----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Woods" My late uncle served from 1917 to 1947 with the Indian Army, and in the early 1940s rented the ground floor of a house known as Padham Castle. His family lived there for a time and he recouperated there from illness encoutered during withdrawing from Burma with the 17th. I would be very interested if anyone knows anything about this property, supposedly then owned by a senior Indian, and if a photograph might be available. ==================================================== Chris, I was sure you'd asked this question before - so I searched the India-List archives, and found this: Archiver > INDIA > 2004-03> 1079854663 Sun, 21 Mar 2004 >From "Chris Woods" Subject: [India-L] Simla 1930s/40s *** I'm trying to trace / identify a large property called Padam Castle in Simla. Apparently the building (referred to as a large bungalow but mysteriously with an upstairs) was owned by a "local Maharaja who lived upstairs" and apparently he was often invited to join the family on occassion for dinner etc. I would very much like to try and get a photo of this building for the family tree as it has fond memories for my cousin who stayed there as a young child, and if possible to find out who this Maharaja might have been.*** Going by the pointers you'd mentioned in that message of, I'm resonably certain that what you are seeking is a building called and not ''Padham Castle''. Some years ago, I'd helped one our lady memebrs from Australia, the late Maria Suffolk, in her search for a small principality called ''BASHAHR''. Now you would be surprised to note that the ruler of this Bashahr state was the owner of this '' ''. The property is still very much in existence, and if you search for it by its correct name, you'll get several links to it and see its images online.

Dear Harshawardhan, I thought I would try this site as I had no success on the India list and, you have cracked the mystery for me, although you have omitted the alternative name you think by which the building is known By googling 'Bashahar' I immediatly got Raja VIRBHADRA SINGH (1947/-), son of Raja Sir PADAM SINGH 1914/1947, and with reference to: Rana CHATAR SINGH, 110th Ruling Rajput of Bashahr State, brought the whole of the state under ... (Padam Castle, Jakhu Road, Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India). So, it was Raja Sir Padam Singh who rented his cottage Holly Lodge in the grounds of Padam Castle to my uncle and his family in 1942, and when their cousins arrived, invited them to stay in the ground floor of Padam Castle itself, while he was living upstairs. A very generous person. Sadly, even using Google imaging, I have not been able to find any photo of Padam Castle, although if you have it's alternative name, maybe I will have more success. My cousin, who lived there with her parents but was very young, is delighted that you have helped me identify Sir Padam Singh as the owner who used to come downstairs and dine with them occassionally. Thank you very much, Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar" <bosham@gmail.com> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:30 AM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] a Simla property + Kakul > My late uncle served from 1917 to 1947 with the Indian Army, and > in the early 1940s rented the ground floor of a house known as > Padham Castle. His family lived there for a time and he recouperated > there from illness encoutered during withdrawing from Burma with > the 17th. I would be very interested if anyone knows anything about > this property, supposedly then owned by a senior Indian, and if a > photograph might be available. > ==================================================== > > Chris, I was sure you'd asked this question before - so I searched > the India-List archives, and found this: Archiver > INDIA > > 2004-03> 1079854663 Sun, 21 Mar 2004 >>From "Chris Woods" Subject: [India-L] Simla 1930s/40s > > *** I'm trying to trace / identify a large property called Padam Castle > in Simla. Apparently the building (referred to as a large bungalow but > mysteriously with an upstairs) was owned by a "local Maharaja who > lived upstairs" and apparently he was often invited to join the family on > occassion for dinner etc. I would very much like to try and get a photo > of this building for the family tree as it has fond memories for my cousin > who stayed there as a young child, and if possible to find out who this > Maharaja might have been.*** > > Going by the pointers you'd mentioned in that message of, I'm resonably > certain that what you are seeking is a building called and not > ''Padham > Castle''. > > Some years ago, I'd helped one our lady memebrs from Australia, the late > Maria Suffolk, in her search for a small principality called ''BASHAHR''. > Now you would be surprised to note that the ruler of this Bashahr state > was the owner of this '' ''. The property is still very much in > existence, and > if you search for it by its correct name, you'll get several links to it > and see > its images online. > > > > > ------------------------------- > 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 > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.11/1244 - Release Date: > 25/01/2008 19:44 > >

*** Drat it, to put it mildly. Something appears to have gone wrong with the works - what you got is the first draft of my mail. It doesn't even bear my signature-block. I know I did send the duly corrected version - so what happened to it in the cyberspace, and how the draft zoomed out, is a UFO-esque mystery. I'll now re-send that revised mail, complete with some links I had got for you. Hope this time I get through. In any case, I'm glad the tough nut is finally cracked. Cheers, ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Woods" <chris.woods45@tiscali.co.uk> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 8:08 PM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] a Simla property + Kakul Dear Harshawardhan, I thought I would try this site as I had no success on the India list and, you have cracked the mystery for me, although you have omitted the alternative name you think by which the building is known By googling 'Bashahar' I immediatly got Raja VIRBHADRA SINGH (1947/-), son of Raja Sir PADAM SINGH 1914/1947, and with reference to: Sadly, even using Google imaging, I have not been able to find any photo of Padam Castle, although if you have it's alternative name, maybe I will have more success.