 200 of his men surrounded Cherry's house and struck him
down as he tried to flee. Richard Evans was secretary to Cherry, and
Political assassinations of Britons during their long occupancy of India are Captain Conway unfortunately happened to be passing by. We don't know
rare which could be seen either as forbearance on the part of those who who Robert Graham was. The magistrate of Benares, Mr Davis , whose
wer~ being governed , or an indication that British rule was not as onerous house was also attacked, put up a strenuous defence, standing on the roof of
as one might think. It could of course also mean that British intelligence his house with his family behind him and thrusting down the spiral
was successful in thwarting potential plans to kill leading officials , or that staircase with a large spear. Luckily a troop of cavalry under the command
an oppressive climate of fear of punishment simply deterred would-be of General Erskine was in the neighbourhood and was able to fight off
assassins. The murder of the Viceroy Lord Mayo in 1872 was an Wazir Ali's men. The nawab escaped but was recaptured a year later and
exception. He was killed cross ing a gangplank while visiting the convict spent the rest of his life in captivity at Vellore Fort in south India.
settlement of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. His killer, Sher Ali
Afridi, who was hanged, seemed more motivated by a personal grudge In sharp contrast, as Mr Hickie points out, another tomb in this cemetery,
rather than by any wider sense of injustice at British rule. So Chowkidar half encased in a venerable banyan tree is a little obelisk to Thomas Sutton.
was interested to learn of the memorial to a former British Resident who Its inscription reads: His Highness Chatterputty Maharajah Sirfojee, Raja
was assassinated in Benares in 1799. ofTanjore, erected the Monument to the Memory of Thomas Sutton Esquire
Surgeon, Who expired near the Place on the 8th day of July 1821, esteemed
Charles Hickie has sent us an evocative and moving article about the old and regretted by His Highness. This is a touching tribute from an
cemetery at Chaukaghat on Maqbol Alam Road that is today under the enlightened ruler who took a particular interest in medicine and instigated
diocese of St Mary's Catholic church, Benares. The site lies beyond the some of the earliest cataract operations in India. One can imagine how
old fish market on the bridge, opposite the jail. It appears at first as 'a deeply he felt the loss of his English surgeon.
small jungle with a tall obelisk peeking out' but closer observation reveals
a hundred or so British tombs from the eighteenth and nineteenth centunes. 'P lot V 3-W 11-S. Pottah 8410. It doesn 't look much, but this information
Scattered obelisks and raised graves are enveloped in banyan trees and represents a burial plot and hours of research . A successful result to a quest
scrub. Many of the tombs are in dire need of repair and rising above them spread over several years and much valued help from BA CSA.' Margaret
all is a 50 feet tall obelisk described as a 'colossal monument in the form of Murray visited Lower Circular Road Cemetery, Kolkata in November 2015
a square pointed set on an immense platform of stone ornamented at the hoping to find the grave of one of her husband 's ancestors - Mary Anne
four comers by large funeral urns'. The inscription reads: This Obelisk was Booth. 'I even had the funeral card stating the time and date of her
erected in memory of George Frederick Cherry esq ... Captain Conway, interment - 7.30 am on 30th December 1896 in the cemetery. So why was
Robert Graham esq, Richard Evans esq. Who were murdered by Wazir Ali her final resting place so difficult to find? She simply had to be there,
January 14th 1799. somewhere ... .' A search of the Burial Registers at the cemetery seemed to
have no mention of Mary Booth's name, and a physical search trudging
The size of the monument (see page 109) reflects the outrage that was felt through rows of graves produced no sign either. 'Much of the cemetery
at the murders. There was also a political undercurrent to the killings. The was overgrown, obliterating many graves entirely. Others had sunk into
Nawab Wazir Ali was heir to the immensely rich kingdom of Awadh in the ground and many had no headstone left standing. Piles of broken
northern India. He had succeeded his putative father, Nawab Asaf-ud- stones lay all about. I contacted the Christian Burial Board to ask for
daula on the latter's death in 1797. But according to a contemporary advice several times, without a response. It was dispiriting, but I wasn't
account ' the boy fell into the hands of bad advisors, plundered the treasure ready to give up.'

