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History of McLeod Ganj – Request for help

24 Apr | News,

FIBIS has received the following request for help from Sophie Jay who is researching the history of McLeod Ganj:

Hello,

My name is Sophie Jay and I ‘m trying to research the history of McLeod Ganj, sometimes called Upper Dharamshala, in Himachal Pradesh.

McLeod Ganj is world famous today as the seat of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan government in exile, and is rapidly developing into one of India ‘s top tourism hot-spots.

However, whilst quite a bit is known about the town as a Tibetan settlement, very little seems to be known about its life as a British hill station from the mid 19th century onwards. I know that the area was struck by a catastrophic earthquake in 1905, which killed 20,000 people, and that most of the existing buildings were destroyed. A small number of buildings dating back to the 1920s and 30s are still standing, most of which are located within the nearby army cantonment.

What I ‘m looking for is any information about and photographs of people who lived in McLeod Ganj during any period of its history. Do you have an ancestor who lived there? Did they keep a diary or were any anecdotes handed down? How did people feel about the place? What did they do there?

Any shred of information, no matter how small, would no doubt prove a vital piece in the jigsaw of McLeod Ganj ‘s largely forgotten past.

I can be contacted on: 07778121382, or at: [email protected]

Many thanks.