Abbottabad

Abbottabad
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Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	34.191057°N 73.330059°E
Altitude:	1,260 m (4,134 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Abbottabad
State/Province:	Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa
Country:	Pakistan
Transport links

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
Abbottabad

Abbottabad was a town in Hazara District of the North West Frontier Province during the British period. It is around 35 miles north of Rawalpindi. Hill stations near Abbottabad include Thandiani, Dunga Gali, Bara Gali and Nathiagali.

The city at night

Name origin

It is named for its first Deputy Commissioner, James Abbott, a British officer.

Boer War POW Camp

Kakul (Kakool) is situated 5 km northeast of Abbottabad. The following information was sent in by Prof Omer SK Tarin. Director, TSI, Abbottabad, Pakistan.

1. Until April 1901 the British captured approx 25,000 Boers. Of these various numbers were sent to various places as POWs (See POW Camps in India-Boer War).

2. Only a total of 9000 Boer POWs were ever sent out to India of this number, and they were held in some 14-15 camps in selected Indian cantonments. Abbottabad was only one of these and the number of POWs here from 1902 onwards until 1904 was around 300-400 most times, and they were never ever more than 400-450. A few of them succumbed to illness and disease and are still buried here at Kakul/Kakool about 6 kms out of Abbottabad town, within the compound of what is now the PMA (Pakistan Military Academy) there. The majority were all sent home. A member of BACSA, Ms Sue Farrington did a survey of the Boers' graves here in the 1980s and her findings are also available on record I believe.

3. The duty of guarding the Boer POWs fell exclusively upon the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) as Abbottabad was their home station, and they in fact levelled and prepared the location where the camp was and also looked after their charges in every way. The best account of them is given in the History of the 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles, 1858 to 1928 Aldershot: Gale and Polden, 1928, and this confirms all other records and verifiable sources. A very good mention is also made in an article by C Parrett in Durbar: Journal of the IMHS Vol 28, No 1, Sping 2011, regarding Boer POWS in India.

4. Whilst here the Boers also had to do some manual labour in metalling the Havelian-Abbottabad stretch of hill road. The 'Hazara District Gazeteer' for 1907 gives this information. 5. When they left in 1904, the site of their [POW camp was partially converted into the Army PT and Mountaineering school and part of it into Royal Indian Army Supply Corps (RIASC) local/regional HQ. Both these facilities lasted here until 1947.

6. In 1947 India and Pakistan became independent. In 1947 Pakistan decided to set up its military academy here at Kakul and this was done in 1948, with Brig Ingalls as the first principal/commandant of the PMA. Brig Shuakat Ali Shah followed him in command here in 1956, with my grandfather (then) Colonel Azmat Hayat Khan, as Deputy Commandant.

FIBIS resources

• List of Chaplains at St Luke's, Abbottabad
• Surviving graves at the Old Christian Cemetery, Abbottabad

• An article by Professor Omer SK Tarin accompanying these data sets appears in FIBIS Journal 27, Spring 2012, pages 23-29

• Selections from the The Sophia Institute Records, Pakistan - 'The Sophia Institute' is a research and higher educational training organisation in Abbottabad. The institute houses a small library and archives although the larger part of older records have now been passed on to (a) the Empire and Commonwealth Museum UK (b) the National Archives of Pakistan and (c) some university archives in Pakistani universities/departments etc. They are willing to answer/help with queries at a small cost, if people are interested in consulting their records (c 1860s to 1947). As they are a volunteer non profit body and have few staff, responses might take time. If anyone has any query they can email Dr Ilyas Khan, Senior Research Assistant.

Churches

• St Luke's Church - Anglican.

For enquiries contact:

The Vicar
St Luke's Church,
near Main GPO,
Abbottabad 22010, Pakistan
Tel: +92-992-334105 (9 am to 6 pm PST, Monday to Friday)

For the history of this church and a list of its chaplains, see resources section above.

• In addition to the old St Luke's Anglican Church (now part of the Church of Pakistan set-up, combining the Anglican, Lutheran and Methodists) Abbottabad also has two other churches, which were built and consecrated later:

(i) The Roman Catholic Church (late 19th c)

(ii)The Abbottabad American Presbyterian Church (early 20th c)--they also have another church and mission hospital at Qalandarabad, between Abbottabad and Mansehra town.

Although these two churches have also been keeping their own records from around the 1920s onwards, these are not as yet open or accessible to the general public and/or researchers, without a long application process.

Cemeteries

• Old Christian Cemetery - see resources section.

Other places of interest

Other main places of interest in Abbottabad, bearing relevance to the British colonial rule here from 1849 to 1947, include the following:

• The Lady Garden Park : An old park laid out during the 1850s-60s for the British and European ladies and children of the Abbottabad garrison. It is now a public park. A Simple English Wikipedia Note on the Lady Garden Park in Abbottabad

• Lockhart House : An old house, built here in Abbottabad by the late General Sir William Lockhart (1841-1900), GCB, KCSI. His family used to come and spend time here regularly here each summer, and apparently General Lockhart was also very fond of this town and resort. Interestingly, this is also sometimes referred to locally as 'Kipling House' because John Lockwood Kipling, father of the writer Rudyard Kipling stayed here a number of times, along with the Lockharts. Did Rudyard Kipling ever visit here too? This is a debatable point, and not quite clear.

• The Frontier Force Regimental Mess : Is the old officers' mess of the 'Piffers', the Punjab Frontier Force Rifles, later Regiment. A part of it probably dates back to the 1850s although most of the present structure and grounds date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of the best maintained British colonial buildings in all of modern Pakistan, with lovely lawns (with the Old Piffers Monument from Kohat now shifted and re-erected here) and some very rare records and artifacts. Unfortunately, the FFR Mess isn't generally open to the public, without prior permission from the Adjutant-General, Pakistan Army, GHQ, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Needless to say this is a long and somewhat tedious process, although the officials concerned are always very courteous in their public dealings.

• The Abbott Museum is a new initiative taken by the local district administration in Abbottabad, in collaboration with the Hazara University departments of History and Archaeology. This small museum (named after James Abbott) established in the main old town hall has a modest permanent exhibition of (a) old records collected from various sources or gifted by people, relating to the earliest establishment and administration of Abbottabad town from 1853 onwards and (b) other, local crafts and arts exhibits, chiefly relating to the ethnology of the Hazara region in which Abbottabad town is situated. For further information please contact:

The Incharge
The Abbott Museum
Old Town Hall Building
Near Company Bagh, Abbottabad 22010
Pakistan
Tel: +92-992-9310103

External links

• Abbottabad Love to Know 1911
  
• Abbottabad Town Imperial Gazetteer of India
• James Abbott Dictionary of Indian Biography 1906
• Abbott's poem Wikipedia
• The Kipling Society UK The Kipling Society UK's searchable archive for the Journal