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Mary Anne Booth, nee Stephens, was born at Dinapore in 1836, the It sounds like a conventional story - while Napier was rising through the
daughter of Bombardier Christopher Stephens and his wife Mary Anne ranks as an officer , his wife was bringing up the children and enjoying the
Delmedick (Delmerick?) At the age of eighteen, the young woman married social life of Madras. Until one day in January 1838 Isabella Napier got
George Henry Booth at Chunar, the hill fort in north India. Her husband into a hired coach with her youngest daughter Frances, and an ayah and
was an enterprising and hard-working man of twenty-one who pursued instructed the coachman, Veerasawny to drive to the home of Edward
various occupations including assistant apothecary, hospital steward, Elliot , the chief magistrate and superintendent of Police, Madras. A
writer, wine-merchant and clerk. His father, John Booth of Richmond, subsequent investigation found that Isabella and Edward were enjoying a
Surrey, was the first member of the family to travel to India, as a carpenter, whirlwind affair that had begun only two months earlier and following
in the East India Company's artillery. Between 1855 and 1870 ten children Isabella ' s flight , the couple began living together. This of course caused a
were born of the marriage, although four died young. Mary Anne had tremendous stir. Johnstone Napier furiously filed two legal suits, the first
trained as a midwife , presumably in India and had ambitions to study in against Elliot for 'adulterous intercourse and criminal conversation' with
Edinburgh , then at the forefront of obstetrics teaching. his wife , and the second against Isabella for a divorce. Court proceedings
moved swiftly and accusations flew about. Isabella was described as
But here the story takes an interesting tum. George Booth and his elder 'being of a lewd and vicious temper' while her lover Edward Elliot was
brother Charles, who was also working in India, happened to meet the first accused of 'loose morals and profligate habits' , not quite the sort of thing
missionaries of the Mormon Church who were travelling east in 1853. one would want in a magistrate and police chief. A divorce which had to be
Both were quickly converted , as was their mother Hannah, and all felt they ratified by an Act of Parliament followed in November 1838, by which
had to emigrate to America 'to walk in the footsteps of the saints' as they time Isabella had given birth to another child. The following year Isabella
put it. They settled in Utah. Mary Anne, with a growing family in India and Elliot were married in Madras and two more children were born to the
resisted the call to join her in-laws , one of the reasons being that she didn't couple , one of whom became Chief Justice of Baroda State.
want to share her husband George with other women. (Polygamy was
encouraged by the Mormon Church until at least the 1890s.) But George But it is with the three eldest children, Eliza, Johnstone junior, and William
left India for good in 1886, setting himself up in Utah as a doctor and ' whom Isabella abandoned when she fled that we are now concerned. Eliza
taking on second wife. He died in Salt Lake City in 1912. Poor Mary Napier, who was Roger Kingdon's great great grandmother returned to
Anne, left behind in Calcutta , died in 1896 of acute peritonitis. England where she married a clergyman and brought up her children in a
quiet village. Johnstone junior unfortunately became an inmate of
Last year, your Editor made one last effort to find Mary Anne ' s grave and Laverstock House Mental Asylum near Salisbury where he remained until
luckily was able to do so. Not only was the Burial Register found, the grave his death. And the youngest boy, William became one of the first casualties
was found too with the help of the Christian Burial Board staff and it of the 1857 Uprising. As an ensign in the 60th Rifles, his Regiment,
turned out to mark the resting places of four people . (see page 109) One of commanded by Brigadier Archdale Wilson marched towards Delhi, which
Mary Anne's sons, Frederick Booth, who died in 1944, was buried with his had been taken over by mutinous sepoys from Meerut. Wilson's men were
mother. Frederick's wife Beatrice had predeceased him many years earlier encamped about ten miles from Delhi near Ghaziabad where the Hindun
in 1918 and she lies here too. Lastly , Beatrice's mother, Frances Stark, who river was crossed by an iron bridge and it was here they were attacked on
died in 191O was also interred in the grave. Once the site had been located 30 May 1857. William Napier was wounded in the leg, which had to be
and the shrubbery pulled away, all four inscriptions were revealed and amputated. One can imagine the rough and ready conditions in the
flowers were laid on the grave . We can 't always promise such spectacular surgeon's tent. 'During the operation' it was reported 'no sign betrayed a
results but are always willing to try! sensation of pain [but] when it was finished, there came from him the bitter
cry: I shall never lead the Rifles again!' He was evacuated back to Meerut
A chance encounter by the editor on a flight recently led to an interesting where he died on 4 June 1857. After peace was restored a monument was
story with a twist in the tale. Roger Kingdon, a physicist and amateur erected at Hindun to the British officers and men of the 60 th Rifles. It was
family historian has been researching his great great great grandfather made of sandstone, with four iron standposts and a chain linking them. The
Lieutenant General Johnstone Napier of the Madras Native Infantry . monument still stands although the iron posts and chain are long since
General Napier and his wife Isabella were married in 1821 and during the
course of the next seventeen years produced four children.

