Beautiful City of Roorkee - Mucking About on the Water!

The city of Roorkee is situated in Uttarakhand Northern India; in sight of the Himalayas, and about 115 miles north of New Delhi. Today it is a busy university city with about a quarter of a million inhabitants; but prior to 1840 it was just a group of mud huts on the banks of the little Solani River. It was only when construction commenced on the 348 mile long Upper Ganges Irrigation Canal that Roorkee began to develop into a bustling municipality.

The Ganges Canal was widely regarded as an engineering marvel; it would irrigate some 767,000 acres of good agricultural land, and to carry the canal over the Solani River it had India’s very first aqueduct. Now known as the Ganga Canal it still flows through the centre of Roorkee, with the two original monumental lions keeping sentinel on its embankments.

Thanks to the canal the City of Roorkee would develop into an important industrial and administrative centre; indeed it was a terminus on India’s very first railway line. Situated strategically close to the volatile North West Frontier it was also an important military station, and in 1853 it became the home to the famous Bengal Sappers. In 1872 it was the military personnel stationed in the City of Roorkee who were to be instrumental in the founding of the Beauchamp Lodge.             

Living in the City of Roorkee

The Europeans living in the City of Roorkee enjoyed a very comfortable ‘Raj life style’, with many servants to look after them. Some had brought their families with them to India; and during the cooler months of the year there was a busy social calendar, with dinners, dances, parties, and sporting events such as cricket. Especially popular were the events held on the Ganges Canal; as well as boat races there were also some more unusual events just for fun, such as edging along a greasy pole that projected out over the canal. The members of the Beauchamp Lodge actively supported and also helped to arrange such events.

The following article from the ‘Civil & Military Gazette’ of September 13^th 1887 describes one of the annual regattas that the Bengal Sappers’ organised on the Ganges Canal in the City of Roorkee.

Roorkee

The sepoys [native Indian soldiers] of the Sappers tried hard for the purse at the end of the pole, but they invariably failed to get it and fell a souser into the water. The whole of the events were admirably contested. Perhaps the best of all the sport was the canoe fight between two canoes and four sepoys two on each side armed with mops – one should sink the other canoe or punch his opponent into the water with the soft end of the mop. – Sept 10.

The Bengal Sappers and Miners’ regatta for 1887 on the Ganges Canal close to Roorkee Bridge on the 7th instant, was a decided success, and mainly due to the indefatigable exertions of Surgeon-Major McQueen of the Royal Engineers. The Grand Stand was on the right bank of the canal at the bend from which all could see from start to finish. The whole of the events were contested with great spirit – The Pontoon Race, Paddle pairs, Swimming Race, Horizontal greasy pole, extending from bank of canal over the water. 

This news report may contain a misprint, as the organiser of the event was quite possibly Sergeant-Major J. McQueen of the Royal Engineers, who was Master of the Beauchamp Lodge that year. The Royal Engineers were often involved in such events; a report in ‘The Indian Statesman’ newspaper of April 21st 1876 speaks of the engineers from the City of Roorkee who were present at the Haridwar Religious Festival & Fair, where they built temporary bridges and dams to enable the pilgrims and other visitors to cross to the Island.

Rowing is still a very popular pastime on Roorkee’s Ganga Canal; and as an organised sport it is well supported by the students of the Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee, which was originally the Thomason Civil Engineering College where many members of Beauchamp Lodge once taught, including Clayton Beauchamp the lodge’s founder. Maybe today’s Beauchamp Lodge members should look to enter a team in the next West Kent Raft Race, in order to revive the lodge’s old tradition of mucking about on the water!                                                                             

Th City of Roorkee post was created by the West Kent Military Lodge. If you would like to know more about our Lodge contact us here