Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	33.6°N, 73.033333°E
Altitude:	500 m (1,600 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Rawalpindi
State/Province:	Punjab
Country:	Pakistan
Transport links

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

Rawalpindi was the headquarters of Rawalpindi District in the Rawalpindi Division of Punjab Province during the British period. In 1907 "The cantonment is the largest and most important in the Punjab, and perhaps in India". Barracks were located in at least two areas, Victoria Barracks and at West Ridge. Roberts Barracks, an Infantry barracks, was located at West Ridge.

There was an Arsenal at Rawalpindi, often abbreviated to RPA, which was located within the Fort.

The bazaar was known as ‘Lalkurti,’ which means ‘red shirt’ in English - a reference to the red coats worn by the British soldiers who were stationed there.

Chaklala is an area in Rawalpindi and was the location of a cantonment and an RAF airfield. During World War 2, from 1942 RAF Chaklala was the location of a Paratroopers Training School

Spelling Variants

Modern spelling: Rawalpindi written as either one or two words, Rawal Pindi
Variants: Rawul Pindi / Rawul Pindee / Rawalpindee / RP / Pindi

Churches and missions

Protestant

• Christ Church - built in 1852 Photograph by Tim Willasey-Wilsey victorianweb.org
• St Andrew's
• St Mary's, West Ridge
• St Paul's Church of Scotland, built 1908 Photographs:Painted exterior 2005 flickr.com After 2007 repair and renovation with grey tiles 500px.com

Roman Catholic

• Sacred Heart, West Ridge
• St. Joseph's Cathedral

Cemeteries

• Rawalpindi War Cemetery findagrave.com. Database with over 350 names. This is a Commonwealth Graves Commission Cemetery for those who died during First and Second World War.
• Gora Kabaristan Rawalpindi ----Christian Cemetery Rawalpindi. Also known as Harley Street Cemetery. “Fai-yaz Ali & Sons, Umballa & Rawul Pindi” constructed memorials in the Harley Street Cemetery.
  • Photographs: Harley Street Cemetery, Rawalpindi bacsa.org.uk

BACSA (British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia) cemetery publications are

• Rawalpindi: Cemeteries and Churches by Susan Farrington, 1996 Covers the main Harley Street Cemetery, with additional MIs from four other cemeteries and plaques from churches.
• Rawalpindi: A Walk round the Harley Street Cemetery by Susan Farrington, 1997.

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.

Also see "Historical books online", below.

Education

Colleges

• Gordon College

Volunteer Regiments

The following had their headquarters at Rawalpindi in 1907

• C troop of the Punjab Light Horse, with strength, exclusive of officers, 57
• D Company, 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifles, was recruited from the various Civil Departments with strength, exclusive of officers, 98.
• K Company, North-Western Railway Volunteer Rifles, was recruited solely from Railway employees with strength, exclusive of officers, 122

H Company, 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifles contained civilian residents from Rawalpindi and Murree, and had its headquarters at Murree.

See also

• Rawalpindi Parade 1905

External links

• Rawalpindi - 1st Surreys and a Pindi Poppet 1926-1930, from Regimental India 1825-1947 -The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment. Includes a description of Victoria Barracks, and the less favourable barracks at West Ridge.
• Victoria Barracks, for single men, was built 1853-1857 Pak Army Museum, Rawalpindi
• Photograph: Victoria Barracks, Rawalpindi, possibly c 1920s nativepakistan.com
• Postcard: British Cavalry Barracks - Rawalpindi 1910 imagesofasia.com, now archived. The British barracks in West Ridge
• Images of Rawalpindi from "History of Pakistan"'s collection flickr.com
• From a collection of postcards at the ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, sent by F.G. Prew, a soldier, probably in the 2nd Battalion, Essex Regiment to Adolf Feller of Switzerland. It appears he was not based in Rawalpindi , rather in transit to and from Murree
  • Rawalpindi, The Officers Club post stamped 9. 7.1931
  • Rawalpindi, Railway Station, Exterior post stamped 9.7.1931 with message
  • Rawalpindi, The Mall, Showing Queen‘s Victoria Statue and Scotland Church post stamped 9.7.1931 with message
  • Rawalpindi, The Christ Church Near Victoria Barracks post stamped 9.7.1931 with message
• Photograph: Interior No 2 Pindi Sleeping quarters in the barracks, Rawalpindi from Photograph album of Private Henry Knight, who served in "A" Company of the 1/5th Royal West Kent Regiment in India during the Great War from Janet & Richard Mason’s The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment
• Chaklala Cantt/Chaklala Garrison globalsecurity.org
• PAF Chaklala , previously RAF Chaklala.globalsecurity.org
• RAF Chaklala rafweb.org
• Details of a mid 1930s film Trial at Chaklala Military Testing Ground of Armoured Cars/Light tanks. colonialfilm.org.uk. The original owner of the film, the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum has closed and the collection is now with Bristol Archives, where it may be viewed online catalogue reference 1997/153/1/33. Also viewable online films 1997/153/1/36, 1997/153/1/37, the latter a duplicate, and 1997/153/1/40.
• Students of 4th year Architecture carried out a documentation of the colonial era architecture of the city of Rawalpindi in 2010 (Department of Architecture, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad). Now an archived webpage (text only).
• "Ale under the veil: the only brewery in Pakistan" by Jonathan Foreman 24 Mar 2012 The Telegraph, archived. The Murree Brewery. By 1910 the company was finding it increasingly difficult to source clean water in Murree itself and transferred all its brewing to Rawalpindi.

Historical books online

• Rawalpindi Imperial Gazetteer of India
• Gazetteer of the Rawalpindi District 1883-4 Archive.org

Gazetteer Of The Rawalpindi District 1893-94. A volume in the series Punjab District Gazetteers. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.

Punjab District Gazetteers, Vol.xxviiiA. Rawalpindi District 1907. Archive.org, Public Library of India Collection.

• The cantonment page 247.

• A Handbook to the North-West Frontier including Jhelum Rawalpindi and Hazara Districts by Cyril James Davey 1942. Pdf download Pahar-Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. Archive.org mirror version.
• "Rawul Pindee" page 389 Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India : with Abstract of Evidence, and of Reports Received from Indian Military Stations 1864 Archive.org
• "Rawalpindi District" page 122 A list of inscriptions on Christian tombs or monuments in the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir and Afghanistan possessing historical or archaeological interest Part 1 by Miles Irving (1910) HathiTrust Digital Library