sorry, do you have the date and page number? ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Feltham" <wulguru.wantok@gmail.com> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 3:12 PM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Mr. Pun > G'day Saly, > > On 29/06/2008, at 11:16 AM, Karoo wrote: > > > Did this article appear in British newspapers - do you know? > > Yes, the London Daily Telegraph. > > << I am aware that ignorance of the law does not excuse but > I think that some of us ex India and based in the UK > (and cognisant of past actions taken by Gurkhas on the > Burma front and elsewhere) may like to address a small email to > Isleworth Hospital, Cardiology Department. >> > > Go for it. > > > ooroo > > If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. > > Anon. > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG. Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1513 - Release Date: 22/06/2008 07:52

That ignorant piece of work should be publically named and shamed. Bring back the stocks - that will sort out those administrators! Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Karoo" <karoo4@bigpond.com> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 2:16 AM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Mr. Pun > Hello John > > Did this article appear in British newspapers - do you know? > > I am aware that ignorance of the law does not excuse but > I think that some of us ex India and based in the UK > (and cognisant of past actions taken by Gurkhas on the > Burma front and elsewhere) may like to address a small email to > Isleworth Hospital, Cardiology Department. > > Wishes > Sally > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Feltham" <wulguru.wantok@gmail.com> > > > > Read on......... > > Mr Pun, one of just 10 living VC holders in the UK, was close to tears > and forced to leave after being told he also owed thousands of pounds > because he had 'misled' the hospital over his immigration > status............. > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internal Virus Database is out of date. Checked by AVG. Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1513 - Release Date: 22/06/2008 07:52

Hello John Did this article appear in British newspapers - do you know? I am aware that ignorance of the law does not excuse but I think that some of us ex India and based in the UK (and cognisant of past actions taken by Gurkhas on the Burma front and elsewhere) may like to address a small email to Isleworth Hospital, Cardiology Department. Wishes Sally ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Feltham" <wulguru.wantok@gmail.com> Read on......... Mr Pun, one of just 10 living VC holders in the UK, was close to tears and forced to leave after being told he also owed thousands of pounds because he had 'misled' the hospital over his immigration status.............

G'day folks, On 28/06/2008, at 5:30 PM, E. Sarstedt-McCarthy wrote: > URL won't open John. No tinyurls??? Read on......... Mr Pun, one of just 10 living VC holders in the UK, was close to tears and forced to leave after being told he also owed thousands of pounds because he had 'misled' the hospital over his immigration status. The Gurkha, who lives on just £135 a week, was ejected this week on the anniversary of winning his VC in Burma on June 23 1944. He had attended the Isleworth hospital's cardiology department for an urgent follow-up appointment and has been on lifesaving heart drugs for 10 months. The VC war hero (at front of picture) was refused heart treatment at West Middlesex University Hospital But Andy Finlay, its income generation manager, demanded to see Mr Pun's passport and said his visa showed he had indefinite leave to enter Britain, not indefinite leave to remain - meaning he was ineligible for NHS treatment. He allegedly then threatened Mr Pun, who does not speak English and had a friend acting as interpreter, with a bill for past treatment. ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

http://tinyurl.com/3erwuz ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7476804.stm ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

Hi all Is it possible to look online at the Presidency Army lists ? I'm searching for 6th Regiment, Royal Artillery in or around 1871. Thanks Jonathan.

URL won't open John. No tinyurls??? On Sat, Jun 28, 2008 at 3:09 PM, <india-british-raj-request@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Off Topic - Pun VC. (John Feltham) > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: John Feltham <wulguru.wantok@gmail.com> > To: > Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:02:46 +1000 > Subject: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Off Topic - Pun VC. > > > More disgraceful stuff from the 'suits' in the UK NHS. > > > see... > > > > http://www.pprune.org/forums/military-aircrew/277365-ghurka-rifleman-pun-vc-triumph-merged-19.html > > > > ooroo > > If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. > > Anon. > > > > > > To contact the INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ list administrator, send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ mailing list, send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body > of the > email with no additional text. > >

