RARE RAF India Pakistan 1946 Muslim Sikh Hindu Jain Amritsar 200+ photographs

RARE RAF India Pakistan 1946 Sikh Jain Amritsar 200+ photographs

This is a Very rare photograph album containing over 200 black and white photographs of life in India just prior to the partition.

All the photographs were taken by an English Royal Air Force officer based in Mauripur Airfield which was just outside Karachi in Pakistan.

The photographs capture life in India as it was in 1945/1946 with amazing images.

We have attempted to show a selection of the 200+ photographs in these images and I have listed most of them below.

*Apologies in advance: the folder containing these images on my computer is so large that my computer keeps “freezing” when I try to rotate the images.

If you want to see a specific photo/page from the list below – just ask!

 

All the photographs are the same size and in very good, clean condition.

Each photograph measures 85mm x 58mm.

They are mounted onto the pages with some delightful designs in background done in white paint on many pages.

On the last page is an interesting presentation and a photograph of Winston Churchill is attached to the inside of the back cover.

The presentation on the last page is a typed sheet containing three poems that appear to be original poems by the RAF officer.

There is an inscription that reads:

“To my friend Frank

A xxxxx pal

J Lazewan

xxxxx xxxx

Karachi, India

January 10, 1946”

The x’s are for words/letters that we are unable to decipher.

.

With one of the poems being dated “Christmas Day 1945” and the inscription dating January 10^th 1946, it is clear that the photographs contained in this album were taken during 1945 and then the whole album given as a gift in January 1946.

Please note that a similar album of photographs by an RAF officer sold for over £5,000 in 2017 at Christie’s (full details available on request).

RAF MAURIPUR Units and aircraft

Unit	Dates	Aircraft	Notes
No. 5 Squadron RAF	1947	Hawker Tempest	Single-engined (piston) fighter
No. 10 Squadron RAF	1946-1947	Douglas Dakota	Twin-engined piston transport
No. 20 Squadron RAF	1947	Hawker Tempest
No. 31 Squadron RAF	1946 and 1947	Douglas Dakota	Was 77 Squadron
No. 62 Squadron RAF	1947	Douglas Dakota
No. 77 Squadron RAF	1945-1946	Douglas Dakota	Renumbered 31 Squadron
No. 117 Squadron RAF	1943	Douglas Dakota
No. 267 Squadron RAF	1945-1946	Douglas Dakota	Detachments from Mingaladon
No. 298 Squadron RAF	1946	Handley Page Halifax	Four-engined piston heavy bomber transport conversion

“Air Trooping Base

Mauripur Airfield

KARACHI

SIND

INDIA”

KARACHI

Bunder Road Victoria Museum Town Hall

Race Course Clifton Beach Clifton Beach

Cantonment Graff-Zeppelin Hangar Sacred Crocodiles

Ghandi Gardens Ghandi Gardens Airways Milestones

Transport Camels Mayfair Dance Hall

KARACHI

Bunder Road Bazaar Bunder Road Muslim Temple

Mohamed Temple Saddar Bazaar

Native Fishing Boats Saddar Bazaar Saddar Bazaar

KARACHI

Paradise Cinema Karachi Harbour

Electra House Victoria Mansion Karachi Zoo Gardens

KARACHI

Mahatma Ghandi Rd Ghandi Gardens

Municipal Offices Hindu Gymkhana Rawalpindi Express

KARACHI

Elphinstone Street Garry-wala Elephant god

Church of England Elphinstone Street American Red Cross Canteen

LAHORE

Lahore University Jahangir’s Tomb Badshahi Mosque

High Court Shalimar Gardens Mohamed [Islamic] Tomb

LAHORE

Lahore Station VJ Day Montgomery Hall Gate of the Fort

Entrance to Tomb Sunset on River Ravi

LAHORE

Lahore Station Willingdon Crescent Anarkall Bazaar

LAHORE

Shalimar Gardens Kashmir Keamari Harbour

Taj Mahal Golden Temple Amritsar

CALCUTTA

Temple of Love Jain Temple Jain Temple

Howrah Bridge Victoria Museum Temple of Love

INDIAN FILMSTARS

BOMBAY

Bazaars Victoria Terminus Taj Mahal Hotel

Ghandi Road Gateway to India Abdul Reman Road

KASHMIR

Winter in Kashmir Dal Lake Planting Rice

Old Srinagar On the River Jhelum

KASHMIR

Chamba Valley Himalayan Mountains Water Carrier

Nanital

KASHMIR

Dal Lake Near the NW Frontier Near Khyber Pass

SIMLA

Narrow Gauge Railway

Darjeeling-Himalayan Railway

Cotton Exchange British Embassy Beggars

Two postcards: “Cant Railway Station Karachi”

HMT Dunera – Karachi Port”

DELHI

The Secretariat Juma Mosque Red Fort

DELHI

Government House Delhi Junction Red Fort

Pearl Mosque Native Bazaars Qutab Minar

DELHI

Indian Rope Trick “Chandi Chowk” Family on camel

Camel Bath New Delhi Bunder Fishing Boat

TAJ MAHAL AGRA

[7 photographs including aerial view]

BENARES

Hindu Temples – 5 images

BENARES

Six images untitled

BENARES

6 images with only one titled: “Indian Wedding Ceremony”

AMRITSAR

THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

(Sacred Shrine of Sikhs)

5 photographs

5 photographs with title:

“Copies of photographs originally smuggled from Tibbet

Showing the way of disposing of the dead”

Tibet at this time was closed off to the rest of the world until the Chinese invasion 1947, not long after this album was created.

A postcard of the bridge over Indus River at Sukkur and three photographs untitled of a railway station.

Holy Women Dhobi (cleaner) Freedom of the street [cow]

Girls from Kulu Valley Kashmir

Camel train at the airport Coolies at Karachi Air base Snake Charmer

Bearers [fruit] Indian Rope Trick

A barber, a dentist, a doctor [hakeem] and a basket maker

Boat on a canal King Cobra Crocodile sunbathing Potter

Somewhere in Malaya Snake charmers

Donkey cart Karachi Interior of Taj Mahal Darjeeling tea gathering

“Scroungers” in Karachi Hindu Film Star Sitara Beggar woman

Giraffe necked women Burma

Balancing Yogi Fruit cart Mohamed [Muslim] film star

This type of album rarely is available on the market.

The contents are an amazing document of life in India/Pakistan on the eve of partition.

These are an insight into a world now lost in history.

The leather album is in overall very good condition, the back cover has some minor issues.

The contents are in very good condition with the vast majority of pages in excellent condition. The RAF officer who assembled these photographs seems to have rearranged some of the images so evidence of this can be seen on a few pages.

Please feel free to contact us for further details/images/information.

Price includes insured and tracked shipping within the UK.

Non UK – please contact us for shipping quote.