Amateur film without titles shot by Royal Engineer Lieutenant Archibald ("Archie") Jack of King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners records local scenes and local activities in Northern India in areas marked by vestiges of the Moghul era. Possibly taken during one of Lieutenant Jack's tours of the local villages in the Punjab from which men of the Sappers and Miners were recruited.

Railway station sequence: Indians say farewell to their loved ones after boarding the train. Local vendors, mainly sellers of hot food, cram the platform by train with carriages in the NWR (North Western Railway) livery; Indian boy looks at the camera whilst smoking a cigarette. "The Frontier Mail" (which left Bombay daily on a three day journey to Peshawar). Steam locomotive No 601 (Bombay and Central India Railway) undergoes trackside maintenance; British onlooker takes a photograph. Indian boys doing physical training, and playing volleyball. View of Rohtas Fort; camera pans down to show the Mangla Dam on the river below. Sign marked HFL 1929, RL 920.0, 919 - flood marker? Visitors walk up to the fort and observe the vistas from the top; red and white tricolour flag flies over half ruined tower. Camels carry loads through the street of a busy town. Indian civilians disembark from boat crossing river. Kabbadi wrestlers in action, watched by crowd of Indians. Senior Muslims in civilian dress, possibly VCOs (Viceroy's Commissioned Officers), gathered together at a social function. Views of large abandoned fort adorned with arches and domed towers. Indian Boy Scout display - camera pans to show the large number of scouts present. Group of scouts perform dance with sticks. Turbaned Indian cavalrymen practise tent-pegging, watched by group of onlookers. Local Indian dignitaries (?) in western clothes pose for the camera. View looking upwards to another large fort, vultures circling overhead; various aspects of the building are shown, including rows of handprints on the wall, left by Hindu widows prior to Suttee. Indian women water-bearers climb hill, balancing their immense ewers on their heads; the camera pans upwards for another view of the fort. Street scenes in an Indian town (possibly Jaipur), thronging with people and camels. A peacock struts in formal Indian gardens, in which the buildings are adorned with Hindu reliefs. (Possibly a temple building; an old Indian - possibly a holy man - stands nearby.) A fellow amateur cameraman films the same building using his tripod-mounted camera. Further views of gardens and buildings.

Notes

Summary: Original film box marked "Tours".

Summary: Captain Lawrie notes that the Rohtas Fort seen here was built by Sher Shah ca 1540 to hold back the forces of Humayan; it was later used and strengthened by the Emperor Akbar. It is now used as a government rest house.

Remarks: grateful acknowledgement to Major D D Alexander, Colonel M B Adams, Colonel W G A Lawrie, Colonel D C S David and Lieutenant-Colonel M J J Rolt (members of King George V's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners Officers Association) for comments and additional information.