More disgraceful stuff from the 'suits' in the UK NHS. see... http://www.pprune.org/forums/military-aircrew/277365-ghurka-rifleman-pun-vc-triumph-merged-19.html ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

A student in Pakistan talks about the famous Urdu poet Ghalib and his role in the events of 1857. Readers of Dalrymple's book on Bahadur Shah Zafar will recall many of the references that appear below. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India Quoting from http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/Feb-08/Ghalib-1857-revolution.asp Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, one of our greatest poets, was in Delhi when the uprising of 1857 was at its peak. He observed the revolutionary changes taking place during his lifetime. And his travel to Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1830, the then capital of the British India, had broadened his mental horizon. But no change or revolution, no matter how great, could reflect in his poetry. There are barely a few of Ghalib's couplets that can truly be attributed to any political or social upheaval. A few of his ghazals and couplets are sometimes unscrupulously reproduced and quoted as portrayal of the political revolution that saw Indians losing the war of freedom and Mughals their throne. But the fact is that his poetry has got nothing to do with the events of 1857 as he had composed such ghazals and couplets much before the rebellion. But Ghalib's Urdu letters reward anyone who is lucky and wise enough to read them. Many of them give an account of the events of 1857 and, besides carrying some biographical details about Ghalib, make a good reading, too. He began writing letters in Urdu in or around 1847. He quit the old-fashioned way of writing letters that essentially meant long salutations and tortuous language and instead went for a very lively and frank style. The language of his letters is simple yet literary and sounds like the conversation of a person of highly developed tastes and knowledge. His ability to smile at his sorrows and brighten up at the gloomiest moments has made these letters a good example of decent humour. Ghalib talked of the 1857 revolution in many of his letters which portrayed the pain and sorrows that he had felt. However, he was careful enough not to say anything that could offend the British. His attitude towards the 'rebellious' Indians was not sympathetic at all and at least on one occasion he denounced the Indians that killed the persons of British origin during the revolution. Ghalib had many friends among British officers. He had been trying all along to earn more favours particularly an award and pension from the British. In fact there had been bad blood between Ghalib and his literary opponents much earlier. The literary circle that celebrated his imprisonment in 1847 for running a gambling den at his place was among the front-runners in the revolution of 1857. Renowned among them were Ustad Ibrahim Zauq and Maulvi Muhammad Baqar (who was later hanged by the British), editor of Delhi's paper, Urdu Akhbar, and father of Muhammad Hussain Azad. Zauq, Muhammad Hussain Azad's teacher and mentor, was his foremost literary opponent and he could become the last Mughal Bahadur Shah Zafar's Ustad (one who 'advises' the king on his poetry) only after Zauq's death. The literary group that opposed Ghalib was pinning their hopes on the 'mutiny' of 1857, expecting the defeat of the British and full restoration of Mughal monarchy. On the other hand, Ghalib had sensed a defeat of the revolutionary forces at the hands of the British as the rebellion was neither well-organised nor powerful enough to counter the military might of the foreigners. Among his Urdu letters written during the war of independence, many were addressed to the ruler of Rampur, a friend and benefactor of Ghalib. As the letters contained some political advice and spoke on the aftermath of the revolution, apparently not too sympathetic or reverent towards the revolt and the Mughals, Ghalib had requested that the letters be destroyed once read. This was the time when he wrote Dastamboo as a personal diary or journal in Persian. It records the events from May 11, 1857 to July 31, 1858. The book not only carries chapters from Ghalib's personal life but it also speaks of the situation of Delhi and the British troops. Ghalib tried to make his readers believe that the book offered the true picture and nothing had been added or omitted though he feared for his life when anyone found near or dear to the Mughal king was being prosecuted. He remained attached to the Red Fort as Bahadur Shah Zafar's mentor and his loyalty to the British could have been questioned. In fact Ghalib wrote Dastamboo to show his loyalty to the British and, as we know, truth is the first casualty of war. Dastamboo was published in November 1858 from Agra when the sword of the Press Act had fallen on the Indian press and the printing permission given for many newspapers had been cancelled. Dr Moin -ur-Rehman has very rightly pointed out in his book Ghalib Aur Inqelab-i-Satawan that while the printing presses were being forced to close down by the British for publishing 'rebellious material' and newspapers were forced to cease publication, how could any book be published that was not in favour of the British. When Ghalib asked in a letter written on August 1, 1858, his friend Mirza Tufta to see if Dastamboo could be published in Agra, he was surprised and asked how in those circumstances (when the press act had been enforced) any press would be willing to print a book that could invite the anger of the government. Ghalib replied: "I will present a copy of the book to Nawab Governor-General Bahadur (Lord Canning) and another through him to Malika-i-Muazzama Inglistaan (the Queen of England). Now you should understand what will be the style of writing and how any press could dislike its printing." In a letter addressed to Mir Mehdi Majrooh in October 1858, Ghalib wrote: "The owner of the press had shown, with the help from Munshi Hargopal Tufta, the manuscript of the book to the authorities in Agra for the permission to print. The authorities gladly permitted." The British authorities must have been glad to see it in print form as the book covered up the truth and the writer conveniently forgot what happened in the aftermath of the failed 'mutiny' and how the British ran amok with a desire for revenge. It is beyond any shade of doubt that Ghalib had written Dastamboo to save his skin and to show his loyalty. By Rauf Parekh (Dawn)

