Partition Voices: Major Ben and Marguerite Suter
I interviewed Ben and Marguerite Suter at their home in Surrey in August 2002 while researching my book A Mission in Kashmir. Major Suter was at the time the secretary of the Sikh Regimental Association - and Lt-Colonel Tom Dykes, who along with his wife Biddy was killed at Baramulla in Kashmir in October 1947, had been a member of that Regiment. Ben had served alongside Tom Dykes - and Ben's wife, Marguerite, knew Biddy Dykes well and had intended to accompany her to Baramulla, where she gave birth to her third child. The interview stretched beyond memories of Tom and Biddy Dykes, to visits to Kashmir and wartime service in the North West Frontier. A partial transcript of the interview is posted below.
Major Ben Suter (1920-2013) attended the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and was posted to the Indian Army in 1939. Although his regiment was the First Sikhs he spent the war with the Frontier Corps, mainly in South Waziristan, during which time he learnt Urdu and Pushtu. He remained with the army after the war
Marguerite Suter nee Ireland (1921-2009) was from an Indian Army family and lived in India until she was about nine. She met Ben when he was at Sandhurst. They married in, I think, 1946. She travelled out to India by ship in early 1947 and lived at Noushera; they both headed back in July 1947.
Major Ben Suter at 90
Major Ben Suter and Marguerite Suter interviewed by Andrew Whitehead, 4 August 2002
Ben Suter: ‘I spent most of my army life, Indian army life, on the Frontier, away from my regiment, seconded to the Frontiers Corps … and at the end of my tour there … I was posted back to my regimental centre, which was at Noushera at that time, and there I met Tom Dykes who was the second in command, second to the commandant there. I hadn’t met Tom before. I knew he’d been in the 4th Battalion, I’d heard about him, and there they were there. We lived close to them, they backed upon our bungalow compound, and there we were at that time. I wasn’t there very long. I didn’t get to know Tom well. I wasn’t actually working with him or near him. I knew him because he was a member of the Centre but my work to my away from his work to a great extent’.
1’30 WHAT DID HE LOOK LIKE: Tom? Erect, soldierly of course, very strict in his manner, in his work,. He didn’t suffer fools gladly. What little I knew of him wasn’t altogether too happy, because on one occasion, I met him when we were out walking one afternoon, in the evenings we used to walk round, it was very hot of course at that time. And the order was that one should wear a certain dress which avoided mosquitos, long trousers for instance. Well, I’d been put some time and I still had my shorts on from the morning’s exercises. And he took exception to this and I didn’t of course dare answer him back. He was not in fact of a rank senior to me but he was second in command … Anyhow that came off alright and I understood what the trouble was and that was more-or-less our first meeting and so we didn’t have very much conversation after that. I knew him from a distance, tallish, as I said very strict in his interpretation of what should be done each day. Came from the 4th Battalion and had been involved with the 4th Battalion in their fighting in various theatres. Very good at that, very good reputation. … [digression re Burma] … HE WASN’T SOMEBODY WHO PEOPLE WARMED TO? Well, I think you’re right there. I don’t trust my own feeling in that respect because I was being reprimanded. Naturally, as one would, I felt a slight animosity in being called to attention … He was a rather severe man perhaps in those ways.
5’00 WHY WD A YOUNG MAN WISH TO ENROL IN THE INDIAN ARMY IN LATE ‘30s? In Tom’s case, I don’t know, but obviously he was well fitted for the profession he had chosen. I don’t know whether his family had been involved with the army, Indian Army, or any other military occupation before. … [talks about own involvement in army and motivation]
7’15 LIFE IN NOUSHERA Very much as it had been before, but rather more hectic because people were coming and going fairly quickly. It was the end of the war, the Partition was on the way, and a number were getting ready to go home, more were coming in for posting in various other places, but there wasn’t much posting going on for the British personnel, because we were all at our age, which would be 26, 27 then, we were all going to be shot back home again.
