Visual & Oral history of the Indian Subcontinent via family archives
(Left to Right) My grandfather Bundy Nixon, Joseph, the chauffeur, my Uncle, Norman Costanzio Nixon, Rob May (an Australian Gurkha officer), my father, Leslie Nixon, and a local game hunter (sitting) Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, 1946
Image and Text contributed by Deborah Nixon, Sydney
My family has a history of having lived in India for four, or possibly 5 generations- they were all Railways people. Both my grandmother and great grandmother were buried in Bhusawal.
My father Leslie Nixon, was born in Agra in 1925, schooled in Mussoorie, trained with the Gurkhas and joined KGV’s 1st OGR (King George V’s regiment). He worked during the Partition to transport refugees in and out of the Gurkha head quarters in Dharmsala (then Punjab territory, now in the independent state of Himachal Pradesh) to and from Pathankot, Punjab, by train.
This photograph was taken at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in 1946 . Behind them was an empty elephant stable. I like this photograph because it is at variance with the way the British in India were depicted on Shikar (Game hunting). This was an ordinary Anglo Indian life away from the metropolis and now there is very little to be seen of it. My father, aged 22 then and his friend Rob May were very young and had to take on an enormous responsibility and an almost impossible task during partition in protecting refugees. He, like millions of others, was left deeply affected by it .
My father archived all of the family images in India and thanks to him I have been lucky to have a ‘bird’s eye view ‘ of partition. He kept a lot of old army documents and memorabilia from the few years he served with the Gurkhas. When he migrated to Australia he went to University and became a Geologist. He has been very interested in my own Phd thesis which focuses on the ‘experience of domiciled Europeans and Anglo Indians up to and during the Partition‘ and sometimes the memories have been painful for him. I am planning on visiting India again later this year to do more research I think your project is absolutely remarkable I read about it in ‘The Australian‘ newspaper and thought I had to try and get a picture in although my family were not Indian they were a part of India!
Indian Memory Project - YouTube Channel
[...] is another image and narrative on my father here that sheds some light on his life in [...]
Hi, My grandfather, HP Watts was principal of Oak Grove school Mussoorie for many years…. 1920- 1946. I wonder if you have any recollections from your father. I understand the school was for children of railway employees. My mother was in the WVS in Assam during the last year of WW2 and also a VAD In Quetta earlier in the war. She met my father in Lucknow…he had been fighting in Burma. My mother had a strong affection for India and regretted leaving in many ways.
Was your father in the 1/8 Ghurkas I wonder? I am looking for memories of Quetta in the early 1940s.
Hi,FRANCES, I too have studied in Oak Grove School – MUSSOORIE,probably u will get more information from our Oak Grove Association
Hi Debhora, very interested in you Phd study as I also have a huge collection of photographs from the final days of the Anglo’s in India in the run up to partition. My Grandpa Bert Scott was a photographer for the Times of India and also the Indian army, wonder could I have you e-mail please.
Mine is Number 75 on the archive.
jason Scott Tilley
In 1947 there was no Himachal Pradesh. All of what today constitutes Himachal Pradesh was Punjab. Himachal was carved out of Punjab (as was Haryana) in the re organisation of States in the early 1960′s.
Thank You Sabina. Noted. I learn everyday as well :)