'Florence Nightingale and the Health of the Raj By Jharna Gourlay Published 2003 Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 305 pages ISBN:0754633640 Barnes&Noble price - $99.95 ''Florence Nightingale and the Health of the Raj'' presents in detail Nightingale's involvement with India and Indians, and shows how she progressed from being concerned with the narrow sphere of army sanitation to the socio-economic condition of the whole of India. Despite her interest in the country, Florence Nightingale never actually visited India, yet she still managed to instigate and inspire a number of sanitary and social reforms there. Starting in 1857 with army sanitation she had by the end of her involvement with India in 1896 shifted her attention to such social issues as village sanitation and female education. In between she was involved with the development of hospitals, irrigation, famine relief, the land tenure system in Bengal, urban sanitation, and female nursing. In Florence Nightingale and the Health of the Raj, Jharna Gourlay covers all these aspects of Florence Nightingale's work, tracing her political involvement and her growing awareness of Indian problems, showing how she gradually moved from an imperialist position to one advocating power sharing with Indians. Her story is also one of how a private individual without official position, moreover a woman in a patriarchal society, could influence government policy and public opinion on matters of immense importance. Based on primary sources from both Britain and India, particularly her own correspondence and articles, this book tells Florence Nightingale's story through her own words, whilst simultaneously placing it in the wider historical context. As such it will prove a fascinating and illuminating study for a wide range of scholars interested in nineteenth century imperialist, medical, gender and social history. [From http://books.google.com/books?id=egysl1oHBI0C&dq=ripon+india&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0] --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Malegaon** to Mauritius: On the trail of 1857 10 May 2007 (** Malegaon is a town in the western state of Maharashtra, not far from Bombay) The gleaming towers of Singapore are a far remove from the squalor of Malegaon, but a common historical thread runs through both, as it does through habitats as diverse as Mauritius and Jabalpur, the powerloom townships of Malegaon and Bhiwandi and the Muslim quarters of Madanpura and Mominpura in Mumbai. All the above-mentioned were destinations for the refugees of 1857. They came by bullock-cart and boat, by train and on foot, fleeing not only the revenge of the Company but, in many cases, the feudal oppression of the old order. In the aftermath of the May Rising, when additional forces of British troops had been hurriedly despatched from England, the retrieval of the northern plains was executed without mercy. The main targets of the suppression were the Muslim ulema, weavers and peasants, since the British blamed them for being the masterminds behind the revolt, but the fury of the advancing armies was so terrible that no one was left unscathed and sometimes entire villages were set ablaze. Families of weavers fled from Azamgarh, Maunath Bhanjan, Mau Aima, Mubarakpur, Barabanki, Allahabad, Lucknow, Benaras, Kanpur, Tanda, Faizabad and Basti, all of them heading for the Agra Highway, which snaked down to the Deccan. Along the way, the refugees sought protection in domains loyal to Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. Maheshwar, on the banks of the Narmada and a seat of power for the Holkar dynasty, was a major stop. The then ruler Ahilyabai allowed a large workforce to settle in her territory. Further down the road came Burhanpur, a fertile belt close to the Tapi river, and on to Dhule, Jalgaon and Malegaon in northern Maharashtra. Bhiwandi, where the road nearly ended, proved to be a promised land of sorts, with its healthy economy and railway line running all the way to Bombay. Some families even moved into the heart of the city, to Madanpura and Mominpura, which in fact gets its name from the Momin weavers of UP. Mauritius, at that time, was a plantation colony under the British and in need of sugarcane labour. The flow of indentured labour intensified after the revolt. Migration figures are not recorded, but a Mauritian family that had migrated from Bhojpur, has records of a ship crammed with more than 500 Bhojpuris, embarking from the Kerala coast. Writer Amaresh Misra, in his soon-to-be-published book 'War of Civilisations: India 1857' points out that this Bhojpuri provenance manifests itself in popular culture. "The local language in Mauritius, Creole, is a patois of French with notes of Bhojpuri - for example, in the song 'Hamre avion mein chal jo' or the other common usage for 'I love you', 'Je t'aime va', where a 'va' is added in the way that Bhojpuri speakers say riskva or chalva," he says. Misra's research also throws light on the migration to Singapore in 1859, when about 600 families from Gorakhpur fled to Siwan in Bihar, and on to Darbhangha and then to Calcutta. "The minister of Darbhanga financed their trip to Singapore," says Misra. "In Singapore, the refugees stayed with the boat people of Malay origin, called the Orang laut. It was only years later that they got jobs as labourers and were given land plots in the Kampong Glam area in the eastern part of the island. Their descendants are still there. Many of them are still not rich and classified as working class, but others have broken out and live in the better parts of town." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Malegaon_to_Mauritius_On_the_trail_of_1857/articleshow/2024216.cms --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

