Family History Group talk on Indian Military Hospital

The Westbury Family History Group welcomes Mark Neathey on Thursday 23rd July for a talk entitled ‘Dr Brighton’s Indian Patients: The Royal Pavilion as an Indian Military Hospital 1914-1916’.

Between December 1914 and January 1916 the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, was used as a hospital for Indian soldiers who had been wounded on the battlefields of the Western Front. The pavilion’s fine regency rooms were converted into operating theatres and hospital wards.  During this time more than 4,300 Indian soldiers were treated in Brighton.

Using contemporary photographs, documents, newspaper reports and letters this talk will look at why the Indians were fighting on the Western Front, how they were treated at the Royal Pavilion Hospital, and what the Indians themselves thought about the time they spent in Brighton.

Finally, it will examine what monuments remain to commemorate this fascinating period in Brighton’s history.