It was 1896 when Winston Churchill, as a young soldier, first arrived in Bangalore as part of the Queen’s Own Hussars regiment. Four decades later, the man would become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

A young Winston Churchill before his Bangalore home. Source: My Early Years by Winston Churchill; Churchill as an officer in India, copyright of Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS.

Churchill himself described his Bangalore days in his autobiography, My Early Years. The story of Winston Churchill owing a 13 rupee (now written off) debt to Bangalore Club (also known as the erstwhile Bangalore United Services Club) is well-known in Bangalore circles.

However, there is another story, one less known, and unknown to me too until I came across a few unassuming files linking three men to Churchill in the British Library’s India Office Archives in London.

The first was regarding a man named Mr. S. Joshu, residing at the Friend-in-Need Society home in Bangalore, who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Churchill in 1943, claiming that he was a his servant when he stationed in Bangalore, and if could kindly offer him any present for his services of yore.

In 1943, Britain and her dominions, as part of the Allied Forces, were engaged in war against Germany and the other Axis Powers. Against this backdrop, I found the attention given to the matter particularly curious. There were a series of exchanges between British officials in London and Mysore on the matter. Once Mr. Joshua’s identity was confirmed with the Prime Minister and his character verified on the ground, arrangements were made, on Churchill’s behalf, for a gift of 100 rupees to be sent to him through the Resident in Mysore. At the time, Churchill was in Quebec, where he was attending an Allied conference, and wherefrom he conveyed his thanks assistance to the ‘Accountant-General, India Office.’

It appears that word of this gift got around. In 1946, another letter was sent to the Prime Minister, this time, from a man named Mr. P. Munniswamy, who also noted that he was an old servant. The letter had gone unanswered, and then another was sent in 1947, at a time when the Empire was fragmenting into pieces. When the letter was taken to Churchill, he did seem to remember the name and asked the Private Secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore to investigate into Mr. Munniswamy’s character and standing, who was then due to retire from service with the Madras Sappers, based on which he could send him gift money. This was done, and a gift was made to Mr. Munniswamy.

In 1949, Churchill received another letter, this time, it was from one Mr. M.A. Ranookapathy, whose father, Mr. K.M Anthimoolam, had been Churchill’s dressing boy and butler. Similar to previous instances, a money gift of 3 pounds was then made through official channels to Mr. Ranookpathy.

Churchill is revered across the world for his tenure as a war-time Prime Minister, but in India, he keeps a bad reputation and for good reason. The years he spent in Bangalore as a young soldier did not make him sympathetic, in any way, to the plight of the Indian cause. He is well quoted on the several untoward comments he made towards the Indian people, including even on Mahatma Gandhi, and it was his administration that caused the grave Bengal famine of 1943. So it is indeed very curious to see his generosity towards his old attendees in Bangalore – not just in monetary terms, which pale in comparison to the time, interest, and effort spent to make sure that these letters received due attention, in the time of war and empire disintegration.

At a turbulent time, and as a Prime Minister, one could have easily discarded letters received from, what could seem, an altogether different life.