8’00 BUT TOM CHOSE TO STAY ON …: It’s probably what he opted to do. Not all British officers came back at the same time, because they had of course positions in their various Regiments, and those positions had to be filled by Indians. Now there was a shortage of trained officers, Indian trained officers. However, that was being gradually put right, corrected, and so some officers stayed on rather longer than others, depending to a large extent on their age I think. Those of my own age, 27 at the time, us lot could be filled quite quickly, so we didn’t have to wait around. But those who were older did wait longer for some suitable Indian to take their position, or in some cases theyw ere offered short contracts, 1,2,3 year contracts to stay, stay with their Regiment, and then could choose then when they wanted to go home. And Tom being … well reported on. I don’t know whether he was asked to stay or offered to stay but he certainly did stay a bit longer. …
9’50 HEARING ABOUT DEATH: Yes, but it wasn’t till later … I really don’t recall when I did hear about this …
10’30 1st SIKHS IN KASHMIR VALLEY: … There’s a certain amount been written about it, and it does appear that maybe there was a certain amount of confusion, and there were a number of casualties, Sikh casualties, certainly … [story of Nan Singh VC, killed in Kashmir]
Marguerite Suter: I didn’t meet Biddy until I joined Ben in Noushera, and to our amazement we found that our bungalows backed on to each other in Noushera, but while we were each waiting for our sea passage out to join our husbands in N, she had been living with her sister just about 200 yards down the road from where I was living with my mother waiting for passages. And so we had a lot to talk about, and we laughed about it so much because Biddy went out with two small children, which must have been quite a difficulty for her with no help, and had I met her at home in England, I cd have applied to go out with her to help her with the children, but that wasn’t to be. But once I had met her in N, I got on with her extremely well. She was a person with a round, happy, jolly face, and she was v motherly, and she was devoted to her children, and to Tom of course. And I was v happy to go and help her entertain the children or look after them. We each of course had the usual range of domestic staff of local Indians – I use that term Indian in the sense before division happened – and they came from various nations and tribes and whatever, and all lived happily together. All of us had staff quarters in our bungalow compounds, and none of them lived in our houses, but all of them lived happily together at the bottom of the garden, as it were. We didn’t have a built in kitchen in the house, because we each had a live in cook, a khansamma, who worked in a shed in the bottom of the garden, and we each had a bearer who acted as a butler at dinner parties, and it was not unusual to find your own cutlery or your own glass or yr own serving dishes on yr neighbour’s dinner table when you were invited to dinner there. So there was a gt family feeling among the different groups of staff.
(2’20) Biddy of course had an ayah, an Indian lady who was specifically to look after the children. But Biddy I think was v keen to keep them v anglicised and not to get too Indianised as I had been as a child. And so we worked together quite a lot and I got to know the children, particularly the younger one Douglas, little Dougie I always called him. And when it came about that she was children and we had planned that all the families go up to Baramulla in the hot weather anyway, because the extremes of climate in N were quite fantastic – icy winds and twin sets in Jan but by July you were absolutely sweltering and couldn’t walk outside in the sun without protection. The children were put to bed during that time because they were up early in the morning, and in the cool of the evening. And we had planned that I sd go up to Baramulla with Biddy to help with the children when the third baby was born. But in the meantime partition had come about and as I had no children, I was the one that was sent home with my husband and we travelled down to Bombay, or near Bombay, to be in a holding camp, waiting for a passage. And I can’t tell you how awful that was. …
(4’15) But anyway Biddy went up to Baramulla with the children where it was cooler and more comfortable, we thought. I was v resentful that I’d arrived in Indian in Jan and I had to leave in June or July. Ben had planned so many expeditions for us – we had planned to go to Chitral, I never got to Kashmir that I’d heard so much about. The furthest I ever got to was Peshawar. And I had to turn round and go home before I’d done any of those things. I felt v angry about it. And I was v annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to go with Biddy up to Baramulla and see that side of life. But there it was. And I think possibly one of the reasons for Tom accepting a – whatever he accepted to stay on, was because of the impending birth of the third baby. It suited them better to do it that way. And I didn’t hear – I remember – I don’t remember exactly hearing, but I know we were back in England, it must have been October before we heard about it. And I don’t remember exactly when it happened. It was in October I believe wasn’t it - … the end of October. I think we must have heard about it fairly soon but I was back in England at that time.
5’50 LIFE IN NOUSHERA. It cd have been lonely had we not all got together and shared all sorts of things. I had time on my hands because we had no children. But I had to organise the staff, the servants. And Ben got a teacher in to teach me Urdu. … I used to sit and do a lot of embroidery. … And I remember when we left Noushera to get the train down to Bombay, all our staff were lined up on the railway platform to say goodbye to us, and there were a few tears and I felt v concerned about them, cos partition was taking place, and there we’d had all these staff living v happily, peacefully together, in almost a family unit, while keeping to our own cultures. And I wondered what wd happen to them after we had gone. Of course I never heard. We never knew. But I think some of them must have been slaughtered v soon after we left.
8’40 WORD PORTRAIT OF BIDDY. She – as I remember her, it was a long time ago, she had a round, happy face, darkish hair, and a lovely smile – I think her smile – and she always seemed to be smiling. She was a v motherly mother and she was v devoted to Tom, cos they’d been separated so much. And I think there must have been times when she just did not know what had happened to him possibly. So they were a v united family. And I think tney kept themselves to themselves. I don’t remember Tom and Biddy being part of the parties we used to have in the evenings. We wd either collect in the grounds of the mess, or we’d move on to somebody else’s house, or we’d go down to the swimming pool … I don’t remember them taking part in any of those parties. They were a very tightly knit group themselves, and kept themselves to themselves. Altho Biddy always made me feel extremely welcome.