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gone. In 1985, Roger Kingdon and his wife Geeta, who is an economist John Augustus was born in 1828, the son of a well-connected clergyman in
and educationalist visited the Hindun site and found that a modem Sussex and he was commissioned into the Engineers in 1846. Following
memorial obelisk in white marble had been erected nearby to his war injury that possibly debarred him from further active service, he
commemorate the Indian soldiers killed in the encounter. And interestingly was seconded to what was to become the Public Works Department in
Geeta Kingdon, who first told us about the story, is a distant relative of the Bombay, where he clearly flourished. His personal life seemed happy -
late Chief Minister Banarasi Das , who got the Indian memorial erected. following his marriage in 1851 to his first wife, Charlotte Wallace, three of
There is a nice synchronicity about this story and it is fitting that the two his four children were born in Bombay . After a successful career, Fuller
memorials should stand side by side for no one country has a monopoly of retired in June 1883, with a good pension , having been awarded both the
bravery. CIE and the honorary rank of General , He settled comfortably into 42
Courtfield Gardens in Kensington. Here Charlotte, his wife of 46 years
CAN YOU HELP? died in January 1897, when Fuller was seventy years old. Rather
surprisingly , a little more than a year later, he married Annabel
'Bombay Gothic' is the recognized architectural term that describes much Wodehouse, a lady of thirty-three years and from a good family. No
of Mumbai's exuberant 19th century built heritage. Unlike the sombre children were born of this second marriage and Annabel survived as a
Victorian Gothic of the Houses of Parliament with its ecclesiastical centenarian, dying at the age of a hundred and one in 1966.
references, British architects working in India were free to indulge in
extravagant designs which were realised by master builders. One reason Barry Gregson can find no record of General Fuller's burial place, nor a
put forward, which seems quite plausible , is that a number of prominent photograph or painting of him. One would have thought that such a
buildings were bankrolled by wealthy Parsi and Jewish merchants , drawing prominent man might have warranted at least a statue or a bust somewhere ,
on their own rich Oriental tradition. Certainly the Sassoon Mechanics' but nothing has been found. We know that he died in 1902, presumably in
Institute fits into this category. It is described as 'a delightful riot of Kensington, leaving his estate to one of his sons. Can readers provide any
polychromatic ornamentation' using colourful sandstone cleverly employed further information about him and perhaps throw light on why this gifted
to produce a striking building that reminded visitors of the great Venetian man has been so neglected among the great Victorian architects working in
palazzos . Another building equally admired today is the High Court , which India?
took seven years to construct and was opened in 1878, although its internal
design was criticised at the time, and it was given the nickname 'Fuller's The English are not by and large great music lovers and there were fairly
Folly'. derogatory remarks made about Indian singing and dancing during the
colonial period and earlier too. Although India was the inspiration for a
So who was Fu ller? For a man whose buildings exemplified the best of number of musical works including the operas Lakme and Le Roi de
Victorian Bombay , we know remarkably little about John Augustus Fuller. Lahore , as well as the romantic Indian Love Lyrics by Amy Woodforde-
Apart from the Sassoon building and the High Court he also designed the Finden , these are all compositions for the western ear. Only a very few
Afghan Church, built to commemorate the victims of the first Afghan War foreigners in India sought out authentic songs , so the work of Charles
as well as the cloisters of Bombay University . BACSA member Barry Trinks who published a set of 'Hindostanee Songs ' about 1800 is certainly
Gregson recently purchased a 'Mooltan medal' awarded to John Fuller who unusual. One of the songs is described as a 'Hindoo Hymn' and contains
was severely wounded in 1849 during the second Anglo -Sikh war in the the words ' Hurry Kisnoo , Hurry Kisnoo, Hurry Kisnoo , Hurry Hurry . .. . '
Punjab. What was an architect doing on the battlefield, one wonders. The which will be familiar to anyone who has heard devotional chants in India.
answer lies in the origins of military engineering, when projects like bridge (The correct wording is Hari Krishna, etc . )
and road building, as well as defensive structures were essential tools
particularly as the East India Company spread its tentacles into the sub- Our correspondent, Mr Raymond Head, tell us that some of Trinks's
continent. Fuller enrolled as a student at Addiscombe, the East India Hindoo airs were sung by Miss Jane Williams who lived in Calcutta at the
th
Company Military Seminary in Surrey, whose purpose was to train young beginning of the 19 century. Jane spoke fluent Hindustani and is best
officers to serve in the Company's Army. There was an option for students known as the muse of the poet Shelley , who loved to hear her singing
to join the Royal Engineers, which had equivalent army ranks, and this is exotic songs. Of Trinks himself we know very little. Although he died in
what he did .

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 Calcutta and must be buried there, his burial place has not been found.
What we do know is that he was a native of Germany who arrived in India born in 1768 in Yorkshire near Kirby Knowle Castle, and because his
in 1786, having sailed from England it would seem. Trinks was an organist father had the same name, our subject was known as Francis Smyth junior.
and Music Master and spent a number of years at St John's Church, His surname is sometimes spelled more conventionally as Smith, which
Calcutta, which at the time was the city's cathedral, until it was superceded makes tracing him rather harder. His elder brother Joseph Smyth was vicar
by St Paul's Cathedral on the Maidan. Trinks' first house was in Bow of Kirby Moorside. The odd thing about the portrait is that Mr Riddle's
Bazar, which was a pretty rough and tumble area, but he clearly prospered painting is a Victorian copy, made in 1883, of an original by Lemuel
Francis Abbott, a well-known English portrait painter.
and was able to move out to a mansion at Garden Reach, one of the most
fashionable areas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He wrote a
It was not uncommon for young men going out East to have themselves
couple of books, one of which is A Collection of Sacred Music, selected
captured in oils or watercolour before they left. We tend to underestimate
from the best Authors and arranged for the use of St. John 's Church. The
how important such portraits were to those left behind - sometimes the
Church doesn't appear to have a memorial to their long-time organist , nor
only remembrance of a loved son or brother. Francis' portrait was painted
indeed any record of him. Can BA CSA members add anything, we wonder about 1784, probably shortly before he left for Calcutta. There is a short
and is this musician commemorated in his native country? obituary of Francis on the back of the Victorian copy that notes him as
'having few temptations to attract him into general Society, restricting
Another almost forgotten man , Surgeon General Richard James O'Flaherty, himself to his particular friends'. On his death, which took place on 3
does have a memorial. Chastely made of black and white marble it is a April 1795, he was recorded in the Bengal Obitumy thus: 'To tell his
tablet in the Lady Chapel of St Thomas's Cathedral, Bombay. Richard virtues and useful attainments here would be a vain task,' so that's all we
O'Flaherty was of Irish descent, born in 1811, but little else can be know. His death was noted in The Gentlemen's Magazine, again with no
garnered about him at present. We don't know where he was educated but details. Francis was buried in South Park Street Cemetery Calcutta, in Plot
can see he made steady progress in his chosen career, being appointed as No. 964, but unfortunately the tomb no longer exists, having sunk into the
Assistant Surgeon in January 1835. He worked his way up, becoming a soft earth, like many others. What Mr Riddle would like to know is where
full Surgeon ten years later , then a Surgeon Major, an army rank. Further the _originalAbbott painting is and whether any descendants of the Smyth
promotions followed and in 1872 he was appointed Surgeon General s1blmgs survive. Something must have prompted the family to get
British Forces. By this time the three separate Presidency medical Francis's portrait copied more than a century after his death. Perhaps the
departments had been amalgamated into the Indian Medical Service, family fell on hard times and had to sell the original? We don't know but
covering the whole of the subcontinent, so in effect O'Flaherty was the all ideas are welcome . '
supreme medical officer, equivalent to the Commander -in-Chief. For this
he was awarded the honour of Companion of the Bath. He died in Bombay The Revd. Sanjay Malaviya asks if anyone can provide information about
on 8 December 1874, sadly only a few months after announcing his the history of St George's, the cantonment church at Ahmedabad. It was
retirement at the age of sixty-three. We know he was in correspondence built in the 1880s (the precise date is not known), at a time when the
with Florence Nightingale, not surprisingly given her work with British Government of India was establishing a substantial military and
military hospitals at home and abroad. His inscription gives little away, administrative centre there, although a smaller cantonment seems to have
concluding with the words: The members of his own department have been in existence since the early 19th century. The church stands on Camp
Road at Shahibagh and it is the Army Cantonment Board that has asked the
placed this tablet to record their esteem both for his private character and
Revd. Malaviya for help, not just with the church but with the adjoining
his public worth. As before, if anyone can shed more light on Richard
churchyard too. Perhaps readers have parents or grandparents who were
O 'F laherty , BACSA member Eileen Hewson would be very grateful.
married here or relatives who are buried in the graveyard? Information
would be welcomed.
Another BACSA member, Mr Richard Riddle, has an interesting query.
Last year he bought a portrait at auction of Francis Smyth , Sub-Accountant The last issue of Chowkidar related the story of William Graham Mclvor
General to the Board of Trade in Calcutta, who died there in 1795. Like so who was appointed botanist at the Ootacamund Horticultural Gardens in
many in India, Francis Smyth died young, aged just twenty-seven. He was the Nilgiri Hills in 1848. After a long and successful career, Mclvor died

