Scandalous Shimla during the British Era

 Scandalous Shimla during the British Era

We know the British rulers for their stiff neck, impeccable manners and brisk walk. That is how Oxford graduates and or Sandhurst trained army officers mostly behave. In 1857 there were 881 British subjects in Shimla, by 1881 that number had risen to 1551. At the turn of the century in 1900s, there were close 2100 British subjects in Shimla. A bigger bulk of these subjects were of the female persuasion. Reasons: the men were away on assignments whether civil or military, they left their wives behind in the glamour city like Shimla and others places too. Their lifestyle was also upper class, far more comparable to Indian Rajah. The men came from the top echelons of society in England, who made through the high-end British school and university system. Above all, they had qualified the tough Imperial Civil Service exam or got thru successfully the four years of tough Sandhurst military training school. Now commissioned into the army or public office, they were the cream of the crop.

Upon arrivals in India their seniors instructed them on how to behave overall in India and with the natives. One cleverly instructed manner was not to develop liking for native women. Prior to the ‘Clive’era, most of the British East India Company officials had developed a fascination for Indian women, especially when they were far away from their own kind. To the horror of East India Company masters in England, they had created a new race of Anglo - Indians. This was discouraged, both during the days of the East India Company and also during the reign of the British crown following 1857. Moreover, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the sea journey was shortened hence the young men were excused to go back to England and pick up a partner of their choice. Still single men posted in India were always at a disadvantage to find girls of their own kind, hence this started a scandalous life style in Shimla.

The scandals were about married women left behind when their men were away for a long time. Or single girls from England recruited by the East India Company and later by the Crown on ‘husband hunting’ trip to India. Both of these incidents happened and are well documented.

First, there were numerous documented court cases for a divorce decree which kept lawyers and the courts busy. Reasons: the man was away on assignment which allowed single or married men still around, to pursue the lonely lady left behind. Ladies partied and indulged in extramarital affairs. Lord Curzon, Britain's viceroy of India, was a well-known womanizer. His exploits have been well documented. 

Second, the East India Company and later the Crown organized “Fishing Fleet” for young women to go to India in search of a husband. They were offered a £300 scholarship for their trip. They initially landed up in Calcutta and then dispersed from there. The majority came to the pearl of the British occupation of India - Shimla. If they got hitched up in a year, the company celebrated or they, after a year of unsuccessful attempts, returned back to England. Several ships use to leave British ports each year with 20 women on board. (Reference:-From Mail online, Annabel Venning July 6, 1912). This was also documented in a book: (The  Fishing  Fleet  -  Husband  hunting  in  the  Raj.  -  Book  published  by  Amazon.co.uk). Additional references could be found in the following:  (https://www.amazon.ca/Fishing-Fleet-Husband-Hunting-Raj/dp/0297863827)

Rudyard Kipling, who visited Shimla frequently and stayed there in the 1880s, wrote about, of the intense flirtation, trysts and debauchery for which it (Shimla) was infamous. Scores of young British girls, in search of husbands, turned up in Shimla ready to impress, only to find they had stiff competition from the “grass widows”, more experienced ladies in their 40s visiting without spouses, and often more popular with the bachelors.

Kipling wrote:

The young men come, the young men go, Each pink and white and neat

She’s older than their mothers, but They grovel at Her feet. 

They walk beside Her rickshaw-wheels

None ever walk by mine;

And that’s because I’m seventeen And she is forty-nine.

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Scandalous spot during the height of the British Raj was not Scandal Point (see later) but the British managed Gaiety Theatre. It was a place for young men and women to practice, perform and develop theatre skills. That was also the chief venue for meeting attached or unattached girl for additional romantic interludes. Vulgar games were played and where old men and young men hooked up the girls. It was very unlike Indian culture where arranged marriages take place and families shake hands first. As usual, nothing of British vulgarity was in public view, it was all behind the curtains, hence very little details made into the public view. If ever any public comments were made, these were expunged very quickly.

To associate Maharaja of Patiala with Scandal Point in Shimla is part of a very active rumor mill in operation. Yes, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1900-1938) was an active womanizer. The date of 1892 associated with the Viceroy’s daughter eloping with him is fanciful. He was only one year of age in 1892. There are only two aspects of the story which are facts. These are, that he was vanished from Shimla sometime in 1900s and he built the Chail Palace as a summer retreat for himself. Why was he banished from Shimla is a mystery. It is said that he had infuriated the next to the Viceroy - Lord Kitchener (Commander-in-chief of India 1902-1909) for some reason, who banished him out of Shimla. Some very clever story teller puts two and two together and made a story which I heard in my school days and all of you heard it during the gossip hour. The Maharaja of a small state will not dare to elope with the daughter of the mighty Viceroy or his second in command and live to tell the tale. It is all a tourism story telling in overdrive.

Cheers.....