John Masters (1914–1983) was an English officer in the British Indian Army and novelist. His works are noted for their treatment of the British Empire in India. 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Inter. ... The Indian Army in the time of the British Raj (1857–1947) See Indian Army for the post-independence (and post-partition) army of the Republic of India. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... The British Raj was a historical period during which the Indian subcontinent, or present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were under the colonial authority of the British; also included from 1886 was Burma. ...

Life

Masters was educated at Wellington and Sandhurst, the son of a Lieutenant-Colonel whose family had a long tradition of service in the British Army in India. He joined the army in 1933 and was posted to a Gurkha regiment. He saw service in the north-west Frontier and was rapidly promoted. At the outbreak of World War II his regiment was sent to North Africa and he served in the desert and in Iran and Iraq in the capacity as Adjutant. Later in the war Masters was sent to Staff College at Quetta. Here he met the wife of a fellow officer and began an affair. They were later to marry, this was cause for a small scandal at the time. After Staff College he joined a Chindit battalion and served behind the Japanese lines in Burma. His brigade (the 111 brigade) was ordered by General Lentaigne to hold a position code-named ‘Blackpool’. The position was attacked with great intensity for seventeen days, eventually the brigade was forced to withdraw. These events Masters later wrote about in the second volume of his autobiography The Road Past Mandalay. He also described how he gave the order to shoot 19 of his own men, casualties who had no hope of recovery or rescue. Wellington College, Berkshire, the national monument to the Duke of Wellington, is an English public school, which was granted its royal charter in 1853. ... The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (commonly known as Sandhurst) is the British Army officer initial training centre. ... Insignia of a United States Lieutenant Colonel Insignia of a British Army Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant Colonel (usually Lieutenant-Colonel in Britain) is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and marine corps (and some air forces) of Commonwealth countries and the United States superior to Major and subordinate to... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... It has been suggested that Brigade of Gurkhas be merged into this article or section. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atom bomb. ... North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... In the military, an adjutant is a regimental staff officer, who assists the colonel, or commanding officer of a garrison or regiment, in the details of regimental and garrison duty. ... Quetta is the capital of the province Balochistan in Pakistan. ... The Chindits (Officially in 1942 77th Indian Infantry Brigade and in 1943 3rd Indian Infantry Division) were a British jungle Special Forces unit that served in Burma from 1943 until 1945 as part of the Fourteenth Army during the Burma Campaign in World War II. They were formed into long... Major General Walter David Alexander Lentaigne (1899-1955) British Indian Army - often known as Joe Lentaigne. ...

At the end of the war Masters left the army and attempted to set up a business promoting walking tours in the Himalayas, one of his hobbies. The business was not a success and to make ends meet he decided to write of his experiences in the army. His novels proved popular and he became a full time writer and moved to the United States. His third autobiographical volume was "Pilgrim Son", the first volume Bugles and a Tiger deals with events up to his unit's move to Iraq in 1941. Perspective view of the Himalaya and Mount Everest as seen from space looking south-south-east from over the Tibetan Plateau. ...

In later life, Masters and his wife Barbara moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA. He died in 1983 from complications following heart surgery. His family and friends scattered his ashes from an aeroplane over the mountain trails he loved to hike. State nickname: Land of Enchantment Other U.S. States Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Governor Bill Richardson (D) Senators Pete Domenici (R) Jeff Bingaman (D) Official language(s) English and Spanish Area 315,194 km² (5th)  - Land 314,590 km²  - Water 607 km² (0. ...

"A regimented life" by John Clay was published by Michael Joseph in 1992. This biography of John Masters is now out of print.

Works

Apart from the autobiographical works (mentioned above), Masters is also known for his historical novels set in India. The best known of these is Bhowani Junction which concerns the Partition of India and the Anglo-Indian community. It was made into a film. Its main character is called Savage and Masters was to use the surname again in a series of novels in an attempt to trace the entire history of the British in India through one family. Unsurprisingly, considering the subject, his works are not without their critics, many of whom think his work to be revisionist or non-critical of the Empire. He has even been described as an apologist for the Empire. The critic Ronald Brydon has stated 'For [me], the saga of the Savages, heroes and conquistadors of the Raj, was a political pornography in which [I] savoured the illicit sensualities of imperialism.' Others have detected a greater sophistication in his dealings with the British Empire than simple revisionism. Another recurrent theme in his work is Rock climbing. In the fifties and sixties his books sold in large numbers, particularly Bhowani Junction. Now most, if not all, of his works are out of print. A historical novel is a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... Bhowani Junction is a 1952 novel by John Masters, which became the basis of a successful 1956 film. ... Britains holdings on the Indian subcontinent were granted independence in 1947 and 1948, becoming four new independent states: India, Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and Pakistan (including East Pakistan, modern-day Bangladesh). ... Anglo-Indians are persons who have descended from a mix of British and Indian parentage. ... Climbers on Valkyrie at the Roaches. ...

Publications

• Nightrunners of Bengal
• The Deceivers
• The Lotus and the Wind
• Bhowani Junction
• Coromandel!
• Far, Far the Mountain Peak
• The Venus of Konpara
• To the Coral Strand
• Bugles and a Tiger, a personal adventure
• The Road Past Mandalay, a personal narrative.
• Now, God be thanked, ISBN 0070407819, Part 1 of a trilogy about World War I
• Heart of War, ISBN 0070407827, Part 2 of the trilogy
• By the Green of the Spring, ISBN 0070407835, Part 3 of the trilogy