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 above: the handsome memorial to the murdered British Resident (see page
101)

above: the officers' graves near Panchalamkuruchi Fort (see page 98) below: the Booth graves uncovered in Calcutta (see page J OJ)

below : graves of the 'other ranks' in the same cemetery

- 108 - - 109 -
in 1876 and was buried in the graveyard at St Stephen's Church, Ooty.
BACSA member Mrs Phillida Purvis sent us a photograph of Mclvor's presence in India was increased and over the next 20 years a number of
well-tended tomb, with its mention of his 'little wife' who erected and paid armed volunteer units sprang up all over India wherever there was any
for the memorial. We speculated on who this might be, and our query has European settlement. As railway colonies were among the most prolific and
been gratifyingly answered by two members , Geoffrey Rowson and widespread of settlements, railway volunteer units were first to appear,
Christopher Penn. inaugurated by the East TndiaRailway Volunteer Rifle Corps in I 868.

The modest little wife 'as she is refe1Ted to on the tombstone, was one Volunteer regiments, later the Auxiliary Force India were formed from
Anne, nee Edwards, whose sister was ma1Tied to Joseph Rowson of British and Anglo-Indian civilians, often associated with a trade or
Liverpool, possibly a fairly well-to-do builder or brickmaker'. And company, and used mainly as 'aid to the civil power' in putting down
Christopher Penn has established that she survived her husband by at least sectarian riots. During the World Wars, especially the Second, some were
ten years and lived in Lushington Hall, adjacent to the Botanical Gardens. called up for duty in India, guarding strategic positions to release regular
Mrs Mclvor was awarded a handsome pension of Rsl,000 per annum by Indian Army and British troops for combat duties. Any background
the Government ofindia 'in consideration of the valuable services rendered material, papers, photos, refe1Tals etc would be most welcome and
by Mr. Mclvor'. His widow was already a wealthy woman and Mr Penn acknowledged in the video. Replies via the Editor please.
quotes the Madras Mail of 29 November 1876 when the foundation stone
for the chancel at St Stephen's Church was being laid. 'This Chancel is VALETE
being erected in memory of the late Mr. W.G. Mclvor with funds supplied
BACSA is saddened to announce the deaths of two stalwart supporters who
by his widow. Mr Mclvor, though a rather poorly paid officer of
died late last year. Mrs Merilyn Hywel-Jones, who joined BACSA in June
Government, succeeded in making a large fortune by investment in house
1990 died in October and Mr Henry Brownrigg, who joined in 1988, died
property and coffee estates on the Hills , as well as by acting as banker to
in December. Both had served on BACSA's Executive Committee for
gentlemen in difficulties.' (In other words Mclvor, a government employee many years and were a familiar and welcome sight at General Meetings.
rli~ uPrH uu::"11 fhrrnH·rh nriu<:1tP PntPrnricP ".lnrl -mAnPu lPn~ino- '\ 1\./frc, ~tf0TuAr
\ ...lJ . U YVJ.J l"l'V.11 \..[Link].5.1..1. _l)'.1J.YU1..V VJ..1\..'-'.lt'.[Link] UJ..1"-1. [Link] - [Link].1\..1.J.J..lfS •j ..ll'.J....1.J .l. l'..LV.J..'l"VJ.
Merilyn made a point of greeting newcomers and behind the scenes helped
was generous with her fortune and also donated money to St. with the packing and dispatch of second-hand books, raising money for the
Bartholomew's Hospital at Ooty . Anne Mclvor is inte1Ted in the same Association. Merilyn had compiled an extensive series of town maps of the
vault as her husband . Indian sub-continent, showing where European cemeteries were situated
and giving advice on how to find them. She was an expert on Aden, having
Also in the last Chowkidar we told the sad story of the recent destruction of been posted there with her husband in the 1960s. One of her last
Captain George King Newbery's isolated grave near Shorapur Fort in contributions to Chowkidar was to tell us of the destruction of the Aden
Karnataka. The Captain was killed during a local uprising on 8 February cemetery by rebel tribesmen. As a tribute we are publishing, below,
1858. By chance BACSA member Cynthia Versaci-Lloyd was in Holy extracts from an article written by Merilyn on Captain Haines and the
Trinity Church Bangalore last year and of three memorial plaques that Crater Residence.
caught her eye, one was to Captain Newbery. His name is spelt thus , not
'Newberry' as we had originally been informed. The inscription reads: In Henry has rightly been described as a polymath and collector, both of
memory of George King Newbery Captain of the 8th Madras Light Cavalry, physical items and wide-ranging stories about the East, particularly
and commanding a Body of Mysore Horse, who fell leading a charge of his Indonesia. He came from a distinguished family, some of whom had
men in the attack on Shorapore on the 8th February 1858. It is good to served in India. For years Henry had a stall in Portobello Market where he
know that although his tomb has all but vanished, Captain Newbery is sold a variety of antique goods, often of eastern origin. In 1992 Henry
handsomely remembered here. wrote a learned yet entertaining book on betel-nut cutters, the hinged
implements used to prepare the nuts for chewing. It was the first full-
From Australia comes the news that Clayton Roberts and Peter Moore are length study devoted to these curious items of social prestige and reflected
planning to produce a Y ouTube video on the AFI or Auxiliary Force India. Henry's particular flare for imparting knowledge in a light-hearted but
Mr Roberts writes : 'In the wake of the 1857 Mutiny the British military memorable fashion.

