Description
Object description
British private served with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers in India, 1934-1940
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as private with 1st Bn Royal Fusiliers in India, 1934-1940: background to enlistment in Royal Fusiliers, 1933; wish to visit India; degree of knowledge of India prior to posting; attitude towards prospect of active service; issue of tropical clothing and kit; alterations to uniform made by derzi; changes in kit during service in India; items taken to India; purchase of civilian clothes in India; preparations for departure to India.
REEL 2 Continues: meeting English girls at dances in India; lack of problems caused by limited contact with women; lecture on venereal disease; voyage from GB to India aboard SS Nevasa, 1934 including description of Suez ports and recreation; initial impressions of India on arrival in Bombay; train journey from Bombay to Ahmednagar; description of Confinded to Barracks (CB) punishment; acceptance of army discipline by troops; move to Delhi, 1935.
REEL 3 Continues: route marches; training exercises with Indian Army; description of gun drill for machine gun; comparison of company, platoon and battalion training; attitude to drill parades; character of ceremonial parades; guard duties at Vice-Regal Lodge, Delhi; lack of opportunity for contact with Indian troops; purchase of civilian clothes; company posting to hill station at Ranikhet; leave in Nainital.
REEL 4 Continues: friendships with English and Anglo-Indian women; sporting and recreational activities; marriage of friend to Anglo-Indian girl; respect for Anglo-Indians; visits to Indian homes; state of health in India; attack of malaria; anti-malarial duties in Dehli.
REEL 5 Continues: training for duties on North West Frontier at Jhansi; role as company clerk; limited contact with Indian troops; organised regimental entertainments; distance between units in India; reaction to Lord Linlithgow's surprise inspection of vice-regal guard; comparison between barrack rooms in GB and India; duties of chokidar.
REEL 6 Continues: sleeping arrangements; opinion of standard of rations; supplementing rations by purchasing food from contractors; alcohol drunk; lack of deaths; opinion of quality of uniform and inadequacy of kit; description of puttees and boots worn; maintenance of uniform and kit; contrast between service life in GB and India especially standards and discipline.
REEL 7 Continues: tensions resulting from heat; problems with monkeys; prevalence of tattooing amongst troops; state of health of troops in India; procedure for reporting sick; barrack cleanliness; lack of precautions taken against food, water and malaria; sanitary arrangements in barracks; stings and bites; outline of daily routine.
REEL 8 Continues: leave days; church parade; clothes worn off duty; comparison between service life in India and GB including relaxed discipline and less parades; concessions received during service in India; character of fort and headquarters guard duties; starching of uniforms; opinion of officers; limited degree of contact with officers.
REEL 9 Continues: friendship with officer; marking of daily routine with bugle calls; sings words used by troops to memorise bugle calls; preparations for inspection of fire fighting equipment; chit system used; degree of swearing amongst troops; cleanliness amongst troops; preference for cool weather; sporting activities; organised regimental entertainments; Christmas celebrations.
REEL 10 Continues: shooting parties; walking in hills during periods at Naini Tal; visits to cinema; hiring bicycles in bazaars and visits to sites around Jhansi and Delhi; visits to museums; reading and newspapers received; services provided by Salvation Army; emphasis on sport in India; degree of contact with Indian troops.
REEL 11 Continues: question of taboos amongst Indian troops and civilians; imprisonment of soldier for hitting Indian; affectionate feeling towards Indian civilians; awareness of political agitation; degree of awareness of situation in Europe; benefits of British rule to India; knowledge of Indian politics; opinion of Mahatma Gandhi; duties standing by at Indian festivals to prevent religious conflicts; distinctions in British Army salutes for British and Indian dignitaries.
REEL 12 Continues: awareness of Indian poverty and religious conflicts; lack of opportunity to meet European or Indian civilians; relations with barrack servants; payment and duties of servants; methods of polishing equipment; question of Indian working practices; use of term punishment stations; competing in Legge Trophy; preference for certain areas and races in India.
REEL 13 Continues: comparison of Indian religions and races; visits to Ahmadnagar and Delhi; visits to Indian cultural sites; opinion of and attitude to Indian beliefs; discovery of skeleton while swimming in River Jumna; contrast between urban and rural Indians and rich and poor; attitude to service in India; contrast in military and European civilian relations with Indians.
REEL 14 Continues: receiving stickman's stick for smart turnout on guard; conditions on voyage from India to Egypt, 1940.