Hewitt's History Files

THE general feeling is that the fence was put up to protect the privacy of Indian soldiers being treated at Brighton's Royal Pavilion during its First World War use as a military hospital.

By The Newsroom

Published 6th Mar 2009, 09:10 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 04:01 BST

But it is also possible that the fence was there so the Indians would not see the slums on the eastern side of the Royal Pavilion- some of the worst in Brighton and indeed some of the worst in the country.

"It might have been to keep the Indians' pirvacy, but it might also have been to keep their candy-coated view of what England was really like!" explains Kevin Bacon, a man on the verge of one of the most fascinating tasks imaginable.

Kevin i scurator if photographs, Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton and Hove- and recipient of an 8,000 award from the Wellcome Trust to digitise its photographs.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette March 11