- 111 -
- llO -
Hemy was BACSA's South India Area Representative for many years, own description that it was ' dilapidated and parts fell down on the
visiting frequentl y and making lasting friendships with people there who concussion of the 8 pm gun'. During a visit to Aden in February 1998, I
have paid him warm tributes . He was particularly knowledgeable about the set out to look for Haines's house with the aid of the old maps together
Dutch in India and Sri Lanka, liaising with the authorities over the with Jacob ' s photograph. The western end ofKhusafvalley is today an area
restoration of 17th century Dutch cemeteries . of squatters ' shacks and it was impossible to carry out a detailed search
without intruding into people's living quarters . However, using the
Both Merilyn and Hemy will be greatly missed, not just by BACSA alignment of the rocky outline of the hills in the background of Jacob's
members but by their many friends outside the Association . Both led busy photograph , we found parts of a stone structure similar to that depicted in
and fulfilling lives. Merilyn leaves a widower , Ian Hywel-Jones and Hemy the photograph although partly hidden by concrete blocks, corrugated iron
leaves a wide circle of friends . We are all the poorer for their passing. and bits of packing crate. On returning to London I learned that from 1948
until about 1954 Haines ' s house became the headquaiiers of the British
CAPTAI N HAINES OF ADEN Agency , Western Aden Protectorate; photographs of the building taken in
the late 1940s show it virtually unchanged since Jacob's day.
Historically , Aden town in Crater had been a thriving entrepot of trade with
Africa , India and China. But when Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines The full article by Merilyn Hywel -Jones appeared in the British -Yemeni
seized it on 19 January 1839 on behalf of the East India Company , for use Society Journal in November 1998.
as a coaling station for ships steaming to and from India , it was a derelict
village of some 600 inhabitants - Arabs, Somalis, Jews and Indians - BOOK REVIEWS
housed for the most part in huts of reed matting erected among ruins
recalling a vanished era of wealth and prosperity . For Queen Victoria, the Bright Eyes of Danger Bill Whitburn
capture of Aden was the first addition to the British Empire since her The Second Anglo-Sikh War Amarpal Singh
accession to the throne in 1837. Haines's knowledge of Aden ' s history
made him optimistic about the possibilities for its future. 'Scarcely two The two wars against the Sikh nation (1845-46 and 1848-49) were the last
centuries and a half ago' , he wrote, ' this city ranked among the foremost of to be undertaken by the East India Company's army. They resulted in the
the commercial marts of the East the superiority of Aden is in its excellent demise of the Sikh nation and British annexation of the Punjab . Without
harbours , both to the East and to the West; and the importance of such a this it is doubtful if the 1857 Uprising could have been scotched. Yet very
station , offering as it does a secure shelter for shipping , an almost little has recently been published about this critical period. Suddenly two
impregnable fortress, and an easy access to the rich provinces of excellent books have appeared to fill the gap. Bright Eyes of Danger, Bill
Hadhramaut and Yemen is too evident to require to be insisted upon .' Whitburn ' s first complete book, covers both wars, their origins and
aftermath in a single volume; The Second Anglo -Sikh War by the
Appointed Political Agent by the Bombay Presidency of the East India established author on Sikh affairs, Amarpal Singh Sidhu, is a sequel to his
Company Haines served in this capacity (without leave) for the next fifteen earlier The First Anglo -Sikh War now also available in paperback.
years , presiding over Aden's rapid expansion as a fmtress (with a garrison
of2-3 ,000 Indian sepoys) and as a port which by the early 1850s boasted a Bill Whitburn is a former British regular Army officer who was educated in
population of some 20,000. Haines's deep personal commitment to the India until returning to England after Partition. He retired early, earning his
revival of Aden's prosperity, despite the parsimony and vacillation of his living in Taiwan, but clearly retained a lifelong fascination for the
political masters, ultimat ely led to his tragic imprisonment in Bombay for traditions and history of the British Army. This adds colour to the
debt and to his death (aged only 58) in 1860. But in South West Arabia his thoroughgoing research into his main subject. He has achieved a small
name lived on and for decades local tribesmen referred to the inhabitants of miracle compressing such a colossal story into a single volume . The
Aden as Awlad Haines ('Haines's children') . The house initially occupied historical and political background of the Punjab up to the death of
by Haines in Crater is said to have been rented from a local Hindu Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1839 during the First Afghan War, occupy the
merchant and to have been situated near a Hindu temple. In his book Kings first hundred pages. This is a useful summary leading to the toxic mix of
of Arabia (1923) H.F. Jacob mentions, evidently quoting from Haines's palace intrigue, family and tribal rivalry and a magnificent but unemployed

