Chattri, Brighton
The Chattri is a war memorial in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is sited above the city on the South Downs above the suburb of Patcham, and is accessible only by bridleway. It stands on the site where 53 Indian soldiers who fought for the British Empire were cremated during the First World War. The structure has Grade II listed status, reflecting its architectural and historic importance. 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 because of its local heritage and significance.
Background: Indian soldiers in Brighton
The United Kingdom entered the First World War in August 1914 and began deploying troops to France and Belgium. India was at the time part of the British Empire and the Indian Army army was under British command. The British government quickly decided to deploy Indian soldiers, despite the fact that the Indian Army had never previously been deployed outside of South Asia. The deployment was intended to alleviate manpower shortages on the Western Front and simultaneously curb rising Indian nationalism by instilling Imperial pride. The first Indian troops were dispatched in late August 1914, and arrived in France in October.Soldiers wounded on the battlefield were treated in field hospitals. Those only lightly wounded were usually quickly returned to the front but many of the more severely injured were evacuated to England. Brighton, being a resort town on the south coast and close to major ports, was well-positioned to accommodate the evacuees. Three temporary hospitals were established in the town—one in the workhouse, one in the Grammar School, and one in the Royal Pavilion complex, a former royal palace known for its Indian-style architecture. In December 1914, 345 injured soldiers were transported to Brighton by train and were transferred to the hospitals. Careful arrangements were made to provide for the different dietary and religious requirements of the Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. The wounded Indians became something of a tourist attraction and among those to visit the pavilion during their stay were Lord Kitchener and King George V and Queen Mary.
Over 4,300 Indian soldiers were treated in hospitals in Brighton, of whom 74 died of their wounds. The British authorities considered it to be of great importance that the dead received the appropriate funeral rites for their religion. The 21 Muslim men who died were taken to the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey, and buried in a purpose-built cemetery. The bodies of the 53 Hindus and Sikhs were taken to a remote location near Patcham, high on the South Downs, where a ghat was built and the bodies were cremated. Their ashes were scattered in the sea. The Brighton hospitals ceased accommodating Indian soldiers in February 1916 and the facilities were converted for British amputees. The reason the Patcham site was chosen is unknown.
Inception
In August 1915, soon after the last cremations, Lieutenant Das Gupta of the Indian Medical Service approached the Mayor of Brighton, Sir John Otter, with a proposal for a memorial on the site of the ghat. After leaving office, Otter chaired Brighton's Indian Memorials Committee and became the driving force behind the project. He proposed two memorials—one on the site of the ghat, and another in Brighton town centre, which became the Indian Memorial Gate at the Royal Pavilion. The site of the ghat and the surrounding land were owned by Marquess of Abergavenny who, in 1916, donated it to the Borough of Brighton. Otter shared his proposal with the India Office, which agreed to share the cost of the Chattri.Otter approached the retired architect Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob to work on the memorial project. Jacob had worked extensively in India and was widely associated with the Indo-Saracenic architectural style and in particular was known for his know for his use of chhatri, elevated domes supported on pillars. The word "chhatri" or "chattri" means "umbrella" in multiple Indic languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu. Jacob, 75 years old, declined the commission but recommended Elias Cosmas Henriques. Henriques was a junior architect from Bombay, working for the Indian government, who was studying in England. Jacob acted as supervising architect. Henriques waived a fee and accepted only reimbursement of expenses.
Funds were raised and Henriques completed his design by 1917. The memorial was to be made of Sicilian marble, but the stone could not be extracted during the war. Construction work started in August 1920 and continued until the end of that year. A cottage was provided nearby for a caretaker. This added £1,117 to the final cost of £4,964
Design and setting
The Chattri was built at the exact location where the funeral pyres were constructed for the cremation of the 53 soldiers. It is in an isolated position on the South Downs north of Brighton, above sea level and offering views of the town, the surrounding area, and the sea. The only access to the memorial is from a path off a bridleway off the A27 Brighton Bypass at Patcham.The main part of the monument is in white Sicilian marble. It sits on a plinth of grey stone which itself stands over three blocks of granite which cover the slabs used during the cremations. The Chattri is in roughly the shape of an umbrella. It is an octagonal domed pavilion rising to to the finial at its apex. The base is square, and the eight columns carrying the dome start with square bases before becoming octagonal halfway up. The base of the dome is then octagonal. The plinth bears an inscription in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, the text of which was prepared by Sir John Otter:
The monument covers an area of and is set within two acres of landscaped garden.
History
Otter initially approached the Duke of Connaught, but the duke was due to be out of the country on the proposed date. The unveiling ceremony was held on 1 February 1921 and Edward, Prince of Wales presided. The ceremony began with a 21-gun salute, after which the prince and Otter each gave an address. The prince paid tribute to "our Indian comrades came when our need was highest, free men and voluntary soldiers who were true to their salt", and Otter hoped that the memorial would "strengthen ties between India and ". A film crew and multiple press photographers were in attendance. According to the art historian Tim Barringer, the intended audience was India—although nationalist tensions had been set aside during the war, they were gaining momentum again by 1921.Responsibility for the maintenance of the Chattri fell to the Borough of Brighton but the memorial was neglected in the years after the unveiling and was allowed to fall into disrepair. By the 1930s, the caretaker had died; no replacement was appointed and the cottage was demolished. The Imperial War Graves Commission and the India Office prompted the Borough Corporation into action in 1924, but complaints about the condition of the site continued. In 1939, the IWGC drew up a maintenance plan, which included abandoning of surrounding land to focus on the monument itself. This was agreed, though the corporation was reluctant to pay for the restoration works and postponed them to 1942. By then, the Second World War was underway and the land had been requisitioned for military use so repairs were delayed further. The area was used for rifle practice and by the end of the war the Chattri was peppered with bullet holes. The military agreed to cover the cost of repair and restoration works when it relinquished the land in 1946.
The Royal British Legion organised a pilgrimage to the Chattri on 18 September 1932, the first major event since the unveiling in 1921. The service included local dignitaries and military veterans, as well Sir Bhupendra Nath Mitra, the Indian high commissioner. The Legion resurrected the event in 1951 and it was held annually until 1999 when the Legion was unable to continue organising the event. Since 2000, a public ceremony has been held annually on the third Sunday in June, organised by the local Sikh community. The event is supported by local members of the Hindu community, the armed forces, and veterans' associations.
In September 2010, the IWGC built a separate memorial next to the Chattri, as part of a project to highlight the role of Indian soldiers in the world wars, which it believed was often overlooked. This memorial is a stone wall engraved with the names of the Hindu and Sikh dead and the dedication "In honour of those soldiers of the Indian Army whose mortal remains were committed to fire". Previously, the names were spread between the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton and the Neuve-Chapelle Memorial, the main Indian Army memorial in France, close to where several of the casualties fought.
The Chattri was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 20 August 1971.