Chattri, Brighton
The Chattri | |
---|---|
Location of the Chattri within Brighton and Hove | |
General information | |
Type | War memorial |
Architectural style | Orientalist |
Location | Brighton and Hove, England |
Address | Deep Bottom, off A27, Patcham |
Coordinates | 50°53′3″N 0°8′49″W / 50.88417°N 0.14694°W |
Elevation | 500 feet (150 m) |
Construction started | August 1920 |
Completed | December 1920 |
Inaugurated | 1 February 1921 |
Cost | £4,964 (£212,100 in 2024)[1] |
Height | 29 feet (8.8 m) |
Dimensions | |
Diameter | 9 feet (2.7 m) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Elias Cosmas Henriques |
Architecture firm | William Kirkpatrick Ltd, Trafford Park, Manchester |
The Chattri is a
Indian soldiers in Brighton
Although the great majority of soldiers recovered from their injuries, some died. The 21
History of the memorial
In August 1915, soon after the last cremations at the ghat site, a lieutenant in the Indian Medical Service and the Mayor of Brighton, Sir John Otter, planned the establishment of a memorial to the soldiers who had died in Brighton. Lt Das Gupta made the proposal, but Otter took on the project almost single-handedly; after leaving his position as Mayor he chaired Brighton's Indian Memorials Committee.[8] In December 1915 he made a proposal to the India Office for a memorial on the ghat site and another in Brighton town centre; Sir Austen Chamberlain, the Secretary of State for India, agreed this in February 1916.[8] In July of that year, the land on which the ghat stood, and the immediate area around it, was transferred from the Marquess of Abergavenny to the ownership of Brighton County Borough. At the same time, the India Office agreed to share the cost of building and erecting the memorial with Brighton Corporation (the forerunner of the present Brighton and Hove City Council), on the understanding that the corporation would be responsible for the town centre memorial.[9]
Funds were raised during 1917. After delays caused by the need to dedicate all available resources to the war effort, in April 1918 a building firm, KirkPatrick Brothers of Trafford Park near Manchester, was awarded the contract to build the memorial. The main building material was marble; its arrival from Sicily was delayed by more than a year, but building work started in mid-1920.[9]
A young Indian architect E. C. Henriques from
The Chattri was unveiled on 1 February 1921 by Edward, Prince of Wales.[10][14][15]
By the mid-1930s, the memorial had fallen into disrepair. The caretaker had died, with nobody replacing him, and the cottage had been demolished. The India Office, which had received many complaints about The Chattri's condition despite the Brighton Corporation having taken full responsibility for its upkeep, liaised with the Corporation and the
The Chattri was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 20 August 1971.[11] It is one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.[16]
Architecture and location
The Chattri was built at the exact location where the funeral pyres were constructed for the cremation of the 53 soldiers.[4][15][17] This is a peaceful, isolated position on the South Downs, 500 feet (150 m) above Brighton and overlooking the city and the sea. The only access to the memorial is from a path off a bridleway between the A27 Brighton Bypass at Patcham and the Clayton Windmills at the top of the Downs.[15] The bridleway, which at that point runs along a ridge between Hogtrough Bottom and Deep Bottom, is part of the Sussex Border Path, and The Chattri is at the northern extremity of the City of Brighton and Hove, on the border with the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex.[18]
White marble from Sicily was used for the body of the memorial.[11] It sits on a plinth of grey stone which stands over three blocks of granite which cover the slabs used during the cremations.[15] The Chattri takes the form of a tall, domed pavilion, rising to 29 feet (8.8 m) to the finial at its apex.[10][15][17] The base is square, and the eight columns carrying the dome start with square bases before becoming octagonal halfway up. The base of the dome is then octagonal.[11][15] The plinth bears an inscription in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu,[10][15] the text of which was prepared by Sir John Otter:[14]
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.[10][11]
Cremation Memorial
The names of the cremated dead are not listed on the Chattri memorial, but were belatedly listed on the Patcham Down Indian Forces' Cremation Memorial, erected in 2010 by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Most of the dead had been previously listed on the Indian Memorial at Neuve-Chapelle in France primarily for those missing on the Western Front and eight on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton which was primarily for soldiers who died at sea. The CWGC had decided in 2009 that as these men were not "missing" they deserved appropriate commemoration at the site they were cremated. The memorial stands within the grounds beside the lane approaching the Chattri. Its introduction is inscribed, in English, Hindi and Punjabi:[19]
In honour of these soldiers of the Indian Army whose mortal remains were committed to fire.[19]
Gallery
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The Chattri Brighton noticeboard explaining the monument
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Chattri Brighton viewed from the South South West at a distance
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Chattri Brighton viewed from the West, with the Cremation Memorial (in foreground, right)
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Chattri Brighton Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial listing names of the fallen
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Chattri Brighton, Inscription on the base of the Chattri
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Chattri Brighton from the South West
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Chattri Brighton from the West
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Chattri Brighton from the North West
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Chattri Brighton from the North North West
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Chattri Brighton from the North
See also
- Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: C–D
- Lions of the Great War, another memorial dedicated to Indian Soldiers who fought in the First World War.
Notes
- ^ a b c UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ "The Chattri, Brighton". Fields in Trust. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bridgewater 2007, p. 76.
- ^ a b c d e Delorme 1987, p. 61.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "A More In-Depth History: Part IV". The Chattri Official Website. Tom Donovan. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b "Brief History". The Chattri Official Website. Tom Donovan. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ Bridgewater 2007, p. 77.
- ^ a b "A More In-Depth History: Introduction". The Chattri Official Website. Tom Donovan. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b "A More In-Depth History: Part II". The Chattri Official Website. Tom Donovan. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Bridgewater 2007, p. 75.
- ^ a b c d e Historic England. "The Chattri, at NGR TQ 304 103, on land north of A27 Road and east of A23 Road, Patcham (Grade II) (1379911)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ Dale 1989, p. 198.
- ^ Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 458.
- ^ a b c d "A More In-Depth History: Part III". The Chattri Official Website. Tom Donovan. 1 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Carder 1990, §122.
- ^ "Images of England – Statistics by County (East Sussex)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
- ^ a b Bridgewater 2007, p. 74.
- ISBN 0-540-07312-1.
- ^ a b CWGC. "Patcham Down Indian Forces Cremation Memorial {!} Cemetery Details". CWGC. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
Bibliography
- Barringer, Tim (2022). "Ambiguities of Imperial mourning: the Patcham Chattri". Art History. 45 (3): 570–597.
- Bridgewater, Peter (2007). An Eccentric Tour of Sussex. Alfriston: Snake River Press. ISBN 978-1-906022-03-7.
- Carder, Timothy (1990). The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. ISBN 0-86147-315-9.
- Dale, Antony (1989). Brighton Churches. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-00863-8.
- Delorme, Mary (1987). Curious Sussex. London: Robert Hale Ltd. ISBN 0-7090-2970-5.
- ISBN 0-14-071028-0.