The annual Chattri Memorial Service was held in blustery conditions yesterday (Sunday 12 June) on the South Downs on the edge of Brighton.
Dozens of people turned out despite the damp conditions to commemorate 53 Hindu and Sikh soldiers from India who died in hospital in Brighton during the First World War.
They were among 12,000 Indian soldiers to be treated at temporary hospitals in Brighton in 1914-15 having been injured on the Western Front.
Buildings converted into temporary hospitals included the Royal Pavilion, the Dome and the Corn Exchange.
The memorial, off Standen Lane, Patcham, records the “grateful admiration and brotherly affection” felt by the people of Brighton for the Indian war dead.
The Indian public also paid for a memorial – the southern gateway to the Royal Pavilion – as a thank you to the people of Brighton for nursing convalescing soldiers from the Sub-Continent.