- 112 - - 113-
army that all boiled over until the EIC became involved in the interest of its However, the quality of the product is short of perfect. There are more than
security and the prospects for imperial expansion. The subsequent a few minor textual errors and the full-page colour illustrations on the same
manoeuvres, ten major engagements and political consequences are told in paper as the text are disappointing apart from some simple maps and
an uncomplicated and readable style. The principal characters are plentiful small portraits . For those who would prefer a deeper treatment,
colourfully portrayed with touches of detail that bring them alive . He is Amarpal Singh's absorbing version will certainly answer, albeit for the
unapologetically frank in his opinions , which adds to the enjoyment. His second of the wars only. It is a quality product , excellently illustrated. The
accounts of the actual battles are exciting, not elaborate , but detailed maps are a little sketchy , the index has some limitations but overall it is
enough for the average reader. By his own admission: 'The background is very impressive . The arrival of both these titles is a most welcome event,
invariably more fascinating than the actual war' and he makes it so. prompting thoughts as to how Britain held on to India so long , let alone
participated successfully in two world wars without this ' humane piece of
By contrast Amarpal Singh's account is a comprehensive and scholarly rascality ' as Sir Charles Napier once referred to the earlier annexation of
study that delves deeply into the origin of each element of the conflict, Sind. (GN)
political, personal, military and strategic . At first it appears a somewhat
daunting read : over 500 well -filled pages in a smallish font. But one is led Bright Eyes of Danger 2015 Helion & Co. ISBN 978-1 -909982-21-5.
on by the perceptive portraits of the leading characters, their ambitions and £35 .00 pp327.
aspirations , their relationships and the sense of looming catastrophe as The Second Anglo-Sikh War 2016 Amberley Publishing ISBN 978 1 4456
events unfold . His version starts at the end of the First Anglo -Sikh War , the 5023 4. £25 .00 pp513
two-year period of 'peace' leading up to the murder of the newly appointed
British representatives at Multan, the affair that was to polarise the Punjabi
community , Sikh, Muslim and Hindu , into loyalties more complex than Imperial Violence and the path to Independence: India, Ireland and
simple religious definition might suggest. the Crisis of Empire Shereen Ilahai

Bill \.1/hitburn also takes us briefly tl1rough this incident and the The theme of Briti sh government in Ireland as a template for British polic y
consequential response leading to two sieges of that city, which engaged and governance in India has long been recognised. British theories of the
the various available British forces until the main army could be assembled origin and principle of land tenure and property rights in the 19th centur y
three months later to take on the well-organised Sikh rebellion further were commonl y based on supposed similarities between the 'peasant
north. His version presents the whole Multan tale as a single episode before economies ' of India and Ireland. Measures of land reform in both Ireland
he turns to the dramatic and concurrent campaign that eventually brought and India drew on the parallels. Scholarly studies have focussed on the
the war to an end. Amarpal Singh, on a much wider canvas, is able to split links between Irish and Indian radic als. Bengali revolutionaries have been
the two periods of the Multan affair to include more detailed accounts of compared to the Irish revolutiona ry nationalist movements of the IRA and
the origins of the rebellion in Hazara and also to cover the parallel Sinn Fein. Erskine Childe rs, president of Ireland in the 1970s had 20 years
insurrections across the Indus in Bannu and Peshawar and the disconcerting earlier identi fied an influence of Irish nationalism on India ' s freedom
Afghan interference of Dost Mohammed. The same advantage of space movement. His more famous father, the writer and radical nationalist - also
defines the treatment by these two authors of the main battles of the Erskine Childers - had been executed for possessing an illegal weapon , not,
northern campaign leading up to General Gilbert's final chase to Peshawar. incidentally by the British but in the Irish civil war that followed the
For instance the Whitbum account of Chillianwala occupies fourteen pages establishment of the Irish Free State. The Indian -Irish Independence
while Amarpal's is spread over fifty. Both authors end their work by League , formed in 1932, set out to promote the independence of both
following the fate of the principal players in the drama. Among these countries through a boycott of British goods and a propaganda campaign.
Whitbum neatly includes the East India Company itself. Amarpal adds the In drawing up India 's post-independence Constitution of 1950 some
Sikh people as a whole in the words of Governor General Lord Dalhousie provisions were based on the 1937 Irish Constitution . More whimsically it
'I like these Sikhs, they are fine manly fellows .' was not the Bengalis or other Indian nationalities but the Burmese who
used to be known as 'the Irish of the East' , on the stereot ypical and in
Which to prefer? For the whole story between two covers, it obviously has modern terms perhaps 'racist ' grounds that both peoples were supposed to
to be Bill Whitburn. This would be a safe choice and an enjoyable read .

