Souvenir Book

In mid-February 1916 as the Indian soldiers left Brighton they were presented with a commemorative book entitled ‘A Short History in English, Gurmukhi & Urdu of the Royal Pavilion Brighton and a Description of it as A Hospital for Indian Soldiers. Much more than just a simple souvenir, this book was considered of vital strategic importance as a propaganda piece for the British Government.

The souvenir book was edited by the Director of the Public Library and issued by the Corporation of Brighton. [1] Officially it was marketed as a souvenir for the British and well as a token of thanks from the Mayor and people of Brighton. In reality it’s text have undergone extensive revisions and approval by the India Office and its primary purpose was to impress upon the people of India the wonderful care that the British had provided their colonial Indian subjects in a Kings palace. The book was also used as counter-propaganda against the propaganda directed at the Indian soldiers by the Germans and their Ottoman Muslim allies.

Knowing that Indian soldiers had a great personal affinity for King George, a large part of the book is devoted to King George’s visit to the Pavilion hospital on August 25, 1915 with quite a few photographs of the day’s ceremonies. Looking at the book most people would have the initial impression that the Royal Pavilion was King George's palace that he had made available to his Indian soldiers.

The book also goes into great detail outlining the complex and odd caste based segregation and practices such as the separate water supplies, kitchens and even toilet facilities. This emphasis was done to placate India’s large Hindu majority and their religious practices of racial segregation, concepts of ‘purity and impurity’ and untouchability. The India Office wanted to emphasize to the Hindu majority that they were doing everything in their power to be sensitive to their cultural taboos in order to avoid any incidences such as those that led to the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny.

Plenty of photographs in the book show Indian patients playing games or sitting on the grounds of the Royal Pavilion yet the book makes no mention of the restrictive conditions placed on the patients to confine them to the Pavilion grounds and cut-off contact with the people of Brighton and the town in general.

The souvenir book was considered such an important tool of political propaganda in India that the India Office purchased over 20,000 copies of the publication for distribution in India. [2] For further information about the strategic importance of the Souvenir Book and its goals see Analysis of the Brighton Indian Experience.

Footnotes

1. 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) 18

2. Joyce Collins, Dr Brightons Indian Patients December 1914 - January 1916 (Brighton Books, 1997) 28