9’50 MEMORIES OF TOM. I don’t remember meeting Tom in his own home, cos we lives were always v sure to be at home for when our husbands came home from whatever they were doing. But meeting him on one occasion when Ben and I were out for a walk, he was a v commanding presence, and rather severe looking but v good looking with it I remember, v fine looking man. And strong, silent man I think is the answer to that one. …
10’30 DYKES CHILDREN> Well, they were little boys and they played a lot of imaginary games. Dougie was a bit reticent. He used to – rather than join in Tom’s games, he wd prefer to sit on my lap and watch what was going on if they were playing imaginary games with their – I don’t remember them having soldiers, perhaps Tom didn’t allow them to have, play with soldiers. I remember soft toys, dogs and tigers and things of that sort. And I remember them playing tigers in the jungle. And it was then that little Dougie came and sat on my knee cos the tigers were rather frightening, although he enjoyed being frightened as long as he was safe with me or with Biddy. And again I sd think he wd be similar to Tom, similar to his father, in that he’s much more the strong silent type. And the older brother, Tom, was more outgoing and v much more lively. … I think they called me Auntie, I don’t really remember that. I think it was Auntie – as far as I remember.
12’00 SAYING GOODBYE TO BIDDY. I think I left before she did. I don’t particularly remember the specific moment of saying goodbye, but I do remember the moment we realised that I was not going to be allowed to go with her to B’lla. So I think I left on the train before she left for Baramulla, as far as I remember. …Great disappointment on my part. And I don’t know what Biddy felt – perhaps she was a bit sorry that she wasn’t going to have my companionship of a similar sort of age, but she was a v resourceful person, and I believe that she’d been there before to Baramulla so she knew the nuns, and she knew that she wd be in very caring surroundings. So she couldn’t – none of us cd have had any slightest idea that there was any danger of her going up to Baramulla. …
13’00 WHEN HEARD OF DEATH. Absolutely ghastly, absolutely unbelievable. And at the time, if you hear that they have been killed under those – under v nasty circumstances, but the real horror of it only struck when we heard more details of the killing much later on. It’s never been out of my mind, and I think – we were friendly with General Messervy and his wife and when we heard that they were taking care of the children I felt a little bit, bit of relief. But I think ever since then, really not a years has gone by without me having though – I wonder what’s happened to those boys, I wonder where they are now, I wonder how they are. And all these years, I’ve never forgotten them as a family, and the ghastly circumstances of their deaths. …
SHOWING DYKES WEDDING GROUP PHOTO:
Ben: Yes I’ve seen this.
IS THAT TOM?
Mar: Yes, and I’d say that’s Biddy, Yes, with a little round face, dark hair. And v smiley, although she’s not smiley there.
DO YOU RECOGNISE ANYONE ELSE … ?
I’m looking to see …
Ben: Baxter, John Baxter, died a couple of years ago [best man]. That’s right. …
Mar: I seem to recognise the little man with the moustache and glasses, but I can’t think who it is … standing next to Biddy …
Ben: Ah, that is Baxter [signalling man with moustache]. … I had nearly five years away from my Regiment on the Frontier. … That is Tom. And his best man … BAXTER WITH THE MOUSTACHE? Yes, I would say as far as I know probably that wd be Baxter that one … I didn’t know Baxter well but I’m pretty sure that that is he.
TOM COMES ACROSS AS V TALL, 6’1, 6’2, … AND BIDDY … LOOKS 5’1, 5’2 AT THE MOST
Ben: Yes she does, that’s right.
Mar: Yes, I’m 5’4 so if I thought of her as being small she would have been about 5’1, 5’2. … There must have been some of Biddy’s contemporaries there that we didn’t know. …
WHEN YOU SEE TOM AND BIDDY TOGETHER IN THAT PHOTOGRAPH – 60 YEARS OLD NOW – WHAT SORT OF SENTIMENT DOES IT GIVE RISE TO/
…
Mar: Days of the old Raj
Ben: Typical of the old Raj.
Mar: Typical, because my family were all, both sides … I’ve seen so many photos of this type, that it just seems very familiar. …
HOW DO YOU LOOK ON YR DAYS IN INDIA, DO YOU LOOK ON THEM WITH HAPPINESS AND AFFECTION?
Mar: Oh. Very much so . Yes.
Ben: Oh yes … I was naturally disappointed not to go overseas with my Regiment, Batallion, but then at that time … they were milking the old Battalions of old officers to form the new ones of which there were six or seven new Batallions raised of different sorts. … My last year or two with the Scouts on the Frontier were perhaps a bit tedious but I’d been there quite a long time … and not much was happening … [then re wartime on Frontier] …
6’50 DID YOU EVER GO TO KASHMIR?
