Wikipedia

The Chattri

The Chattri is a war memorial in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is sited 500 feet (150 m) 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 (37 Hindu and 16 Sikh) 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.[2]

The Chattri
Looking southwards towards Brighton
Map
Interactive map of the The Chattri area
General information
TypeWar memorial
Architectural styleOrientalist
LocationBrighton and Hove, England, Deep Bottom, off A27, Patcham
Coordinates50°53′3″N 0°8′49″W / 50.88417°N 0.14694°W / 50.88417; -0.14694
Elevation500 feet (150 m)
Construction startedAugust 1920
CompletedDecember 1920
Inaugurated1 February 1921
Cost£4,964 (£191,800 in 2025)[1]
Height
Height29 feet (8.8 m)
Dimensions
Diameter9 feet (2.7 m)
Design and construction
ArchitectElias Cosmas Henriques
Architecture firmWilliam Kirkpatrick Ltd,
Trafford Park, Manchester

Background: Indian soldiers in Brighton

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The United Kingdom entered the First World War in August 1914 and began deploying troops to France and Belgium. At the time, India was part of the British Empire and the Indian Army was under British command. The British government quickly decided to deploy Indian soldiers to the Western Front, despite the fact that the Indian Army had never previously been deployed outside of South Asia. The deployment was intended to alleviate manpower shortages 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.[3][4]

Soldiers wounded on the battlefield were initially treated in field hospitals. Those only lightly wounded were usually quickly returned to the front but many of those requiring further treatment 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.[5][6] 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 Oriental-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, King George V, and Queen Mary.[5][7][8]

Over the course of the war, more than a million Indians fought for the British Empire, of whom 140,000 saw service in France and Belgium.[9] 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 (open-air funeral pyre) was built and the bodies were cremated. There was some debate as to whether open-air cremation was legal in the UK under the Cremation Act 1902, so government sanction was required to allow these funerals to take place.[10][11][12] Photographs were taken of the deceased, which were sent to their relatives in India along with a portion of their ashes. The remainder of the ashes were scattered in the sea. The Brighton hospitals ceased accommodating Indian soldiers in February 1916 and the facilities were converted for British amputees.[13][14][15] The reason the Patcham site was chosen is unknown.[14]

Inception

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The Chattri from the southwest

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.[16][17] The latter became the Indian Memorial Gate, a monumental entrance to the Royal Pavilion complex built in a similar style to the Chattri.[18][19][20] The site of the ghat and the surrounding land were owned by Marquess of Abergavenny, who donated it to the Borough of Brighton in 1916. Otter shared his proposal with the India Office (the British government department responsible for administering India), which agreed to share the cost of the Chattri.[16][21][22]

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 use of chhatri, elevated domes supported on pillars.[22] The word "chhatri" or "chattri" means "umbrella" in multiple Indic languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.[14][23] 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.[22][24][25] Henriques waived a fee and accepted only reimbursement of expenses.[21]

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.[26][27] 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 (£43,200 in 2025)[1] to the final cost of £4,964 (£191,800 in 2025)[1][28]

Design and setting

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Inscription on the base of the Chattri

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, 500 feet (150 m) above sea level and offering views of the town, the surrounding area, and the sea. It is roughly a mile and a quarter north-norheast (two kilometres) of All Saints Church, Patcham. The only access to the memorial is from a path off a bridleway off the A27 Brighton Bypass at Patcham.[20][21][29]

The main part of the monument is a dome (chattri) in white Sicilian marble in the style of Mughal architecture.[21][24][29] The Chattri is roughly the shape of an umbrella. It is a domed pavilion rising to 30 feet (9.1 m) to the finial at its apex.[21] The dome is supported by eight columns, which start with square bases before becoming octagonal halfway up. The columns terminate in decorative capitals and each have four brackets projecting from them. The dome has wide eaves, which overhang the columns. It sits on a plinth (or terrace) of grey stone which itself stands over three blocks of granite covering the slabs used during the cremations. The plinth is square, and stepped down four times on the eastern side. A flight of steps provides access to the pavilion.[24] The plinth bears an inscription in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, the text of which was prepared by Sir John Otter:[28]

To the memory of all Indian soldiers who gave their lives for the King-Emperor in the Great War, this monument, erected on the site of the funeral pyre where Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton passed through the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly love dedicated.[21][24][27]

The monument covers an area of 40 by 60 feet (12 by 18 metres) and is set within two acres (0.8 hectares) of landscaped garden.[21]

Unveiling

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Otter initially approached the Duke of Connaught (a member of the royal family and army officer who had served in India), 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.[21][27] Prior to the ceremony, the Chattri was draped in the flag of the British Raj.[30] 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 [the UK]".[27] A film crew and multiple press photographers were in attendance.[27]

