Download WOKING MUSLIM BURIAL GROUND, 1914

WOKING MUSLIM BURIAL GROUND, 1914-1921
Researched and written by Graham WEBSTER
Over one million troops from India, including what is now Pakistan, fought for Great Britain during
World War I. When war broke out in 1914 Britain did not have a large army ready to go to France.
Reinforcements were needed and the Indian Expeditionary Force on its way to Egypt was diverted to
France. Indian soldiers were involved in some of the earliest battles of the Great War including
Ypres and Flanders. The first 28,500 Indian Army troops arrived on the Western Front on 26
September 1914. From 1914 to the end of 1915 70,000 Indian Army soldiers fought on the Western
Front with heavy casualties. By the end of the war, of the over one million troops who fought in
France, Belgium, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, Persia and Africa, 7,700 died and 16,400 wounded. Other
sources record that 1.3 million Indians who constituted the volunteer force during the First World
War, approximately 400,000 were Muslims. Historians put numbers of Indians close to 50,000
injured and 8,500 dead on the Western Front (France and Belgium). An estimated third to a half of
these war-dead were Muslims, who fought and died alongside their fellow Hindu and Sikh
countrymen.
From the frontline, some 12,000 injured Indian troops were sent for medical treatment to special
hospitals on the south coast of England, Brockenhurst, New Milton and Bournemouth, in particular
Brighton, where an army hospital was established in the famous Royal Pavilion, built in the ‘oriental’
style for George IV in the early 1800s. The Brighton Pavilion housed over 600 Indian wounded from
the Western Front. Indian Medical Service doctors cared for them with the assistance of Indian
Students, recruited by Gandhi into the Indian Field Ambulance Training Corps. Several other
buildings in Brighton were converted, including a secondary school, and the infirmary and
workhouse, which accommodated some 1500 patients and was named the Kitchener hospital.
For any such Muslim soldiers who died while in England, their funeral and burial arrangements were
discussed by the British government with the Imam of the Woking Mosque so that they may be
carried out according to Islamic custom as well as for the convenience of Muslims. Hindu and Sikh
soldiers were cremated in special crematoria at Patcham, Netley and Brockenhurst but there was
not a special burial ground for Muslim soldiers until 1915. In this year, the War Office felt the need
to respond to German propaganda that suggested Muslim soldiers were not being buried in a
respectful way concordant with their religion. The propaganda, aimed at Indian Army troops serving
on the Western Front, promoted the German alliance with Turkey as a holy war and tried to win
over the support of Muslim soldiers. At the start of the war before the Brighton hospitals had been
setup the initial plan by the War Office had been to establish a Muslim burial ground for soldiers that
died at English hospitals within a section of the Christian Cemetery on the grounds of the Royal
Victoria Hospital at Netley. In the interim, 25 Muslim soldiers had already been buried in a section
of Brookwood Cemetery, in Surrey.
The first burial took place on Monday 9 November 1914 at the Brookwood Cemetery, as reported in
The Islamic Review reproducing the report from the Woking Herald:
The first burial in this country of an Indian soldier who has died as a result of wounds
received while serving with the Indian Expeditionary Force at the front took place in the
Mohammedan Cemetery at Brookwood on Monday afternoon. He was Ahmad Khan, of the
3rd Sappers & Miners, and he died on board a transport while on the way from France to
Netley Hospital, on November 4. On Saturday the body was conveyed to the Woking
Mosque in a motor hearse, the coffin being enshrouded in a Union Jack. The community of
Muslims at the Mosque made arrangements with the Necropolis Company for the
interment, which was not largely attended, chiefly on account of the fact not being generally
known, but most of the Mohammedans at Woking were present, amongst them being an
Arab from Medina, the burial place of the Prophet Mahomet. The brief and simple
ceremony, which was conducted by Maulvie Sadr-ud-Din, consisted chiefly of silent prayer,
interspersed with recitals of the glory of God. The coffin was first placed on the ground by
the side of the grave, the Muslims facing towards Mecca during the prayer. After interment,
and when the grave had been enclosed, silent prayer was again engaged in. On the coffin
were placed several floral tributes from Woking friends — viz., Mrs. R. H. Howell, Mrs.
Walters, Mrs. Chambers, and Mrs. Welch.