http://tinyurl.com/6y35p4 ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

http://tinyurl.com/4zp6pu ooroo If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door. Anon.

Hi all I'm just writing to say a big thank you to all the people who have been so kind in giving me their time and expertise. I'm truly grateful. Best wishes to you all. Jonathan.

Jonathan wrote: > Is there anybody who can help trace the birthplace of this man?. His > father was James and mother was Adelaide (her maiden name was Male). > James was a Gunner in The Royal Artillery at the time so I assume they > were stationed somewhere in India. Fred's entry in the 1881 census > gives his birthplace as simply the East Indies. That's all I have. I'm > trying all avenues of enquiry in the hope I don't have to pay a > Researcher a small fortune to visit the National Archives! If you know the Battery in which James served, it should be relatively easy to determine, from the Presidency Army Lists, where that Battery was serving at the time of Frederick was born. It is always possible, of course, that the mother was located elsewhere at the time of birth of her baby, especially if James was on Field Service somewhere at the time. The more usual way is to consult the baptismal records, available at the India Office Records at the British Library. If you are unable to get there easily, you might try a local LDS Family History Centre. They should be able to advise which microfilms to view, firstly to identify the index to the baptismal record, and then to view the record itself. In some instances, birth records are available in the Chaplains' Records in the GRO, now based at The National Archives at Kew. FIBIS undertakes research of this type for our members at a cost only of the expense of local travel to BL or TNA. Despite the fact that we now have five researchers, we regret that we have insufficient time to do this for non-members. Hope this helps Good Hunting! Peter Bailey Chairman Families in British India Society www.fibis.org

The first Jew to be awarded England's Victoria Cross was Lieutenant Frank Alexander de Pass, 34th Poona Horse. The award was made posthumously on 25 November 1914. http://www.sephardim.com/html/lore.html Men from Poona Horse were a part of Gen. Burrows's brigade that was annihilated near Kandahar in 1880. A BLOW BY THE AFGHANS; A BRITISH BRIGADE NEARLY ANNIHILATED. July 29, 1880, Wednesday http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9B03E2DB143FEE3ABC4151DFB166838B699FDE&oref=slogin 250 Poona Horsemen in the Battle of Meeanee, 17th February 1843 (The Conquest of Scinde, 1843) http://www.athelstane.co.uk/kingston/soldiers/sldrs02.htm --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

