Description
Object description
British bandboy and private served with 1st Bn East Yorkshire Regt in India, 1933-1937
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as bandboy and private with 1st Bn East Yorkshire Regt in India, 1933-1937: reasons for joining army, 7/1933; parental opposition to prospect of overseas posting; reaction to posting to India; prior knowledge of service in India and accounts of servicemen who had served there; leave arrangements; degree of preparation for service in India; hill climbing at Chakrata; voyage aboard SS Dorsetshire from GB to India, 1933 including cramped conditions and recreational activities; disembarkation in Bombay.
REEL 2 Continues: description of Indian entertainers in Bombay; issue of gifts; troop train journey from Bombay to Dinapore in Bihar and Orissa; impressions of country seen from train; arrival and reception at Dinapore; teasing of draftees; arrangements for visits to hill stations; horseplay in barracks; earthquake at Dinapore; mountain warfare training for service on North West Frontier; reputation of tribesmen on North West Frontier for marksmanship; reasons for killing of regimental sergeant major.
REEL 3 Continues: briefings with information gained by political agents; rumour of tribesmen's torture of captured British troops; anecdote illustrating nervousness of new arrivals on North West Frontier; restrictions on actions of boy soldiers; column and piqueting duties; building sangars; false alarm during guard duty; description of tribal villages; purpose of columns; duties of bandsmen on active service; playing in massed bands; opinion of officers.
REEL 4 Continues: reaction to being made to dig trench for officer's mess; comparison of barracks on plains and hills; presence of insects in barracks; quality of rations; use of canteen; services of Indian vendors; skills of Indian tailors and shoemakers; medical treatment received for illnesses and injuries; precautions against mosquitoes.
REEL 5 Continues: outline of daily routine in barracks; recreational activities; duties and skill of dhobi; visit to variety performance at Chakrata Theatre; army organised brothel in Chakrata; campaign by soldiers' wives against brothel; occurrences of homosexuality; Home leave entitlement; relations between troops and barrack servants; troops resentment about service and how this manifested itself with servants; attitude towards Indian poverty.
REEL 6 Continues: attitudes to fraternisation with Indians; outline of education certificate syllabus; question of British Army's role in India; first and second class certificates of education; degree of contact with Indian civilians; army's discouragement of marriages between British troops and Anglo-Indians; troops attitude towards Anglo-Indian women; beneficial effects of British rule in India; unit's previous strike duty; lack of political activity; attitude towards Mahatma Gandhi.
REEL 7 Continues: availability of newspapers; troops' avoidance of political subjects; reasons for Indian poverty; restrictions on movement of British troops; lack of sympathy with self-mutilated beggars; Urdu phrases used.