A Cricket Match in Delhi - The Princes XI versus The Australian Services XI, 1945.

 For cricket aficionados, here’s a rare scorecard from November 1945 featuring a match between the Indian princes (Princes XI) and the Australian Services XI in Delhi. This scorecard comes from someone who attended the game and, remarkably, preserved newspaper clippings of the first innings as well (see below)!

The Australian Services XI was composed of military personnel stationed in India after the war, including A. L. Hassett and Keith Miller, both of whom would go on to enjoy stellar careers with the Australian national team. They faced off against Indian cricketing legends such as C. K. Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Vijay Hazare, and Mushtaq Ali, among others.

The purpose of the Delhi match was to raise money for charity and to help revive the public image of cricket after its wartime hiatus. The Australian Services team was on its way home, with its itinerary including stops in several imperial cities. Of course, the apparent ‘normalcy’ of the cricket game must be read against the backdrop of the heated debates about India’s future and impending independence in the aftermath of the war.

Here are some more pictures:

  

Delhi's 'Ivory Palace', circa 1920s.

 A souvenir/ business card from the 1920s featuring Delhi’s 'Ivory Palace'. This also contains a turn of the century image of the shop near the Jama Masjid’s norther Gate. In the foreground you can see craftsmen at work, a tried and tested way to attract onlookers and spark interest.

The Ivory Palace was something of an institution in Delhi. Catering to foreign dignitaries and art collectors, it was also a patron of local craftsmen and jewellers that it took under its wing. The building had workshops and storage on its premises and occupied a fairly large plot. Moreover, like its competitors, Imre Schwaiger and the Indian Arts Palace (see previous posts), the Ivory Palace also supplied museums and international collectors across the world. 

By the 1920s, the business had diversified, venturing into the burgeoning photography market and supplying photographic materials and camera film.

The original premises of the Ivory Palace still stand today, now known by the founders’ names, Faqir Chand and Raghunath Das. However, the workshops appear to be shut, and the building lies derelict.

Any further information about the establishment would be greatly appreciated.

See you next week.

Delhi's Lahore Darwaza and the 'Lahore Gate Improvement Project', 1880s.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (https://tinyurl.com/3v7kk6sc)

This is possibly the only known photograph of the Lahore Darwaza (Gate), not to be confused with the Lahori Darwaza of the Red Fort, which is a different structure altogether. The photograph was taken shortly after the Rebellion of 1857 and shows the Raja of Patiala’s mounted camel encampment outside the gate. The Raja had come to the aid of the East India Company with his camel-mounted troops.

Two decades after the Rebellion, the Lahore Gate was dismantled by the British Crown Government to make way for a city-extension scheme, later known as the 'Lahore Gate Improvement Project'. This plan was proposed by Robert Clark, then Deputy Commissioner of Delhi, with the aim of creating a continuous commercial corridor running from Chandni Chowk to Saddar Bazar, beyond the Lahore Gate.

To cut a long story short, Clark’s extension scheme proved to be a failure for the government. Its intended objectives were never realised, and the entire project was beset with problems. Plot holders sublet their plots; the government struggled to evict unauthorised tenants; there had never been a plan in place to reclaim the land for public use if required; and officials failed to ensure compliance with regulations regarding the dimensions and use of plots.

Though both the Lahore Gate and Clark’s Lahore Gate Improvement Project have long vanished from public memory, traces of their existence remain in the archives.

The 'Lodi Road Transmitting Station', 1940-5.

 

Two grainy photographs from a British military album in the 1940s that capture the ‘Lodi Road Transmitting Station’ in Delhi. At first glance, the pictures seem quite innocuous; a white building façade on top and just under, heavy machinery in a large hall. However, during the Second World War, this was a crucial hub in the British Empire’s communication network. The Lodi Road station, manned by British and Indian army personnel, would have transmitted encrypted messages, received dispatches etc. The two photos therefore, offer a rare glimpse into the hidden wartime infrastructure of, and within, Delhi.

Where the building and its heavy machinery went after the war or post 1947 is a mystery. Perhaps, behind Lodhi colony’s big arches somewhere? If you know, do give me a shout. 

See you next week.

Ferguson tractors and playing cards in Delhi, 1960s

 

A solitary card from a 1960s playing deck, branded with the title “Ferguson System” and sold by Escorts (A & M) in Delhi. This card offers a unique glimpse into a moment of agricultural transformation in Delhi and India.

Playing cards would have served as an effective advertising tool, used to promote a new generation of Ferguson tractors and heavy machinery in the country (see back of card below). In the 1960s, the Indian government was actively incentivising agricultural mechanisation, seeing it as a critical solution to recurring food shortages—particularly during droughts in regions like Bihar.

The investment in, and arrival of, Ferguson tractors, coincided with the early stages of the 'Green Revolution', a state-led initiative aimed at boosting food production through the use of high-yield seeds, irrigation, and mechanised farming.

This single playing card stands as a poignant reminder of the broader shifts in agriculture taking place across India during the mid-20th century—shifts that would go on to reshape the rural economy and food systems in the country.