ABSTRACT

INTERVIEWEE NAME:Colonel and Mrs. W.A. Salmon, John Gardiner

COLLECTION: 4700.0578

IDENTIFICATION: Britons in pre-Independence India

INTERVIEWER: Frank De Caro, Rosan Jordan

PROJECT: British Voices in South Asia

DATES: 3/6/78; 3/8/78 FOCUS DATES: 1930s

Tape 851, Side A

party in Kashmir, shooting; hunting parties with friends, scouting for birds; preparing for morning shoot; paying people to do landscaping; went to Haleybury(?) College of old East India Company; cow he shot, photo of vultures on the kill; description of his bungalow; his pay, could afford grand lifestyle; old Anglo Indian families living in remote places; old missionary woman doctor; lodging when traveling; dealings with tribesmen; going out on column; how to protect yourself as a picket; time spent on frontier; battalions in Rasmuck?; ethnic/religious composition of battalions; British tradition was the mortar that held different Indian ethnicities together; stupidity of handing India over to Indians; announcement of India=s eventual independence; Gandhi was a wretched nuisance; Gandhi antagonized Muslims; religious factions; ridiculous idea of partition; ethnic mixture of army, police force; problems of getting all people into appropriate regions for partition; sadness of the shambles of India; India was a very happy place under British; never had much regard for Mountbatten; opinion of British Navy; training of sailors; old viceroys, Lord Halifax; process of bringing Indians into government; Indianization of Indian Army; training of Indian Army in old days; considered transferring to Indian Army; advantages of career with Indian Civil Service; drawbacks and compensations of service in India; magic of India; Indians are natural gentlemen; work of British women in India; exhibition they saw on British India saddened them, inaccurate portrayals of daily life; British women were unprepared for life in India; Henry Holland, founder of Overseas Trading Center; shopping habits of British women; topis; drinking in India, whiskey and soda; couldn=t drink water until chlorinated; regimental uniforms, winter and summer kit; photos of January 1 parade, uniforms; cooking method using oil and water; relations with political agents; snipers; formality of mess life, protocol of dinner.

reads note addressed to AYour Excellency,@ governor of Simla; shows them crocodile eggs, he shot the mother; letter to a mayor regarding a race horse; airmail service to India; getting clothes made in India; marriage of governor=s daughter; children=s parties; lost two good friends who rode horses without protective hats; clubs in Karachi; socializing with Indians; attending church in India; padres, bishops, division of India into dioceses; Church of England in India; church as a social occasion, church parades; men brought arms to church in case of ambush after service; father=s interest in Indian religions, languages; father studied Indian culture; Brigadier Gardiner discusses derivation of term Asappers?@, royal engineers; sapping was digging of earthworks, dropping mine into it; expression Amad, married or Methodist@; hierarchy of engineers on engineering projects; duties of engineers, maintenance, safety; subordinates on railway; specialized track work, other tasks on railways; traveling by carriage to do inspection work; shooting your supper while working on length of line; living in bungalow at work site; sent to Jamalpur to rebuild locomotive workshops after Bihar earthquake; facilities at Jamalpur, rebuilding; usual work for senior engineers, bridges, special projects, stations rebuilt; working on new construction; planning, costing, new construction; supervising contracts, earthwork; new railway construction; Gardiner worked as assistant to engineer in charge of opening up a coal field; no shortage of Indian workers, a tough lot of chaps; steel supply; skills of Indian contractors; meticulousness of Americans; story about a bulldog; publications of India office; lived in Moghul Sarai, had friends in Benares they visited; getting used to seeing corpses in India and Peru; toilet facilities.