Six generations of a British Family in India.

Six generations of a British Family in India.
(Left) My Great Great Grandparents Edwin Ebenezer Scott (1850-1931) & Emily Good Andre (1862-1946), Bangalore, 1915. (Right) My Great grandparents, Algernon Edwin Scott & Desiree Leferve with my Grandfather, Bert Scott as a two or three year old boy. Cannanore, Karnataka. 1919

(Left) My Great Great Grandparents Edwin Ebenezer Scott (1850-1931) & Emily Good Andre (1862-1946), Bangalore, 1915. (Right) My Great grandparents, Algernon Edwin Scott & Desiree Leferve with my Grandfather, Bert Scott as a two or three year old boy. Cannanore, Karnataka. 1919 Image and Narrative contributed by Jason Scott Tilley, Birmingham UK These are two photographs from my grandfather Bert Scott's family photographic archive. The photograph on the left, of my Great Great Grandparents Edwin and Emily Scott was taken on Christmas day in 1925 at  3, Campbell road, Richmond Town, Bangalore, our family's house which was one of the old British Bungalows and has sadly like many of the rest, been demolished. On the old ground now stands St Philomenas hospital, right in the very heart of Bangalore. On the right, are my great grandparents Algernon Edwin Scott and Desiree Leferve with my Grandfather, Bert Scott as a two or three year old boy, the image was taken in 1919 in Cannanore, Karnataka. (now Kannur and in the state of Kerala) My family came to India in 1798 when James Scott Savory joined the East India Company as a writer of the Records of state. He was the second assistant under the Collector of Krisnagearry (Krishnagiri). Edwin Ebenezer (left image) is his great great grandson. From the church death records at St. Marks Cathedral in Bangalore it states that Edwin Ebenezer was the Assistant commisioner of Salt in South India. Bert Scott, (little boy on the right) was my Grandfather, and he was born in Bangalore in 1915. He went to Bishop Cottons school before he joined the Times of India in 1936 as a press photographer. Son of Algernon Edwin Scott and…

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The last photograph of a family together

The last photograph of a family together
Possibly the first photograph of the village, a Kashmiri Pandits Extended Family. My grandmother, Tara Dhar, (second from right in the top row), my grandfather Raghunath Dhar (fourth from right in the same row) Between them is my great grandmother, Sokhmal Dhar. Vicharnag, Srinagar, Kashmir. Circa 1915

Possibly the first photograph of the village, a Kashmiri Pandits Extended Family. My grandmother, Tara Dhar, (second from right in the top row), my grandfather Raghunath Dhar (fourth from right in the same row) Between them is my great grandmother, Sokhmal Dhar. Vicharnag, Srinagar, Kashmir. Circa 1915 Image and Narrative points contributed by Anil Dhar, Mumbai This is probably the first, and as it turned out, the last ever photograph taken of my entire Kashmiri Pandit extended family. The Dhar Family. My grandmother, Tara Dhar, stands second from right in the top row, and my grandfather Raghunath Dhar, fourth from right in the same row. Between the men is my great grandmother, Sokhmal Dhar. The family was photographed in Vicharnag, a small village situated on the outskirts of Srinagar, Kashmir. Vicharnag when translated, means “the spring of contemplation". The village has a centuries-old temple complex which housed several Pandit families including mine for hundreds of years. The Dhar family belongs to the Kashmiri Pandit community - the only Brahmin Hindu community native to Kashmir. These were also good times, when ties between all communities, be it Hindu or Muslim, were strong and warm. This picture holds so many cultural nuances. For instance, the headgear of the elder male members was different from the younger male members. Moreover, the women were not in purdah (veiled) displaying some liberal social and cultural aspects of the community at the time. After belonging to a land for centuries, the families were forced to uproot themselves because of Indo-Pakistani border War of 1947, and then again in 1990 because of the eruption of radical militancy and ethnicity based massacres by subversives, on the Pandits. It is said that approximately 250,000…

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“Our entire big Gujarati Family migrated out of India”

“Our entire big Gujarati Family migrated out of India”
The Patel Family, Surat, Gujarat. 1978

The Patel Family, Surat, Gujarat. 1978 Image and Narrative contributed by Mitul Patel, Texas, USA This picture was taken at a fair in Surat, Gujrat.  It was supposed to be only a close family photograph, however, some of our family friends' and their families joined in and this picture was clicked. I remember it used to be one of the only places where families, who couldn't afford a camera could get a picture taken. Most of these people you see in the Photograph, all of whom are of the last name 'Patel', migrated to USA and New Zealand, including my family. I was around three or four years old in the picture (top left, as a baby). Almost all of the Patels in the picture  now own and run businesses like Pizza Parlours, Liquor Stores, Motels, Hotels or work in the IT industry. My parents and I too live in Rockdale, Texas, USA and run a hotel called Rockdale Inn.

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