The website
This website focuses on my father, John Hislop, and his life as an officer in the Indian Army. My audience for this website is primarily my family, friends and other life historians, and not necessarily the military historian nor the regiment.
My mother, Edith Hislop, a somewhat absent presence here, will have her story told elsewhere. Indeed, the website is the first manifestation of a number of methods that will be used to tell my family's story, such as family memoir, biography and creative writing.
The rationale for acting as a narrator of my family's past is that in 2005 it is twelve years since my father’s death, nine since my mother’s death and six since my sister’s; there were no other children so I feel that I am the sole custodian of the family story and the keeper of their past. And I have more than just my memories; in 1993 shortly before he died my father wrote a 180,000-word memoir of the years he spent as a British officer in the Indian Army.
As well as possessing many family photographs, I also have over a hundred photographs of his life in India. All the photographs in the website come from my private collection; however, some of the photos of pre-war India are from an old photo album of my father's that I have inherited, and it is likely that not all were taken by my father. I would be very pleased if anyone recognising authorship would get in touch with me. I would also like to express my grateful thanks to Richard Hislop, my uncle and John's younger brother, for all his help and encouragement in my quest to tell my father's story.
The website is very much part of a personal journey of discovery I am taking as I move from seeing my father as old and set in his ways to understanding the young man he was and more important, why he became the man I knew as my father.
If you would like more information on my father you may contact me at penny@bn9.co.uk
The website is best viewed through Internet Explorer
