Important Document

SIR VALENTINE CHIROL- SOMETHING ABOUT HIM IN GUL HAYAT INSTITUTE. By. Dr. Dur Muhammad Pathan Soon after establishing my Gul Hayat Institute at my native village Khair Muhammad Arija in 1990, I started collecting papers, documents and books of research-value. Once I purchased a few old books on history of India and book seller handed over some Clippings of Newspapers to me as to him they were useless for him. It was amazing for me to note that these Cuttings were from TIMES (Literary Supplement), THE EVENING STANDARD, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH and OBSERVER all of 1926. OBSERVER (Sunday, January 24, 1926) Cutting was about Review on ‘India’ by F.H.Brown, C.I.E. The book written by Sir Valentine Chirol and included in “ The Modern World” (Voi.V), Edited by H.A.L. Fisher, M.P. As the British Period was my field of interest in research, hence, I started searching for more information about Sir Valentine Chirol and his work on the Indian History. It was my luck that I found Letter by Chirol written in his hand to F.H.Brown, who had reviewed his work. Sir Valentine Chirol breathed his last on October 22, 1929 in his 78th year. He was born on May 23, 1852 in Huguenot family. He was younger son of the Rev. Alexander Chirol, by his wife Harriet, daughter of the Rev. Denny Ashburnham. His family left France after the Revolution of the Edict of Nantes. Sir Valentine saw educated mainly in France and Germany, taking his degree at the University of Paris. He saw the march of the German Army into Paris in 1871, and the out-break of the Commune. He outstanding Journalist and born Traveler. He made several Oriental journeys, visited Eastern countries including India which he visited for the first time in 1883. He had a deep admiration for the woek of the British Raj, but also was not blind to its imperfections, especially in regard to education. He strongly showed his sympathy with native aspirations. Loed Moreley frequently consulted him on the Morely-Minto reform program. He visited India in 1910 so as to investigate the origin and extent of the troubles, and to watch the working of the reformed Executive and Legislative Councils, and at the end of that year collected the Letters he wrote to THE TIMES into a book, “Indian Unrest”.In this book he criticized the activities of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and accused him of having by pen and speech created an atmosphere in which the germs of revolution flourished, and which led to the commission of criminal outrages. At the time of publication of that book, Tilak was in prison. He was released in 1914 and in 1915 he brought an action for liable against Sir Valentine Chirol and his publisher in the English Courts. Chirol, instead of making formal apology which was invited, and feeling it impossible to allow Tilak to obtain a coat of whitewash, he spent his much time in research and to pay special visit to India, in order to collect evidence to substantiate his statements.In January and February, 1919, this case was tried before Justice Darling and a special jury. The hearing lasted 17 days, both plaintiff and defendant were examined at length, and the Judge in his summing –up observed that he did not think he had ever tried a more serious cases, having regard to its possible public consequences. The Jury returned a verdict for Chirol and his publisher. Thanks to my humble efforts I have collected a lot of material and information on Sir Valentine Chirol, his books and his observations about Indian affairs. He was Journalist of his own right. His writ tings on Indian politics and British governance carry a lot for researchers.