 The Maharajah of Patidlas' Camp at Lahore Durbar in November 1894 |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
RICHARD DAVID MARGESSON'S FIRST EVENING WITH HIS UNCLE —
LIEUTENANT COLONEL EVELYN MARGESSON (1865-1941)
Originally published in the Findon News in October 2005
Copyright Valerie Martin 2005
Richard David Margesson was born in 1915 the son of Hugh Margesson who emigrated to Canada. Richard tracked down his uncle, Colonel Evelyn Margesson and spent his first unforgettable evening with him in Sussex in 1936.
Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Margesson had been born at Findon Place and was the last Lord of the Manor of Findon. After serving his early years at Coopers Hill College in engineering and military studies he made his career in the army. At a young age he was gazetted and sent to India where he was assigned to the Bengal Lancers. His main activities were in the Northern Frontier in Afghanistan, defending the borders of Northern India against insurrections from the North.
The following are some of the pictures from his photograph album of that era....
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The Maharajah of Patidlas' Camp at Lahore Durbar in November 1894 |
Evelyn's regiment came to the Lahore Durbar show (Lahore is the capital of Punjab) and he was in camp at Lahore Fort for the occasion. A Durbar was a meeting with an impressive regal ceremony which was held every four or five years, but not any more. For the Durbar, the Governor General invited the various maharajahs to set up camp and at the Durbar the maharajahs gave free food and drink to the general public. The maharajahs were like "kings" for a geographic area — they even enjoyed cricket and polo.
 Evelyn's photograph of the soda water machine at Camp Chabell near Lahore in 1894. |
Evelyn held a high position and it is not surprising, therefore, that he lived in a large brick house in those days with at least ten rooms and he had six servants. The Punjab in 1894 was a peaceful place to live, not over-populated as now. It was an area where there were no beggars and no one locked their doors.
Evelyn never married but rose to become Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment and his services were recognised in later years by his being made Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George.
He retired to Findon Place to the assortment of beautiful treasures accumulated by the Margessons over the years. Then William Mann became his chauffeur and Evelyn moved from the ancestral manor house in Findon to Worthing.
I will leave it to Richard to describe the talk with his Uncle Evelyn over dinner in 1936 —
| Dinner that night, in a lovely hotel overlooking the channel, was memorable. The Colonel amused us with his escapades in the army and career in Northern India. He joined our laughter with a curious high-pitched, almost falsetto laugh that had most of the guests in stitches around us. As we walked along the beach after dinner, I said we could only spend three days before rushing back to the ship to return to Canada. He said tomorrow he would pick me up after breakfast to take me to the bank. He arrived promptly at ten the next morning in his favourite Rolls, driven by Mann. He instructed the Bank Manager to give me £200 for "some fun on the way home". He also urged me to have my father, his surviving brother, to come to England as soon as possible to settle his will. I agreed to press Dad to come. On the road back to the hotel and departure I sat in the back seat with my Uncle and was constantly aware of the black piercing look of Mann staring in the rear view mirror. His countenance bothered me and I had premonitions of trouble ahead. My father did indeed return to Worthing the next year 1937, and had a wonderful reunion after a separation of 30 years. Hugh, being the next eldest brother surviving, under entail would inherit the bulk of the estate. Much of the planning took place as the brothers toured old boyhood haunts of Sussex, constantly within earshot of Mann. My father mentioned the lack of privacy during financial discussions but Evelyn dismissed it and was unconcerned.
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Continue if you would like to read The End of Another Era — Lieutenant Colonel Evelyn Margesson (1865-1941).
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
