During the First World War (1914-1918), over 1.5 million soldiers from undivided India fought alongside British troops and, for a brief time, Brighton had a special association with some of them.
Twelve thousand Indian soldiers wounded on the Western Front were sent to temporary hospitals set up in the Royal Pavilion, the Dome, the Corn Exchange, York Place and Pelham Street School.
Those who died whilst receiving treatment in Brighton’s Indian military hospitals were buried or cremated in accordance with their religious beliefs: Muslims were taken to the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking and the bodies of 53 Hindus and Sikhs were taken to a remote location on the South Downs, where a ghat was built so that their bodies could be cremated and their ashes scattered in the sea.
Stunning and unique memorial
The idea for a permanent memorial at the site of the ghat is attributed to Lieutenant Das Gupta of the Indian Medical Service, who approached the mayor of Brighton, John Otter, in August 1915. Otter understood the political and historical need to preserve the memory of the Indians who had died in both France and England and in 1916 took Gupta’s idea a step further by proposing two memorials: the Indian Gate, the southern gateway to the Royal Pavilion, designed to commemorate Brighton’s link with India, and a Chattri in Patcham.
The land for the Chattri, the property of the Marquess of Abergavenny, was conveyed to the County Borough of Brighton in July 1916 and it was agreed that the India Office and Brighton Corporation would share the cost of erecting the memorial, but that Brighton alone would be responsible for ongoing care and maintenance.
The architect, Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, sketched out a chattri, a traditional Indian style of memorial, with an umbrella-shaped roof symbolising the protection offered to the memory of the dead, and E.C. Henriques, a young Indian architect just completing his studies in England, undertook the design.
Delays and frustrations
The design was finalised in December 1916, but completion of the work was frustratingly slow. Complications arose around the cost of the Sicilian marble for the dome and eight pillars, and its location high up on the Downs: “exposed to the action of the weather, and to the ill treatment of mischievous boys.”
Further delays occurred due to problems with the joint financing of the venture; with labour shortages caused by urgent national work taking precedence; and with the marble contractor refusing to honour his contract owing to war conditions in Italy.
However, by the end of 1920, workmen had completed the memorial, caretaker’s cottage and surrounding turfed garden – incorporating four miniature avenues of red and white thorn trees pointing north, south, east and west.
Photo courtesy of Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove.
Unveiling the Chattri
The Chattri Memorial was unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales on 1 February 1921. The inscription, prepared by Sir John Otter and written in Hindi, Punjabi and English, reads:
“To the memory of all the Indian soldiers who gave their lives in the service of their King-Emperor this monument, erected on the site where the Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton passed through the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicated.”
The ceremony was captured by British Pathé.
Years of neglect
Although the Chattri was a Brighton Corporation initiative, what happened over the next two decades did them no credit. There is evidence of concern for the care of the Chattri in the decision made in 1923 to employ an on-site caretaker, but this former regimental sergeant major died a few years later and he was not replaced. Neglect and unwillingness on the part of the Corporation to take responsibility for ongoing maintenance eroded and damaged the site.
In 1932, a walker reported on the sorry state in which he found the memorial: “It is now neglected. Overgrown with thistles and what I should call if I were on a tub in Hyde Park ‘a disgrace to the British nation’.”
Complaints were still being voiced about the dilapidated condition of the memorial in 1942, but by this time the land had been requisitioned as part of the Downland Training Area and it had become a WWII battle training ground.
When the land was derequisitioned in 1946, the War Office accepted the charge for repairs and agreed to restore the Chattri to its original condition. In 1951, the Royal British Legion started an annual pilgrimage to the Chattri, only stopping in 1999 when declining numbers and the relative remoteness of the location meant they could not continue.
Since June 2000, Davinder Dhillon, a local Sikh teacher, has ensured that a fitting annual memorial service is maintained with representatives of the Undivided Indian Ex-Service Association present, as well as the Brighton and Hove Hindu Elders Group, members of the armed forces and police, the mayor and local people.
Legacy of Indian involvement
On 26 September 2010, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission unveiled a Cremation memorial, built close to the Chattri, to commemorate the loss of 4,700 Indian Army soldiers and labourers who died on the Western Front during the First World War and have no known graves.
In 2017, as part of the 100th anniversary of World War I, the site of the Chattri was dedicated as a Fields in Trust Centenary Field, reflecting the Grade II listed status of the architecture, its local heritage and significance.
The next annual memorial service at the Chattri, Patcham, Standen Lane, Brighton, BN1 8ZB will take place on Sunday 8 June 2025 at 2.30 pm.
Postcript: A large crowd gathered on 27 October 2024 for the first annual memorial ceremony at the Indian Gate.
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