There had already been an attempt to cater for appropriate burial. As reported at the time:
The Maulvie Sadr-ud-Din, of the Woking Mosque, was invited by Colonel Lucas, C.B, to the
Victoria Royal Hospital, Netley, to approve of a site for opening an Islamic cemetery in the
grounds of the hospital, where Indian wounded soldiers are being nursed. The Maulvie did
not like the idea of opening a cemetery there, and suggested that it should be set up at
Woking, which is the centre of the Muslim community, and where obsequies can be
performed satisfactorily in his presence. The Colonel agreed, and asked Colonel Sharaman to
accompany the Maulvie to the War Office and India Office, where the question could be
discussed and finally settled. Gen. Sir A. Keogh and Gen. Sir Edmund Barrow received the
Maulvie Sadr-ud-Din, and discussed the question with him, and decided finally to follow the
suggestion offered. Accordingly officers from the War Office called three times at the
Mosque, Woking, to prosecute the project. A site along the bank of a canal, some five
hundred yards from the Mosque, has been pointed out, where it is hoped that the
contemplated Islamic cemetery will be opened.
The Maulvie Sadr-ud-Din recorded the same but also made these comments:
…I then asked the Government whether they would not (1) rail in the cemetery. (2) make
paths in the ground, (3) provide a grave digger, (4) provide a caretaker, (5) provide some
place where the bodies could be left for the night, (6) provide a decent waiting-room, (7)
erect a gateway in Eastern style – however inexpensive 0- as a Memorial to the fallen Indian
soldiers. At first the Government blankly refused to do anything…I could not bury the dead
soldiers in the marsh piece of unfenced ground which people and dogs could stray:
therefore I buried twenty-five of them in the Mahommedan burial ground at Brookwood at
my own expense. [emphasis in original]…
But he did have criticisms:
…I have had bodies sent to me bearing the wrong names; bodies sent without any flowers;
bodies sent to me at any hour of the day or night without any previous notice, and no
respect shown for them whatever…
Eventually it was decided to instead establish a Muslim burial ground in Woking, near the Shah
Jahan Mosque, at that time the only mosque in England; it is the oldest purpose-built mosque in the
country built in 1889, but also that it was commissioned by a Jewish man, Dr Gottlieb Wilhelm
Leitner. In 1915 a plot of land for the burial ground was acquired at Horsell Common by the
Secretary of State in Council from Lord Onslow (Richard Onslow the 5th Earl of Onslow) as recorded
in the following:
From THE SECRETARY, War Office, London, S.W., November 12, 1914.
To THE MAULVIE SADR-UD-DIN, B.A., B.T., The Mosque, Woking.
Sir,— I am commanded by the Army Council to thank you for your letter of the 9th inst.,
relative to the proposed cemetery for Muslim soldiers at Woking, and to inform you that the
question of selecting a site on the land north of the railway and canal, which you inspected
with Captain H. C. Cole on the 8th inst., is receiving urgent consideration of the Department.
The owner has been approached in the matter, and his reply is awaited.
I am to add that you will be kept informed of the action taken, and will be further consulted
when the actual site is decided upon.
I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,
(Signed) B.B. CUBITT
Discussion of this issue at a meeting of the Urban Council in Woking was also reported in The Islamic
Review, December 1914, from the Woking Herald as follows:
The proposed opening of a Mohammedan Cemetery at Woking, more particularly for the
burial of Indian soldiers who die in this country as a result of having been in action at the
front, was mentioned at a meeting of the Urban Council on Tuesday.
The Chairman (Mr. A. H. Godfrey) announced (as exclusively reported in the Herald last
week) that the War Office were taking steps to provide a burial ground for Indian troops,
and it was considered it should be within a reasonable distance of the Mosque. It was
possible that a part of Horsell Common on the northern side of the canal, and on the eastern
boundary of the urban area, might be acquired for the purpose. There was nothing official
at present before the Council, but a War Office representative had seen some of the Council
officials, although the War Office had full powers to do exactly what they liked without
consulting the Council. The reason for providing the cemetery was because very grievous
lies and false reports were being spread by the Germans amongst the Indian troops as to the
manner in which we were dealing with the Mohammedan wounded and dead; it was of the
utmost importance that the conscientious scruples of Indian troops should be carefully
observed and every consideration given to them. He was sure they would agree that it was
almost an honour to have men who fell as a result of the war buried in the district. (Hear,
hear.)