- 114 - - 115 -
be influenced more by sentiment than reason. No one was offended by the But the longer term lesson was that trying to suppress a nationalist
comparison, certainly not the Burmese. movement by force was counter-productive . This book's account of the
press and parliamentary debates illustrates the dilemmas wh ich were
Shereen Ilahi's deeply researched and excellently written study of the recognised and argued at the time. Today there are few people who would
British use of armed force and collective punishment in the face of wish to tum back the clock on Irish freedom or Indian independence
revolutionary extremism is anything but whimsical. She takes two key though there may be many legitim ate regrets about how they came about.
events , one in India and one in Ireland, where British troops used what They are the same dilemmas for countries which face a terrorist threat
today is almost universally acknowledged as excessive force to establish today. But was this really the 'crisis of imperialism' as Dr Ilahi maintains?
order in the face of a real or imagined threat. Both of them provoked
liberal and nationalist outrage and vocal conservative support at the time, State violence continued in the Irish civil war after the 1922 Treaty with
and this book recalls vividly the stormy debates that they caused in even greater casualties than when the Irish police , the British army, or the
England, Ireland and India. The Jallianwala Bagh shootings in Amritsar in hated British auxi liaries - the Black and Tans were the enemy. In sovereign
1919 radicalised much Indian opinion at the time . In Ireland in the first of India in 1984 the storming of the Golden Temple in the face of a real
the notorious Irish 'B lood y Sundays' at least 16 people were killed in a Punjabi Sikh armed insurgency was as vio lent as any act of British imperial
crowd at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park outside Dublin in power, but deemed necessary for the protection of the state. In India and
November 1920. Although the casualties did not approach the 400 or more Ireland a common feeling of having been victims of British imperialism
killed in Jallianwala Bagh, the Croke Park incident had a similar effect of today probably arises more from the shared trauma of partition than a
galvanising political protest and opinion against the use of armed force - or shared radical ideology. It is notewmthy that Mahatma Gandhi did not
'violence' - to quell or suppress political protest. This with the second 'so think that Ireland was a useful mode l for India's struggle for independence .
called Bloody Sunday' in 1972 came to figure so large in Irish nationalist When Sinn Fein adopted violent methods Gandhi rejected them as an
memory and civil rights protest through the 20 th century. example for India's freedom movement to follow. But it is a great merit of
this book that Dr Ilahi does not require us to believe in villains and heroes.
Shereen Ilahi does not argue that in either country these were unique events The debates on how much force, or violence to use in combatting acts of
nor does she adopt the position that all state force should be characterised armed resistance remain lively and relevant today. (WFC)
as violence. She thinks British imperial violence was not as bad as German,
French or Japanese . But she argues that these two incidents did more than 2016 LB. Tauris 978 1 78453 130 0. £64.00 pp258
any other to undermine the British belief , or as she puts it the 'myth', of
benevolent British intentions, and the feasibility of a peaceful path towards William Simpson's Afghanistan: Travels of a Special Artist and
independence. The reaction to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the Antiquarian during the Second Afghan War, 1878-1879
controversy that surrounded General Dyer's motives and personality, the ed. Peter Harrington
contested verdict of the Hunter Commission which reported on the
incident, had shown the weakness of attempts to put the blame on a single We think today of the Khyber Pass and the route through it to the Afghan
commanding officer rather than (as Dr Ilahi argues) , the inherent violence capital Kabul, as an entirely Muslim -dominated area but this has not
of the imperial system. She argues that Punjab was not on the brink of a always been the case. Before the rise of Islam this area was home to
general uprising, as some supporters of General Dyer had argued. The Buddhists who left numerous tapes or burial chambers scattered about the
general revulsion against the massacre weakened Britain 's moral case for mountains and plains, nearly always with adjoining temples known as
maintaining its rule in India. viharas . The rediscovery of Buddhism in Afghanistan is a surprising and
welcome theme in this book which at first glance looks like another routine
In the case of Croke Park the shooting looked suspiciously like an act of account of the second Afghan war. What also came as a surprise was the
reprisal , following as it did immediately on a spectacularly successful amount of time and energy that soldiers of the Peshawar Field Force
operation masterminded by the IRA leader Michael Collins in assassinating devoted to excavating, or in some cases, plundering, these topes. A third
a dozen British intelligence agents . There was no doubt that the IRA were a revelation is the character of Simpson himself, an extraordinary man who
vio lent and effective opponent of the British state. was born in a Glasgow slum, and who was barely educated until his teens,

- 116 - - 117 -
but who rose to be on nodding terms with a number of great Victorians , diversion for bored officers waiting for something to happen. And there
including the Queen herself who intervened to stop him being sent to was also plenty of man-power available to help with the heavy lifting once
sketch a war in 1859 for fear he might be killed. But Simpson, a favoured a tope had been broken into. Engineers with the Field Force who were
artist of the Queen, already had war experience. He had been sent to the there to ford rivers and set up picquets were adept at propping up the walls
Crimea in 1854 and remained there for nearly a year. So popular were his of Buddhist burial chambers so Simpson and his pals could dive in and see
sketches and water-colours which were subsequently published, that he if there was any treasure to be found. Their methods and their attitudes
earned the nickname of'Crimean Simpson'. In 1859 he was commissioned horrify us today. Simpson boasts about 'bagging topes' as if they were
by the Queen to record sites associated with the Indian Uprising that had some kind of exotic bird rather than the resting places of cremated remains
been quelled only a year earlier. When the Prince of Wales visited India in and reliquaries. The fact that one of his first excavations at Ahin Posh
1876, Simpson was invited to accompany him. So it was understandable Tope at Jallalabad did uncover gold coins and a golden relic holder spurred
that at the beginning of the second Afghan War he was employed by the him on to examine many similar sites . Buddhist topes, or stupas, were
Illustrated London News and later the Daily News to send back reports and usually signified by a dome resting on one or more platforms and treasure
sketches from the front in eastern Afghanistan. hunters appear to have simply sliced off the tops of the domes rather as one
would decapitate a breakfast egg. But Simpson can be somewhat excused
Leaving Holborn Viaduct at 8.15 pm on Tuesday 15 October 1878 he because he did at least appreciate the value of his finds, sending the Ahin
travelled swiftly by train to Brindisi (those were the days) and boarded the Posh treasures to the Viceroy at Calcutta for transmission to London. He
Mongolia bound for Alexandria . From here it was a short overland journey also sketched many of the sites found and he reported on Buddhist statues
to Suez then on board the Bokhara to Bombay. The whole journey took with strong Grecian sculptural influences which were later to be classified
just over three weeks. Then, rather oddly he takes a train eastwards to as the Gandharan school.
Allahabad, before heading westward to Lahore. This four-day journey is
not explained by the editor, Peter Harrington, who one senses is not This is a more interesting book than appears at first sight. It has a number
familiar with India, so the reader has to suppose that at this period there of sketches in colour, showing how skilled Simpson was at capturing exotic
\Vas no direct rail-link beP,.veenBombay and Lahore, although it \vould be people like the Afghan chief Yakoob Beg as weil as the desolate hills
nice to have this confirmed. Simpson makes his way through the Khyber around Jallalabad and soldiers in camp. The Appendices include a useful
Pass on camel-back and joins the Peshawar Field Force under General Sir 'Index of Persons' whom Simpson met or mentioned during his travels and
Sam Browne who had been tasked with establishing the best route from a catalogue resume of his original sketches together with the dates they
Jallalabad to Kabul. This was in anticipation that it would be necessary were published in the Illustrated London News. It has Simpson's
once more for the British to enter Kabul as king-makers, inspite of their comments on his sketches, which were not included in his diary and a
disastrous attempt nearly forty years earlier. Simpson finds a veteran of the number of letters to his friend Harry Rylands in which Simpson reveals
first Afghan war who points out significant features including the old himself as a busy, always curious man, with a sense of humour and the
British cemetery at Jallalabad now almost entirely covered by a 'musjid' Victorian love of awful puns. Recommended. (RLJ)
because the spot where the bodies of those who fell were deliberately
concealed 'with the strong probability ..that the bodies were not disturbed'. 2016 Helion & Co. Ltd. ISBN 978 1 909982 80 2. £35 .00 pp289

