Lascar War Memorial In Memoriam

Anindita Mazumder

Lascar War Memorial, located near the Naval Office “INS Netaji Subhas” in Hastings, is one of the lesser known monuments of our city. It is one of the three war memorials in the city dedicated to the brave souls who died during the World War I, the other two being the Cenotaph at Maidan, inscribed with the words “The Glorious Dead” and the memorial in College Square dedicated to the Bengalis who lost their lives in the same war. The Lascar War Memorial was built in memory of the 896 lascars or seamen from the Indian sub-continent who served in European ships and sacrificed their lives for the Empire.

The memorial was designed by William Ingram Kier, the consultant architect of the Government of Bengal who went on to design the Islamia College, Bengal Engineering College and IIT, Kharagpur. He had also replaced the spire of the St. Paul’s Cathedral which was damaged in an earthquake in 1934 with a tower. He deliberately gave the 100 feet tall tower dedicated to the subaltern population an Indian look. The memorial which resembles the victory tower of Chittor was constructed by Mackintosh Burn and unveiled by Lord Lytton, the then Governor of Bengal on February 6, 1924.

The memorial, a four-sided column of Oriental architecture, appropriately designed with the prow of an ancient galley projecting from each of its sides, was capped by four small minarets and a large gilt dome. The undulating lines beneath symbolise waves, with chhajjas and trellises to give it a distinctly Indian look. The commemoration reads: “This memorial was erected by shipping and mercantile companies at the southern end of the Maidan, within 100 yards of Prinsep Ghat, to the memory of the 896 Lascars of undivided Bengal and Assam who lost their lives during World War I.”

It is interesting to note that memorial was constructed at time when lascars faced immense hardship and torture in the hands of the Imperial masters. They were paid half or even one-third of what the British seamen got as wages. Moreover, their living and service conditions were inhuman. Often, while residing in Britain they were charged under Alien Seamen’s Act even if they were British subjects. During the war, India had sent some 1, 30,000 soldiers. Nearly 3,500 seamen were killed in the war while another 1,200 were taken prisoners. Undoubtedly, soldiers and seamen from India made immense contribution to the British victory. No wonder the marines of HMS Southampton presented the Guard of Honour during the unveiling of the memorial.

The war memorial, however, was subsequently forgotten in the following decades and left to decay. It was only in 1994 that the Navy took initiative to restore it to its former glory.