Mr. J. B. Walker said that the Necropolis Company were asked to sell a piece of ground in
Maybury opposite the Mosque for the purpose of a burial ground, but as it was in the midst
of a residential district the company would not consider the proposal under any
consideration. He might further tell them that there was already a special burial ground
where Mohammedans had been buried in the past in the orthodox manner. He told the
War Office that was a most suitable place; every facility was offered, and it was not a
question of cost, and he still thought that instead of having a separate burial ground on a
common it would have been wiser and more convenient to use the ground at Brookwood.
The Chairman said he understood that the head of the community at the Mosque had
absolute power in the matter, and it rested with him; it seemed he preferred this particular
spot rather than going to Brookwood. He had been informed that Indian princes were to
assemble at Woking one day during the week and view the site.
The matter then dropped.
The burial ground was designed by T Herbert WINNEY, India Office Surveyor, and built by the local
Woking firm of Ashby and Horner Ltd.; the landscapers were Messrs Neal of Wandsworth. A
proposed waiting room and mortuary seem not to have been carried out. Photographs from 1917
show extensive plantings (such as cuppressus in four varieties) around the inner and outer perimeter
walls, as well marking 4 squares of lawn at the centre of which were 4 plane trees.
Muslim burial ground, Horsell, 1917
Photographic Print of Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common, Woking 1917 BL23738 006
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photographic-Muslim-Burial-Horsell-BL23738/dp/B00S01P056
The design has an entrance pavilion or "chattri" to the western side. The walls are about 8' or 2.5
metres high, with a brick plinth and cut-out arcade of ogee arches. The walls are subdivided into a
number of bays using brick piers with Portland stone capitals and bases. The entrance pavilion is
built of red brick on a square plan with an Islamic ogee profile archway. It features a deep
overhanging eave called a "chujja" set on scrolled brackets, and a "beehive" style dome. The
gravestones of the soldiers were of simple sandstone, with round arched heads facing towards
Mecca. The burial ground was completed by 1917 by when it had received 19 burials of soldiers who
died between 16 July 1915 and 3 Feb 1916 (a further 25 Muslim soldiers were buried at Brookwood).
The gravestones were simple Portland stone, with round arched heads facing west, according to
Islamic tradition.
The burial ground before the graves were removed in 1968. Commonwealth War Graves
Commission
Muslim Tommies, Lesson 5 – Common Ground, Resource T,
http://www.history.org.uk/resources/resource_view.php?resource_type=secondary&id=4063&subid=4366&ci
d=8&print=1
Documentary sources from the time of its completion suggest that the Viceroy and the India Office
were keen to reproduce images of the burial ground and publicise its opening, all with a view to
counteracting the negative propaganda, which was shown to be so false by the provision of this
special consecrated place. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission took over the burial
ground's upkeep in 1921. The cemetery was used again during World War II when a further five
Muslim soldiers were interred at Woking. In 1968, due to vandalism, all the burials were moved to
nearby Brookwood Cemetery when the land reverted to the Horsell Common Preservation Society.
The graves can now be found in Plot 2a of the Military Section of Brookwood Cemetery, Woking.