Ben: Oh yes, several times. Always on holiday, on leave. It was from the Frontier – we nearly all of us went straight down to Rawalpindi, take a taxi, Indian taxi up to Kashmir, and stay in the well-known Nedou’s hotel there … mostly timber. Mostly made of wood. Yes, I was up there a number of times, sometimes shooting, for enjoyment and meeting people, bathing in the lakes and so on, and I took quite a lot of photographs up there, including cine film too which I still have … It was just like a hotel, the building timber, an Indian building, the servants of course were all Kashmiri, or Indian anyway. … There was constantly changing young officer community, because you had a fortnight or perhaps a month’s leave, you went up there and went down again, more people went up and they went down again, all the time, all the summer, it was changing. Winter, it was v cold, but Nedou’s in that case opened up in Gulmarg, which is high in the mountains above Srinagar, and there there was plenty of skiing going on. And I was there at least twice with my skiing there. …
10’20 DID YOU EVER GO TO BARAMULLA?
Ben: Yes I did, but never to stay. Passing through. To drive up to Kashmir you had to go through Baramulla, that was the way the road went. I suppose we probably stopped off there for a drink, or maybe a snack of some kind. But normally when you got I your taxi in ’pindi to drive up to Srinagar, you didn’t stop, only for a few minutes here and there, you went straight up. It was a very long and quite an exciting journey with an Indian taxi driver. … I wd think between 3 and 4 [hours] … it wasn’t too bad. … Domel was the other town, I think.
SHOWING PHOTOS OF GRAVES OF THE DYKES:
11’30 Mar: I’d love to see anything that you’ve got, yes. …
13’10 THIS IS THE GRAVEYARD … SIX DEAD ALL TOGETHER
Ben: The lashkar that did this, lashkar means a gang, were from the Frontier – Mahsoud, probably some Wazirs thrown in too. The kind of chaps who wd hear about the possibility of loot, pick up their rifles and go straight off.
THESE ARE THE SORT OF PEOPLE THAT YOU WERE WORKING WITH FOR A FEW YEARS?
Well, they were the local inhabitants. Not the army, not the Frontier Scouts. They wouldn’t do that. But the local, the local people who lived in Waziristan … they are the ones who caused the trouble with Ipi, you see.
WERE YOU BASED IN WAZIRISTAN AT ALL?
Yes, oh yes. … I was part of the s Waziristan. The N Waziristan called themselves the Tochi Scouts. … The locals there were Wazirs in N Waziristan and Mahsouds in S Waziristan, and a certain amount of mixing too because they were all Pathan. And they all spoke Pashto, the same as our men did, but with slightly different … they had some strange words, that was interesting … [re Leeson, and reunions] …
Ben: [re what he believes happened on raid] This was a lashkar of looters, lashkar being a gang or party on the war path. And they wd be in search of loot. They wd be Mahsouds, Wazirs and other badmashes, that’s bad lots as you mights ay from the Frontier.
THE SORT OF PEOPLE YOU KNEW QUITE WELL, BECAUSE YOU’D BEEN BASED IN THE FRONTIER FOR QUITE A FEW YEARS.
… Yes, indeed. These are the local inhabitants in Waziristan, who took any opportunity of using their, picking up their rifles, and going to shoot up, preferably the army because they were a softer touch than the Scouts were … This laskhar wd have been hard, going hard for Srinagar, for Kashmir, in order to loot things. They’d have shot anybody who got in the way. Now I can see Tom, typical of a British officer, and I think I hope I might have done the same thing as well, saw these, heard about these chaps, and sd I’ll stop these fellows in a way that a British officer cd usually do in India, go up unarmed, and say look here stop this nonsense, and people wd stop. Now this didn’t work in Tom I’m afraid in Baramulla. The lashkar was on the trail of loot and they weren’t going to stop for anybody. Tom may not, undoubtedly was not dressed in uniform, so he may not have been recognised as a member of the British army, British Indian Army. And you can see this lashkar, all these young chaps, v enthusiastic with their arms in their hands, and any one of them, possibly more, wd have upped his rifle and shot him on the spot. I understand they were shot in the stomach, that is to say probably shot quickly, and disposed of at once because they were seen to be in the way. And that I think probably was in Tom’s mind – I will behave as a British officer, and I will go outside, and I will talk to these chaps and get them stopped. And it, well it just didn’t work in this case. … They didn’t normally shoot women unless that woman, if any, was opposing them in some way. Well, Biddy obviously was not doing that. In this case, she went out because she had seen her husband harmed, and she went out to go to his side. And they, just having shot Tom, probably may have thought that she was opposing them in so way, or just because she was in the way of loot, shot her as well.