Weren't we reading here about ghosts and other paranormal phenomena just the other day? Here is something interesting -- on the sudden death of Lord Kitchener, the winner of battles in the Sudan, India and the Boer war. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India Lord Kitchener - The Truth At Last! by T. Stokes, Lecturer in Paranormal Studies The sudden death of Lord Kitchener on June 5th 1916, caused as big an international stir as that of President Kennedy and Princess Diana, and just as every one remembers where they were when the news was announced of their deaths, so it was with Kitchener. At the start of W.W.I Horatio Herbert Kitchener was recalled home from Cairo, to become secretary of state for war, Kitchener was seen as a hero, winner of battles in the Sudan, India and the Boer war. Small boys would sing out in the street "Come home Kitchener of Khartoum". He was said he was more popular than the king. Full story at - http://www.illuminati-news.com/071506d.htm

The game of snooker was invented at Jubbulpore in the year 1875 by Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain, and not in England, asserted Compton McKenzie in a letter, dated 1938. --- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India Quoting from http://www.snookerusa.com/aboutsnooker/history.php In the early days of snooker, it was generally accepted that the game of snooker originated in the British Army garrisons of India as a combination of the various billiard games, particularly English billiards, which where then commonly played. Beyond this nobody laid claim to its specific origins until a debate began in the late 1930s. One thing is certain though, the game in which Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain of the Devonshire regiment claims to have named snooker ("snooker" once being a derogatory term for a first-year cadet of the Royal Military Academy of Woolwich in England) in 1875, and which for many years was referred to as snooker's pool, bore more relation to the existing billiard games of the time than the modern game of snooker - fewer balls were used, they were positioned on different spots, had different values, and the scoring sequence and rules would be unrecognizable to a follower of today's game of snooker. Who brought about the changes which form the modern game remains a mystery, but they were generally in place by 1900. They probably evolved through a series of individuals in the Army Officers' Mess, or it is even thought the English gentleman at the club in the Ootacamund hills of India added more balls to the game - perhaps this is why Chamberlain waited over 60 years until the late 1930s before making his claim to be the originator of snooker. Here follows a letter by Compton McKenzie which appeared in the Billiard Player publication of April 1939. The details of the letter have become accepted as fact as to the origins of the game of snooker. The Billiard Player - April 1939 Last year an article in "The Field" put forward the theory that the game of snooker had its origin at the Royal Military Academy (RMA), Woolwich, where officers of the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers receive their training as cadets. The theory was plausible, because a first-year cadet at "The Shop", as the RMA is familiarly known, is called a "snooker," the soubriquet being time's corruption of the original word for a newly-joined cadet, which was "Neux." It must be remembered that the RMA was founded as long ago as 1741. The writer of the article stated that the original rules of snooker were copied out by Lord Kitchener from those at "The Shop," brought by him to Ootacamund, India, and there hung up in the Club. This assertion was formally contradicted by General Sir Ian Hamilton in a letter to "The Field" of July 11, 1938. In point of fact Lord Kitchener never visited India until many years after snooker had become a popular game out there. Investigation has established that so far from snooker having originated at "The Shop," the game was invented at Jubbulpore in the year 1875 by Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain, who is fortunately still with us and whose memory is perfectly clear on the subject. It befell during the "Rains" that Sir Neville, then a young subaltern in the Devonshire Regiment, anxious to vary the game of Black Pool which was being played every long wet afternoon on the Mess billiard table, suggested putting down another coloured ball, to which others of different values were gradually added. One day a subaltern of the Field Battery at Jubbulpore was being entertained by the Devons, and in the course of conversation told young Chamberlain about the soubriquet "snooker" for first year cadets at Woolwich. To quote Sir Neville's own words: "The term was a new one to me, but I soon had an opportunity of exploiting it when one of our party failed to hole a coloured ball which was close to a corner pocket. I called out to him: 'Why, you're a