The men’s names are still recorded at Horsell and they hint at the caste-defined society that still
exists in India and Pakistan. Among the likes of Alla Ditta Khan of the 15th Lancers and Mirza Iqbal
Ali Beg of the Royal Military College are lower-caste men referred to just by one name: Abdullah,
Babu or Hanza. The First World War soldiers buried here were:
Name
Regiment
Died
Abdullah
Follower
16 Dec 1915
Alla Ditta Khan
15th Lancers
3 Feb 1915
Ash Gar Ali
Army Hospital Corps
29 Jan 1916
(amended death certificate)
Babu
Follower, Central Depot
3 Sep 1919
Bagh Ali Khan
82nd Punjabis
29 Sep 1915
Bostan
9th Mule Corps
19 Oct 1915
Fazal Khan
93rd Burma Infantry
14 Nov 1915
Hanza
Army Hospital Corps
7 Dec 1915
Kala Khan
No.2 Mountain Battery
2 Feb 1916
Khan Muhammad
108th Infantry
9 Oct 1915
Mahrup Shah
129th Duke of Connaught’s
Own Baluchis
16 Sep 1915
Mehr Khan
19th Lancers
24 Oct 1915
Mirza Iqbal Ali Beg
Royal Military College
23 June 1920
Sarmast
57th Wilde’s Rifles Frontier Force
22 Jul 1915
Shaikh Abdul Wahab
29th Lancers
16 Jul 1915
Shaikh Mohiuddin
Army Hospital Corps
5 Jan 1916
Sher Gul
82nd Punjabis
25 Sep 1915
Zarif Khan
129th Duke of Connaught’s
Own Baluchis
22 Jul 1915
Originally submitted 27 Mar 2015
SOURCES
Woking's Horsell Common Muslim burial ground restored, 7 August 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ukengland-surrey-19164940 accessed 24 Mar 2015
Horsell Common Indian Army Muslims World War 1 and 2 Cemetery,
http://www.windowonwoking.org.uk/sites/goldsworthparkcommunityassociation/memorialsworldwar1andtw
o/wbwarmemorials/horsellindian, accessed 23 Mar 2015
Forgotten Heroes - The Muslim Contribution, EMEI, Issue 62 November 2009,
http://emel.com/article?id=65&a_id=1699, accessed 23 Mar 2015
The Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common Preservation Society,
http://www.horsellcommon.org.uk/musilim_burial_ground.php, accessed 23 Mar 2015
Learning: Asians in Britain: World Wars
http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/asians/worldwars/theworldwars.html, accessed 23 Mar 2015
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War in England http://www.wokingmuslim.org/work/ww1/muslim-burials.htm, accessed 23 Mar 2015
Doctor Brighton’sPavilion Muslim Burial Ground
http://www.sikhmuseum.com/brighton/remembrance/muslim/index.html#1, accessed 23 Mar 2015
Current events, The Islamic Review, December 1914, p. 532–533
The proposed Muslim cemetery: the power of the Government, The Islamic Review, December 1914, p. 533
This statement was made by the Maulvie Sadr-Ud_Din at the Mosque, Woking, on August 27th 1915, Letter
about the burial of Muslim Indian soldiers. Shelfmark: Mss Eur F 143/80,
http://www.bl.uk/learning/images/asiansinbritain/large124395.html accessed 23 Mar 2015
The National Archives references MAF 25/53 – Surrey: Horsell Common: re Moslem [sic] Cemetery, Inclosure
1916-1922
WO 32/18578 and 18579 – Proposed purchase of land for a Mohammedan Cemetery at Woking, Surrey, 1914
Roshan MUGHAL (2011) First mosque in the UK was built by a Jew, Express Tribune, 5 Dec 2011
http://islam.ru/en/content/story/first-mosque-uk-was-built-jew, accessed 24 Mar 2015
Exploring Surrey's Past, Woking’s Muslim Burial Ground,
http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/themes/places/surrey/woking/woking/woking_muslim_burial_groun
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Horsell Common Muslim Burial Ground, Woking, England http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-andpeople/site/8277?preview=1. , accessed 23 Mar 2015. Sources used: Woking Galleries leaflet, 'The Muslim
Burial Ground, Horsell Common, Woking' All archival information provided by Richard Christophers of the
Lightbox, Woking: British Library India Office and Oriental Collections IOL/L/SUR/5/8/8, file on Muslim
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Photographs from 1917 of the 'Mohammedan Cemetery' taken by Bedford Lemere
Photographic Print of Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common, Woking 1917 BL23738 006
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photographic-Muslim-Burial-Horsell-BL23738/dp/B00S01P056, accessed 23 Mar
2015
English Heritage Pastscape: Muslim Burial Ground http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=1526616,
accessed 24 Mar 2015
Muslim Tommies, Lesson 5 – Common Ground, Resource T,
http://www.history.org.uk/resources/resource_view.php?resource_type=secondary&id=4063&subid=4366&ci
d=8&print=1, accessed 23 Mar 2015
Muslim Burial Ground, Horsell Common, Woking, Surrey http://www.heritageexplorer.co.uk/web/he/searchdetail.aspx?id=7986&crit=britain, accessed 23 Mar 2015
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