Apart from an encounter at Ali Musjid towards the end of November 1878 PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED
it was really a phoney war while Simpson was there. A peace treaty of
sorts had been signed at Gandamack and Simpson left Bombay for home Last Children of the Raj: British Childhoods in India Laurence
on 27 June 1879. It was only later that year that real hostilities began with Fleming
the murder of Louis Cavagnari, the British representative to the Kabul This book , edited by a BACSA member , was first published in two
Court in September. Simpson had become friendly with Cavagnari, who hardback volumes in 2004, and was given an enthusiastic review in the
encouraged the artist's archaeological digs while the Field Force marked Spring 2005 Chowkidar. This was not surprising since a number of
time. As Harrington points out, these excavations, which were really more BACSA people had been interviewed for the book, including our founder
treasure-hunting than serious archaeological explorations, were a welcome Theon Wilkinson and his sister Zoe Yalland. Both had been brought up in
Cawnpore where their father was manager of the Elgin Mills . Volume One

- 118- - 119-
covers the period 1919 to 1939 and the second up to 1950. Sir Mark Tully, Notes to Members
himself a child of the Raj, wrote the introduction. With the passage of time
since the original publication, many of the contributors are now gone and When writing to the Honorary Secretary and expecting a reply, pleased
their memories with them, so this is an important book that recaptures an enclose a stamped addressed envelope.
unique era in colonial history. Usefully there are brief biographies of all
those interviewed, and it is interesting to trace their careers in later life. If wishing to contact a fellow-member whose address is not known to you
Many worked in Britain or its remaining colonies - Kenya and Australia please send the letter c/o the Honorary Secretary who will forward it
were popular choices - and a handful returned, or chose to stay in unopened.
independent India. A nostalgic read but none the worse for that. (RLJ)
Members' emails addresses will not be given out. If an email is sent for a
2016 Dexter Haven Publishing, London ISBN 978 1 903660 20 1 (Vol 1) member, via the Editor or the Honorary Secretary, it will be forwarded to
and ISBN 978 190366021 8 (Vol 2). Each vol. £15.00. pp439 & pp437 that member. It is then at the discretion of the member to reply or not.

NOTICES If planning any survey of cemetery Mis, either in this country or overseas,
please check with the Honorary Secretary to find out if it has already been
BACSA visit to Norwich Mrs Valerie Robinson, Events Officer, reports recorded. This is not to discourage the reporting of the occasional MI
that a small group of BA CSA members visited the South Asian Decorative notice, which is always worth doing, but to avoid unnecessary duplication
Arts and Crafts Collection (SADACC) on Thursday, 24th November of effort.
2016. Housed in a beautifully restored former Victorian skating rink, this
is a magnificent collection of oriental richness which is a delight. The
collection was assembled in the 1970s by Mr and Mrs Philip Millward who The Editor's email address is: rosieljai@clara .[Link]
were on hand to explain it to us. Focused primarily on India and Pakistan,
thP rnllPrtirm inrl11<1P~ p"inting~, prink, tPYtilP~ '1ni1 mPt'11 wnrlc, Tn
addition, there is a shop selling everything from oriental rugs and furniture,
carvings and ceramics to clothes and jewellery.

Forty Years On The first meeting of what was to become BACSA took
place in October 1976 at the National Army Museum in Chelsea. The
fledgling group was provisionally entitled The Indo-British Association,
but at its second meeting in March 1977 it was renamed the British
Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, so it is from this date that we
officially mark our establishment. Chowkidar plans a bumper Autumn
issue, so if readers have any suitable anecdotes, reminiscences or
photographs, please send them to the Editor.

Congratulations to Squadron Leader (ret'd) Rana Chhina of the United

Services Institute, Delhi (a reciprocal BACSA member) who has been
awarded an MBE for his work on Indian soldiers in World War One.
Setting up a four-year project to research and commemorate the volunteer
soldiers who fought in France and Mesopotamia, Squadron Leader Chhina
has uncovered a number of village memorials to mark the men who did not
return home. Currently he is Secretary and Editor of the USI Centre for
Armed Forces Historical Research and vice-president of the Indian Military
Historical Society.

- 120 - Printed by Joshua Horgan, Oxford

above: Colonel Clement Hill's column at Honnavar, Karnataka (see page 97)