regular snooker!' "I had to explain to the company the definition of the word, and, to soothe the feelings of the culprit, I added that we were all, so to speak, snookers at the game, so it would he very appropriate to call the game snooker. The suggestion was adopted with enthusiasm and the game has been called snooker ever since." In 1876 Sir Neville Chamberlain left the Devons to join the Central-India Horse, taking with him the new game. A year or two later came the Afghan War, a more serious potting game in which young Chamberlain was himself potted. However, fortunately for himself and the great game which we enjoy so much today, he recovered from his wound, and when at the close of 1881 General Sir Frederick Roberts became Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, the inventor of snooker served on his personal staff, and was with Roberts when every summer he moved to the hill station at Ootacamund known to all and sundry as "Ooty" Here came officers from big garrisons like Bangalore and Secundderabad and planters from Mysore. All of them enjoyed snooker as a speciality of the "Ooty" Club where the rules of the game were drawn up and posted in the billiards room, but not by Lord Kitchener. During the eighties rumours of the new game in India reached England. One evening Sir Neville Chamberlain when dining in Calcutta with the Maharaja of Cooch Behar was introduced to a well-known professional billiards player whom he had engaged from England for some lessons. This professional told the Maharaja he had been asked in England to obtain the rules of the new game snooker and the Maharaja introduced Sir Neville Chamberlain to him as the best person to give him the information he wanted because he was the inventor of it. In a letter to "The Field" of March 19, 1938, Sir Neville regretted he did not know the name of the professional but thought he was probably a contemporary of John Roberts and W. Cook. A week or two later Mr. F. H. Cumberlege wrote to Sir Neville Chamberlain to say that the professional must have been John Roberts himself who came out to Calcutta in 1885. Mr. Cumberlege added that he remembered showing the Maharaja the new game of snooker at Cooch Behar after a shooting party in the spring of 1884. Sir Neville Chamberlain has received from several other distinguished authorities confirmation of his claim to be the inventor of snooker. Major-General W. A. Watson, Colonel of the Central India Horse (his old regiment) wrote: "I have a clear recollection of you rejoining the regiment in 1884. You brought with you a brand new game, which you called snooker or snookers. There were the black, the pink, the yellow and the green. We all understood it was your own invention. We took to it very keenly." Major-General Sir John Hanbury Williams (Colonel of the 43rd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry) wrote: "I was always under the impression that you introduced the game of snooker to the 43rd. in 1884-5. Certainly the 43rd never played snooker till you came and introduced it to us. Hope you will stick to the honour of its invention." Field Marshal Lord Birdwood wrote: "I remember well you introducing the game of snookers into the 12th Lancers' Mess, when I was a subaltern in the Regiment at Bangalore in '85." Sir Walter Lawrence, Bt., wrote: "When we first met in Simla in 1886, when you were with Lord Roberts, the Commander-in-Chief, and afterwards when we served together in Kashmir, I always looked upon you as the inventor of snooker, and I know that this idea was common to many of my friends. Quite recently, last year (1937) I was telling some of my friends in England who were discussing snooker, that I had the honour of knowing very intimately the inventor of the game." The testimony of these and other highly distinguished officers finally disposes of the theory advanced with some emphasis by the writer in "The Field" that the game of snooker originated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and it has been a privilege for me to assemble in print such incontrovertible evidence. There is nothing to add except that all the many thousands of snooker players the world over will wish Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain, who is now in his 84th year, many another year to enjoy the honour of being the inventor of a game, now 63 years old, which has added so much to the gaiety of nations. - Compton McKenzie. (1938) ======================================================

Hi all. Is there anybody who can help trace the birthplace of this man?. His father was James and mother was Adelaide (her maiden name was Male). James was a Gunner in The Royal Artillery at the time so I assume they were stationed somewhere in India. Fred's entry in the 1881 census gives his birthplace as simply the East Indies. That's all I have. I'm trying all avenues of enquiry in the hope I don't have to pay a Researcher a small fortune to visit the National Archives! Best wishes. Jonathan.