Reference
X214/12/37
Title
Transcript of interview with Brian Harrington Spier, born 1941 at a hill station outside Rawlpindi, India [now in Pakistan]. Came to England in 1947, following partition of Inda and Pakistan.
Date free text
1941 - c.2009
Production date
From: 1941 To: 2009
Scope and Content
Memories of World War Two - living in Bangalore; father was with Fourth Indian Division in Eritrea and North Africa; Mother was in the Womens Auxillary Service; some of mother's friends had walked from Burma to escape the Japanese.
Describes the caste system in India when he was a child.
Lived in a big house with high ceilings, big verandahs, quite a big compound and servants. Was raised by his 'ayah' (nanny). No flush lavatories.
Parents, grandparents and great grandparents were born in India; family originally went out to India in about 1800, or earlier.
Arrived in Southampton on a troop ship from Bombay in 1947. Went to London. Had nowhere to live so stayed with friends in Brixton. It was a small house with gas lamps. Parents and three children occupied 1 room. The friends later asked them to leave, so the family sheltered at Waterloo Station for 4 days while father tried to find accommodation. Most places would not take children. As father was still in the army, he went to his headquarters and they found some accommodation in Kingston-upon-Thames.
Impressions on London: gas lighting bombed out streets; policeman in tall helmets; trams.
Learned Hunidi from Ayah; spoke Hindi before English. On starting school in England was teased for the way he spoke English (with an Indain accent). However, he was way ahead of the English in education; could read by age 3.
In India, there was a colonial culture; there were parameters of behaviour; if you went outside them you lost respect. There were also parameters of behaviour for the Indians, especially with the caste system. Does not like the way the English behave abroad, with no respect for the culture of the country they are visiting. Expands on this theme; opinions of empire, partition of India etc. Comments about the Indian regiments of the British Army.
Attended 22 different schools as father moved round when in the army. Was often bullied; learned to fight well as had to prove place in the pecking order at each new school. Attended St. Chads College when living in Wolverhampton. Later went to St.James' Catholic High School in Finchley: admired their approach to education. Gives opinions on the education system.
After school went to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst.
Came to Luton following divorce. Had been working in Sierra Leone; came back to the Uk and got a job with 'Reliance Security', which operated all over England. Had 3 options for a base for the job, and accepted Luton as is was the nearest to Bury St. Edmonds where ex-wife and children lived. Makes comments about the job, which he left, and went to work in London, cpmmuting fron Luton. Later went to work at Vauxhall.
At first thought Luton was culturally stagnant and thge people grim. When the polytechnic became a university there was a lot of regeneration and the town improved.
Does not like multiculturalism - considers it separates the populations; prefers cosmopolitan; everyone being part of one community.
Reference
Level of description
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