Autumn Open Meeting

Saturday 26 October 2024

The Union Jack Club, Sandell Street, London, SE1 8UJ (near Waterloo Station)

Programme for the Day

*** PLEASE NOTE THE NEW FORMAT ***

1000 – 1100 hrs:    FIBIS experts will be available to answer members’ questions.

1100 – 1200 hrs:    Indigo Cultivation in India

Richard Morgan will be speaking about indigo cultivation in India. From the late 18th century indigo was cultivated in India to produce the blue dye we are familiar with in jeans.  Several hundred “concerns” (ie indigo companies) were established in many parts of India, especially in Bihar.  Relations between planters and the ryots, Indian labourers, were not always cordial and a “Blue Mutiny” broke out in the 1860s. Indigo planting declined from then onwards, as artificial dyes competed, but some concerns survived well into the 20th century.  

The talk will also briefly mention planters of other crops in India such as coffee and cinchona (quinine).

Richard is the author of the FIBIS Research Guide No 2 British Ships in Indian Waters and several FIBIS Fact Files which include two recently published (Nos 8 and 9): one on Tea planters and the other on Indigo and Jute.

1200 – 1300 hrs:    Lunch

1300 – 1400 hrs:    Burma Rifles: The Unknown Army

Steve Rothwell introduces the story of one of the ‘unknown’ armies of World War II. Fighting alongside the British and Indian Armies against the Japanese, the Burma Army was administered quite separately. These soldiers – Burmese, Indian and Gurkha – contributed their unique knowledge of the land, its peoples and its languages. Soldiers of the Burma Army were prominent during the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942; they fought on the Indian frontier; they were present at Kohima; they operated behind Japanese lines with the Chindits; they took part in the Chinese-American struggle for Myitkyina; they supported every Anglo-Indian formation during the reconquest of Burma.

Steve Rothwell has researched the war in Burma for over two decades. His findings are published on his web site: The Burma Campaign at (indiaburmasoldiers.co.uk)

1400 – 1500 hrs:    FIBIS experts will be available to answer members’ questions.

*** Please register your intention to attend the AGM and open meeting by booking a ticket as names are required in advance by the Union Jack Club for security reasons. ***

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ALL WELCOME.  ADMISSION FREE