On behalf of the Chattri Memorial Group, I should like to invite you to the Annual Chattri Memorial Service, in remembrance of the Indian Soldiers who were cremated in Brighton during the First World War.

Some 12,000 troops from Undivided India were brought over from the Western Front and hospitalised in Brighton to recover from their wounds. The memorial is unique and the commemoration is the only one of its kind in Britain.

The Service will take place on:

Sunday 8th June 2025 for 2.30pm.

Chattri, Patcham, Standen Lane, Brighton, BN1 8ZB.

Prayers and the laying of the wreaths should last for approximately half an hour.

Cars are able to drive right up to the Chattri on this day and please arrive at least half an hour earlier. Please note the Memorial is situated on farmland and therefore the ground will be uneven and there are no facilities or shelter available at the site.

Seating will be limited so please bring your own foldable chairs if required. 

Following the Ceremony, refreshments will be served at:

Patcham High School,

Ladies’ Miles Road, Brighton BN1 8PB.

An exhibition which traces the role of the troops from India to the Western Front will be on display at the school. Parking is limited at the school but there is off-road parking nearby.

I shall be honoured to have your presence at the Chattri and I hope you will be able to attend with your family and friends. Everyone is welcome so kindly forward this email to your contacts who would be interested in attending.

Please note we are a community voluntary group which relies on grants and donations to hold this event. Therefore, your support would be very welcome and much appreciated.

Should you wish to make a donation, our bank details are:

Chattri Memorial Fund

NatWest

Business Account No:18162878

Sort Code: 60-24-77

Please don't feel you need to reply to this invitation – just turn up if you can!

With best wishes

Davinder Dhillon OBE, DL
Chair Chattri Memorial Group

More about The Chattri.

A marble pavilion above the city

High on Patcham Downs, 500 feet above Brighton, sits a small white-marble structure called The Chattri. Built on the exact spot where 53 Hindu and Sikh soldiers were cremated during the First World War, it is both memorial and gravesite, linking Sussex grass to stories from the Punjab and Gujarat. 

Indian soldiers in wartime Brighton

When war broke out in 1914, the British Army shipped wounded men of the Indian Corps to Brighton for treatment. The Royal Pavilion, York Place School and Kitchener Hospital were converted into military hospitals, their wards carefully arranged to respect different diets and prayer needs. The first train arrived in December 1914 with 345 injured soldiers; many recovered, but a small number never left the town’s care. 

Farewells on the Downs

Hindu and Sikh custom requires open-air cremation. To honour that duty, the Army set up a simple ghat on a quiet ridge north of Patcham. Between 31 December 1914 and 30 December 1915, fifty-three funeral pyres burned here; afterwards the ashes were carried to Brighton beach and scattered in the Channel. Muslim comrades who died in the same hospitals were taken for burial at the Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking. 

From ashes to architecture

Brighton’s mayor, Sir John Otter, refused to let the site fade from memory. With help from the India Office he raised funds, commissioned the young Bombay architect E.C. Henriques, and secured blocks of Sicilian marble that finally reached Sussex in 1920. Building work began that August; on 1 February 1921 the Prince of Wales unveiled the finished pavilion, dedicating it to “all Indian soldiers who gave their lives for the King-Emperor in the Great War.” 

What the Chattri says

The design follows a traditional Chattri – an octagonal “umbrella” of remembrance. Eight columns rise from a granite platform that still covers the original pyre stones; above them a shallow dome lifts to 29 feet. A single inscription, carved in English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, speaks of “brotherly love” between those who fought and the country they served. 

Remembering together

Every June the hillside becomes a gathering place once more. Veterans, local residents and members of Britain’s Indian communities climb the path for an open-air service of prayers, bugle calls and wreath-laying. The next ceremony is planned for Sunday 08 June 2025 at 2:30pm, and as the organisers like to say - everyone is welcome. 

Planning your visit

The Chattri is reached only on foot or bridleway: follow the track from Standen Lane (BN1 8ZB) and allow about twenty minutes’ steady uphill walking. The ground is uneven and there are no facilities, so bring sturdy shoes, water and, if you linger, your own sense of quiet reflection. From the marble platform the view sweeps south across Brighton to the sea—an outlook as broad as the history the memorial