Recreation & Morale
Although the Royal Pavilion palace may appear as a lovely palace at a seaside resort town were the Indians could experience British culture and hospitality of the local residents of Brighton, the reality was that they were fairly isolated from the general population. Part of ensuring that the Indians maintained their respect for the ‘white man’ and their British masters was to ensure that patients were restricted to the palace grounds and that the movement of any patients outside of those grounds was limited, controlled and supervised by British military officers and guards. [1]
The patients enjoyed the large gardens of the palace and photographs of them playing cards and various other games as well as enjoying the sun and fresh-air can be found. Other photographs of soldiers outside of the Pavilion grounds were largely staged for propaganda purposes both in Britain to show the general population the help and care being extended to their colonial Indian subjects while patients in England as well as showing the native populations in India of the quality care being provided to their wounded Indian relatives by the benevolent King George who they were fighting and dying for. For further details see Analysis - Media Messaging
Policies concerning outings and discipline seem to have varied between the hospitals. While conditions seem to have been less harsh at the Pavilion Hospital compared to the Kitchener Hospital where a more restrictive environment resulted in a number of morale issues (see the Kitchener Hospital - Morale and Discipline). A number of controlled outings for the hospital patients in the city of Brighton were offered. Small groups of patients, not exceeding five were allowed short walks along the sea front accompanied by a British officer. [2]
One of the most popular and well liked British officers was Lt. Col. George Henry Brook Coats, C.B. who was appointed the President of the Recreation Committee. [3] He had previously been the late Commandant of the 25th Punjab Infantry prior to his retirement in 1910. Colonel Coats would take out men for routine marches, sightseeing walking tours of Brighton and even trips to the theatre. For those wounded patients unable to walk but not confined to their bed, car trips to take benefit of the Brighton sea air were also organized. [4]
Sir Austen Chamberlain, the Secretary of State for India suggested and enacted a system where Indian patients from the Brighton hospitals were taken in small escorted guided tours of London once a week where they were met by a British officer fluent in various Indian languages who acted as their guide. [5]
Wanganui Chronicle (New Zealand), August 18,1915
The Pavilion at Brighton - that architectural freak of the Georges - is filled with wounded men. Driving along country roads one meets often char-a-bancs (motor coaches) filled with men in the bright blue hospital suits, who are having an outing and thoroughly enjoying it. One waves to them and greets them as a matter of course, and if the girl is pretty it is quite likely an invalid may call . something very choice indeed.
A number of Indian volunteers who had been students in England also acted as letter writers and readers for the patients, many of who were illiterate. Colonel Graves, who had been the Commandant of the 40th Pathans prior to his retirement, would attend the hospital daily to help patients with their letters. [6] He may have been the inspiration for the doctor in Rudyard Kiplings short story about a Indian patient at the Royal Pavilion hospital dictating a letter home.
Due to the large amount of attention that the Indian soldiers were attracting in England through British propaganda efforts, a Gift House was set up on the Pavilion grounds. Here under the charge of a committee of volunteer ladies gifts for the Indian soldiers sent by the general public from all across the country were collected, sorted and distributed evenly to the Indian patients. [7]
In terms of practicing their religions, separate parts of the Pavilion grounds were reserved for prayers by Muslims and Hindus and the Sikhs were allowed to erect a large tent on the grounds where Sri Guru Granth Sahib was installed and which they ran as their hospital Gurdwara. [8]
Havildar Ghufran Khan, 129th Baluchis to Subedar Zaman Khan (Depot, 129th Baluchis, Karachi, 43)
Pavilion Hospital (Urdu) Brighton August 4, 1915
The arrangements here to enable our people to keep Ramadan are excellent. Colonel Southey Sahib - perhaps you know him - has made excellent arrangements and takes great trouble for us Muslims. His arrangements for our food during the fast are very good, and he has put us all together in one place, because during the fast it is not easy to live with Sikhs and Dogras. I cannot describe how good his arrangements are. I have heard from the regiment. They are still behind; resting, but I do not know how long it will last. I saw the Adjutant, Griffin Sahib, here. His wound has healed and he said he had been passed as fit by the doctors and was going back to the regiment. He had a bullet wound in his foot. [9]
For further details on some of the political motives behind the treatment of the patients see Analysis - The British Raj and Imperial Benevolence
Footnotes
1. Mark Harrison, Disease, Discipline and Dissent: The Indian Army in France and England, 1914-1915. in: Roger Cooter, Harrison Mark, Sturdy Steve, eds Medicine and Modern Warfare (Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam, 1999) 195
2. A Short History In English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers (Corporation of Brighton, 1915) 13
3. : http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__6021.aspx
4. A Short History In English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers (Corporation of Brighton, 1915) 13
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid. 9
8. Ibid. 13
9. David Omissi, Indian Voices of the Great War, Soldiers' Letters, 1914-1918 (St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1999)
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