WW1 - Deaths of Indians in Brighton Hospitals

 

Over one and a half million Indian army soldiers served alongside British troops during the World War One. Twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded on the Western Front were hospitalised at sites around Brighton. These included York Place School, the Dome, the Corn Exchange and the Royal Pavilion.

The fifty-three Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton were taken to a peaceful resting place on the Sussex Downs near Patcham for cremation, after which their ashes were scattered in the sea, in accordance with their religious rites.

The Muslim brothers in arms, totalling nineteen, were buried in a purpose built burial ground near to the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking. Built in 1889, the mosque is the oldest of its kind in north-west Europe.

Deaths of Indians in Brighton Hospitals:

Kitchener Hospital:
36 deaths -  25 Hindus/Sikhs cremated at Patcham; 11 Mohammedans buried at Woking.

Royal Pavilion:

18 deaths - 10 cremated at Patcham; eight buried at Woking.

York Place Hospital:

20 deaths - 18 cremated at Patcham; 2 buried at Woking.

Total cremated on the Downs at Patcham	53
Total buried at Jehan Mosque in Woking	21
Total deaths	74