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→20th century: Tony Hearne title
"There have been many memoirs of life in India during the last days of the Raj, but this is a worthy addition to that number, not least because the author was the daughter of a Calcutta businessman, and the British business community in India is perhaps less well represented in our collective memory of India under British rule than the India Civil Service or the Indian Army. When dealing with the historical background, the book does contain some errors of detail, but these do not detract from the authenticity of the author's account of her own personal experience as a child of the Raj... Dowley-Wise gives a very full account of the life experienced by a young girl growing up in India" including the hospitality offered by her family to the troops in wartime Calcutta. The full review by David Blake, a FIBIS trustee, is available on pp.48-49 of FIBIS Journal 15 (Spring 2006). Excerpts from the book and comments are available at [http://www.raj-memories.co.uk Raj memories]
* Hearne, Tony
''Farewell Raj : witness to the end of empire''.
Eastbourne, Tommies Guides, 2009
This is a film-worthy memoir of a “21-year old Army Sergeant during the month or two before and after ‘Independence Day' in August 1947. [The author] was a British soldier caught up in the daily rioting in Calcutta between the Hindus and Moslems . . . He very graphically describes the awful nightly scenes in that vast city at that time and the incapacity of the military power to do little more than observe their consequences.” Instead of early discharge bringing him release from the unrest, his train journey to farewell his parents in Lahore plunges him into greater danger when he is stranded after witnessing an atrocity and struggles to get himself back to safety. “This is truly an enthralling read – but the title gives little inkling of the excitement that the book contains.” (Reviewed by Peter Bailey, FIBIS Chairman, in the FIBIS "Journal" no. 22 (Autumn 2009), p. 56)
During the First World War Yeats-Brown is sent to France and later joins a flying corps in Mesopotamia – where is he captured by Turks. He eventually escapes and returns to India. However his days as a lancer are soon over and the reader is presented with a wonderful tour of India as he goes in search of practising gurus to learn the secrets of yoga and inner truth. An evocative and satisfying read. Recommended. (Beverly Hallam, FIBIS trustee)
==Biography==
