Briton rummages through the past to salvage pre-1947 memories
LUCKNOW: Christopher Carnaghan, a British national, grew up listening to tales of India and its rich culture.
His father served the Indian Police (IP) for over a decade during the British era and Christopher himself was born in a small town of Karnataka.
Small wonder Carnaghan, a member of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) flew down to India to relive the stories of the land where his father once worked with dignity and pride.
Carnaghan, who is now 75, told HT on Sunday that his father Douglas Carnaghan came down to India in 1932 and joined IP as probationary assistant superintendent.
“After a year-long training, he was posted as deputy superintendent of police (DySP) in Belgaum town of Karnataka, which was then a part of Bombay province and after Independence became a part of Maharashtra and then a part of Karnataka,” said Carnaghan, who was born in Belgaum in 1943.
Carnaghan said he left at the age of four, when India became independent in 1947. But he couldn’t shake it off his memories. Since his father (whose last posting was in Karachi in Pakistan) and his mother Irene had lived here for over a decade, tales about Indian culture and people became a part of his childhood memories.
“Perhaps for this reason I never miss a chance to visit India, where my father once served. It’s my second visit and each time I take back a different experience. I will continue to make such trips to India, at least it gives me a chance to relive my
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It’s my second visit and each time I take back a different experience. I will continue to make such trips to India, at least it gives me a chance to relive my childhood memories. CHRISTOPHER CARNAGHAN, a British national
childhood memories,” he added with a smile.
Carnaghan is not alone in his endeavaour. Along with him, there are almost a dozen Britons and Americans, who came here to revive their pre-1947 connections with India .
The group was led by secretary of British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia, British Scholar and an expert on Lucknow’s history and culture Dr Rosie Llewellyn Jones.
Jones said the tour was long awaited but following technical reasons, it couldn’t take off.
“It’s going to be a unique tour in which people of British and American origin would trace their roots in Lucknow and also revive their connections with India,” said Jones.
Talking to Hindustan Times , she said it was a small attempt to bring them closer to their past. “In the pre-independence era, there were many people of British and American origin who got posted in India and spent their entire lives here. Unfortunately, there are less than 10% biographical sources available in India Office Records, including the records of the civil servants, military personnel, mariners, medical staff, chaplains, railway workers, law enforcers and non-official inhabitants such as merchants, planters, free mariners and missionaries,” she said.
“Several of them died in India during their service tenure and got buried in the cemeteries here while some returned along with their families. But the memories are still lingering . The tour is an attempt to relive these memories. The theme of the tour is Imperial India: Find Your Ancestors,” she added.
During their visit to the erstwhile capital of ‘Oudh’, the group will visit the Residency, Nishatganj cemetery, Madiaon cemetery and other graveyards.
Besides, they will also visit Bada Imambada, Chhatar Manzil, grave of Major General Claude Martin at La Martiniere College and the historical places in neighbouring Kanpur during their two week-long tour to India.