Description
Object description
British civilian teacher and principal of Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College at Dehra Dun in India, 1932-1955
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of period as teacher and principal of Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College at Dehra Dun in India, 1932-1955: recruitment to college as science master; function of college; voyage from GB to India aboard liner; initial impressions of India; train journey to Dehra Dun; initial impressions of cantonment; contact with military personnel; background of pupils; lack of communal antagonism; preponderance of ex-college pupils in Indian General Staff, 1948; procedure for entering college; nationalities of college staff.
REEL 2 Continues: Indianisation of staff after Independence, 1948; relations between British and Indian staff; organisation of day at college; parades and uniform; forms of punishment; duties of military staff attached to staff; college servants; example of pupil's prank; teaching in English; use of house system; staff accommodation; food and catering arrangements; sanitary conditions; need to take course of injections after contact with rapid dog; standard of pupils' physical fitness; supervision of kitchens; pupils' daily routine.
REEL 3 Continues: purpose of military college; lack of political interest shown by pupils; annual routine; religious holidays; college outings; terms determined by climate; examinations based on Cambridge syllabus; life of teachers' wives; education of teachers' children; British section of college during Second World War; medical provision for children; personal servants including trustworthiness, method of payment and accommodation.
REEL 4 Continues: control of servants; story of death of ayah with death wish; same treatment of pupils regardless of religious or social background; pocket money system; looting of contractor's shop by Indians during Partition, 1948; evacuation of Muslim pupils to Pakistan; incident of corruption after Partition; relations with Indians; holidays.
REEL 5 Continues: story of narrow escape during shooting party; encounters with snakes; servant stung by scorpion and subsequent cure; interest in Indian history and culture; attitude to living and working in India; contact with Europeans in Dehra Dun; Indian and British attitudes towards Anglo-Indians; question of timing of Partition; benefits of British rule to Indians; reasons for Indian poverty.
REEL 6 Continues: opinion of Indian politics; ex-pupils who joined Indian National Army; opinion of Indian National Army; impressions of VIPs who visited college; story of poor security when seeing Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi; story of discovery of German spy during Second World War; corruption and black marketing during Second World War; dhobi's attempt to procure favour; story of Gurkha tracker's reconstruction of incident where tiger took cow.