Archive / Audio / Mr. H. and Mrs. E. Williams

Interview number: 041

Interviewer: Pickering, C. and Carter, Dr. L.

Interview date: 1974-01-10

Length 68 minutes

Condition notes: Cleean


Mr. Harry Williams and his wife, Eileen, interviewed by Mrs. Carol Pickering and Dr. Lionel Carter, 14-07-83.

See also: Centre of South Asian Stuides Archive Collections, H and E Williams; 5 pp. m/s “India, 1940-1970; The Women” by Mrs. Eileen Williams.

Account of Salvation Army work in India, from the declaration of war until 1970. Impressed by good basic medical service, though quality varied in districts and perennial shortage of trained staff. In Punjab, Salvation Army hospital served biggest woollen factory in India. Sundays devoted to Missionary activity with services in hospital and out-lying villages. Musical accompaniment incorporated Indian instruments, the musicians being ex-criminals from settlements run by Salvation Army. Outcastes, Hindus, Muslims high and low, attended. Salvation Army also served Anglo-Indian community. Punjab devastated, but hospital still standing in 1948. Interesting year in Gujarat. Work included first reconstructive surgery in leprosy; setting up training units teaching weaving and metal work and building hospitals. Description of life in Kerala.


Coverage notes: Salvation Army; I.C.S.; musical instruments; Thugees; Independence; Anglo-Indians; Partition; reconstructive surgery; leprosy; handicapped people; buildings; U.P.; Bombay; Gujarat; South India; 1939-1970