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

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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".

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/Rawalpindee/RP/Pindi

Churches and missions

Anglican

• Christ Church - built in 1852
• St Andrew's
• St Mary's, West Ridge
• St Paul's

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.
  • Further reading Rawalpindi War Cemeteryzulekha101.blogspot
• Gora Kabaristan Rawalpindi ----Christian Cemetery Rawalpindi. (Also known as Harley street Cemetery).

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.

Education

Schools

• Station School - See Neville Thomas' website for photos of children at the school 1884 to 1912

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.

External links

• Rawalpindi - 1st Surreys and a Pindi Poppet 1926-1930, from Regimental India 1825-1947 -The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment
• 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
• Details of a mid 1930s film Trial at Chaklala Military Testing Ground of Armoured Cars/Light tanks. colonialfilm.org.uk (The owner of the film, the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum has closed and it is intended the collection be given to Bristol City Museum)
• 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),
• Ancestor Hunting in Rawalpindi stourton.blogspot.co.uk
• Photograph: Flashman’s Hotel Rawalpindi in 1918 rootschat.com/forum

Historical books online

• Rawalpindi Imperial Gazetteer of India
• Punjab District Gazetteers, Volume XXVIIIA, Rawalpindi District 1907, published 1909, is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. "Table of Contents" commences computer page 8.