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. During the war, the British authorities had been keen to show that Indian soldiers were being treated properly.[27] This extended to the correct funerary rites and the exception to the law to allow the open-air pyre and to the construction of the Chattri.[10][30] Lakhbir Jassal described the rituals as "imperial paternalism".[10] Susan Ashley, an academic specialising in cultural heritage, argued that the abandonment of the Chattri by the British government proved that the intent behind its construction was imperialistic and a "symbolic performance", but that its later adoption by the community gave it a new purpose.[31]

Later history

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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 (IWGC) 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 2 acres (0.81 ha) 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.[21][28]

The Royal British Legion (RBL) 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 RBL resurrected the event in 1951 and it was held annually until 1999 when the Legion decided it was unable to continue organising the event, citing the age of its members and the difficulty of reaching the site.[17][23] The Indian community in Brighton and the wider UK were outraged by the decision to abandon the ceremony, some accusing the RBL of racism and of deliberately not consulting them before the decision.[23][32] A local Sikh teacher took on the responsibility, and a public ceremony has been held annually since 2000 on the third Sunday in June. The event is supported by local Hindu and Sikh community groups, the armed forces, and veterans' associations.[21][28][33] The 2000 ceremony was sparsely attended but the event grew in popularity from te following year.[23] Since the change of leadership, the ceremony has shifted from largely Christian themes and British military traditions into a hybrid which also includes Sikh prayers, the reading of Indian poems, and speeches from Indian ex-service personnel.[34] Ashley suggested that, as a result, "the emphasis was re-placed on the men who were cremated on this spot".[23] Nonetheless, the historian Tony Kushner observed that the Indian soldiers receive little coverage in the modern cultural history of Brighton, and that "the Chattri [...] is now rather neglected, unpublicized and inaccessible to the many tourists the town attracts".[35][citation needed]

In September 2010, the IWGC (by then renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) 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".[36][37][38] 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.[38][39]

The Chattri has been a Grade II listed building since August 1971. Listed building status provides legal protection from unauthorised demolition or modification.[24] The surrounding land is owned by Brighton and Hove City Council. It was designated a "centenary field" in 2017, part of a project by the charity Fields in Trust and the Royal British Legion to conserve public spaces connected to the First World War.[40][41][42]

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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Citations

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  1. 1 2 3 UK Consumer Price Index inflation figures from 1209–2024 based on data from "Inflation calculator". Bank of England. London. 18 February 2026. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  2. ↑ "The Chattri, Brighton". Fields in Trust. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Barringer, section: "In the Trenches".
  4. ↑ Hyson & Lester, pp. 19–20.
  5. 1 2 "Indian soldiers", in Collis, p. 157.
  6. ↑ Hyson & Lester, p. 21.
  7. ↑ Barringer, section: "The Brighton Hospitals".
  8. ↑ Jassal, p. 58.
  9. ↑ Ashley (August 2016), p. 555.
  10. 1 2 3 Jassal, p. 59.
  11. ↑ Hyson & Lester, p. 23.
  12. ↑ Robinson, p. 57.
  13. ↑ Barringer, section "Funerary Rituals".
  14. 1 2 3 Ashley (January 2016), p. 35.
  15. ↑ Jassal, p. 61.
  16. 1 2 Donovan, pp. 53–54.
  17. 1 2 Singh, section: "Twentieth-Century War Memorials".
  18. ↑ Hyson & Lester, p. 33.
  19. ↑ Robinson, pp. 56–57.
  20. 1 2 Newman, p. 33.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Chattri", in Collis, pp. 58–59.
  22. 1 2 3 Barringer, section: "Memorial".
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Ashley (August 2016), p. 558.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic England. "The Chattri (1379911)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  25. ↑ Nairn & Pevsner, p. 458.
  26. ↑ Donovan, pp. 54–57.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barringer, section: "On the Downs"
  28. 1 2 3 4 Donovan, pp. 58–61.
  29. 1 2 Antram & Pevsner, pp. 276–277.
  30. 1 2 Ashley (August 2016), p. 557.
  31. ↑ Ashley (August 2016), pp. 557–558.
  32. ↑ Jassal, p. 65.
  33. ↑ Jassal, p. 64.
  34. ↑ Jassal, p. 66.
  35. ↑ Kushner, pp. 72–73.
  36. ↑ Das, p. 412.
  37. ↑ "WWI memorial honours India's dead". BBC News. 26 September 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  38. 1 2 "Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  39. ↑ Kendall: Appendix III.
  40. ↑ Bance, Marion (29 October 2024). "The Chattri memorial: a reminder of Indian bravery in WW1". Sussex Bylines. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  41. ↑ "Centenary Fields Legacy and the Commonwealth". Fields in Trust. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  42. ↑ "The Chattri Memorial". Brighton and Hove City Council. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
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