The Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial

When he championed the creation of the Chattri Memorial, Sir John Otter had initially envisioned a tablet containing all of the names of those Indian soldiers cremated at the Patcham Down burning ghat. Although he wrote about it in 1916, it would be over 94 years before his dream would eventually become a reality.

Under continued lobbying from the Chattri Memorial group, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission eventually decided in 2009 that it would be appropriate to commemorate the names of the dead Indian soldiers at the cremation site. The memorial, designated the ‘Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial’ was constructed adjacent to the existing Chattri memorial and unveiled on September 26, 2010. This new memorial is quite unique in that it is the first WWI memorial commissioned and built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission since the 1920’s.

The inscription at the top of the memorial, written in Gurmukhi, Hindi and English scripts reads as follows:

IN HONOUR OF THOSE SOLDIERS OF THE INDIAN ARMY WHOSE MORTAL REMAINS WERE COMMITTED TO FIRE

Below this on five panels are recorded the names, ranks and regiments of the 53 Sikh and Hindu soldiers cremated here.

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