Quetta

Quetta
Presidency:
Coordinates:	30.200602°N 67.034018°E
Altitude:	1,900 m (6,230 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Quetta
State/Province:	Balochistan
Country:	Pakistan
Transport links
North Western Railway

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
[xxxxx Quetta]

Quetta, also known as Shawl, was the headquarters of Quetta-Pishin District of Baluchistan Province during the British period. It is now the largest city and provincial capital of Balochistan.

It was the location of a cantonment. There was a Barracks known as Roberts Barracks.

The Army Staff College moved to Quetta in 1907. Established in 1905 at Deolali, it was a training college for existing officers to become eligible for Staff appointments. The Staff College was temporarily closed 1915-1919 during the First World War, when the accommodation was transformed into a Cadet College to train young men for grant of commission in the British and Indian armies. It is now known as the Command and Staff College and is the most prestigious institution of the Pakistan Army.

Spelling variants

Modern spelling: Quetta
Variants: Kwettah/Kwatah/Shawl/Shal/Shalkot

Social Life

Clubs

• Quetta Club (1879)

Related Fibiwiki Pages

• Quetta earthquake 1935

Military history

• England's March to Quetta 1842
  

FIBIS Resources

• Images of Quetta

Churches and Missions

Churches

• Mission Church (1903)

• 
  Wesleyan Church, Quetta
• 
  Roman Catholic Church, Quetta
• 
  St Lukes Church, Quetta
• 
  St Mary's Church, Quetta

Missions

• Church Missionary Society
• Church of England Zanana Missionary Society (zanana=women)

Cemeteries

A BACSA (British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia) cemetery publication is

• Quetta: Monuments and Inscriptions by Susan Farrington, 1992 Covers the cemeteries, town's history, the staff college, railways, churches and the 1935 earthquake. See BACSA Books.

BACSA are in the process of putting the indexes to its cemetery books online and these indexes are free to browse. If an indexed name is of interest then application can be made to BACSA for details of the relevant burial inscription - charges apply for this service.

FamilySearch have digitised the above BACSA book, but viewing is not available currently (2023/12) Catalogue entry and FS Digital Library catalogue entry

The BACSA Archive at the British Library has the following items: shelfmark Mss Eur F370: Cemetery Files
no.740: Quetta 1, Pakistan: Baleli Road: 1884-, [Note: This cemetery is probably the "Quetta Cantonment Christian Cemetery on Baleli Road"]
no.741: Quetta 2, Pakistan: Shaldara: closed; Lytton Road: closed; Earthquake [Note: Lytton Road is now known as Zarghoon Road]

Maps

• Map of Quetta Civil Station Surveyed 1911-12 Corrected 1931-32 Balochistan Archives

External links

• Quetta Town Imperial Gazetteer of India
• Quetta Wikipedia
• Command and Staff College Quetta cscquetta.gov.pk

Quetta Heritage: The Staff College, Quetta Defence Services Staff College (India) dssc.gov.in

• Bruce Street (now Jinnah Road) before 1935 earthquake.(youtube video)
• Post office before and after earthquake (1935) (youtube video)
• Pen and ink drawing of the military cantonment at Quetta by George Boyd (1800-1850), dated between 1821 and 1844 with a description British Library Images online
• Gora Kubristan Quetta: British colonial christian cemetery Quetta by quettabalochistan, YouTube video
• Quetta's eloquent graveyard A set of photographs by saaakif taken 2008. flickr.com
• Quetta Sphinx (c1930) thefridaytimes.com, archived. Photograph of the memorial known as the Quetta Sphinx for the Second Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment in respect of those who died in Baluchistan/Southern Afghanistan circa October 1880-January 1883. This memorial has now been destroyed.
• "‘Mum’my dearest!" by Muhammad Adil Mulki April 15, 2012 tribune.com.pk
• Note about the Afghan War Cemetery at Quetta by H Bullock, situated near the village of Kasi , two miles from Quetta. Contains men who died during the 1st Afghan War. Lists four names and advises a large number of NCOs and men of the 40th Regiment of Foot were buried here. Notes and Queries Volume CLXIII, Issue Oct 29 1932,' page 312
• Photographs: Quetta Before 1935 Earthquake June 18, 2007 quetta-city.blogspot
• Libraries and Collections In Balochistan Balochistan Archives
• Brewing in 19th-century India mentions the brewery at Quetta.
• Letters written by Thomas Gilbert to his parents and other family members, chiefly from India. State Library of South Australia. Catalogue link.

Page 97, 6.5.18. 114 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps prepares to leave for Quetta, where it remained for six months.

• "Come fly with me: Early days of the RAF in India" by Pat Ellingham March 22, 2019. bristolmuseums.org.uk. Information about the films made by Leonard de Ville Chisman late 1920s/1930s including on the North West Frontier. These films are now in the Bristol Archives British Empire and Commonwealth Film collection/ Chisman (ref. 2006/005). Currently (2021/06) there are some digitised films viewable online, ref. 2006/005/1 but no digitised photographs, the latter seems to include “The sequence documenting Quetta both before and after the great earthquake of 1935 [which] are of particular interest.“

Historical books online

• A gazetteer of the countries adjacent to India on the northwest Volume 2 by Edward Thornton 1844. The entry for Shawl, page 187 Google Books.
• Quetta in 1878 page 7 The Indian Borderland, 1880-1900 by Colonel Sir T Hungerford Holdich 1901 Archive.org
• Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series: Quetta-Pishin District Vol.V 1907. Archive.org.
• The Wanderings of a Temporary Warrior : a territorial officer's narrative of service (and sport) in three continents by Captain Alban F L Bacon (late Hampshire Regiment) [2/4 Battalion] 1922. Archive.org. India, Egypt/Palestine, Western Front. The regiment was stationed in Quetta much of the time it was in India January 1915-April 1917.
• Seven Cantonments by Major SEG Ponder c 1938. Archive.org. The author was an Officer in the Royal Artillery, with a R A Mountain Battery unit, based on the North-West Frontier, including Peshawar, c 1930s. A section about Quetta commences page 151.
• From Semaphore to Satellite: The memoirs of Major General David Horsfield, Royal Signals. The author spent time at the Staff College at Quetta, both as a student and later an instructor, from 1944. davidhorsfield.org.uk