‘Red Pepper & Black Pepper – The Indian Army in the New Forest WWI’ is a new summer exhibition telling the fascinating story of the two Indian Army hospitals located in the New Forest area during the First World War.
Co-curated with local historian and researcher Nick Saunders, the exhibition explores the spirit of friendship which developed between the soldiers and the local community. It has resulted in a special documentary by Vineet Johri, highlighting the role of Indian soldiers in New Forest and Bournemouth, southern England, during the First World War.
This is an important story that often goes untold: the role of the Indian Army in the First World War, and the New Forest’s part in it. Pre-Partition India, encompassing what is now India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, was the largest contributor of men and materials to the war effort from the British Empire. Indian soldiers' bravery and achievements included the winning nine Victoria Crosses on the Western Front and notable battlefield successes, despite this being a war that wasn’t theirs.
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This is a story of mutual warmth and friendship between the troops and the local population. Notably, considerable efforts were made to meet the soldiers' cultural and religious needs. Signs of the enduring gratitude and affection can be seen in New Forest today, with roads still named after Indian towns and a commemoration at a memorial in Barton-on-Sea held every year.
The new exhibition also explores tougher narratives – 55 wounded soldiers did not survive their wounds, and their names have never been properly listed nor remembered fully until now. Whilst all Indian soldiers were volunteers, their reasons for fighting were complex. Their letters home were censored, and some soldiers referred in code to the British as “Red Peppers” and themselves as “Black Peppers”.
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Most of the material in the exhibition has been researched and assembled by local historian Saunders, with the support of Arts Council England, Culture in Common, and Indian designer Devanshi Rungta. To provide context historian Shrabani Basu, author of ‘For King and Another Country’, delivered a talk recently entitled ‘Turbans in the Trenches’ at the Community Centre in Lyndhurst.
*Info: New Forest Heritage Centre
