Jean Thomas has collected photographs of her family and also worked on researching about 1857. She plans to digitise the images to store them for future generations.
Did she hear about an Irish woman, Sofi, who ran a brothel in Meerut and who many historians believe was one of the first people to instigate Indian soldiers to revolt after the British jailed their fellow sepoys on May 9, 1857 for refusing to obey their superiors' orders?
"Yes, I have heard of Sofi," she says. "But there is no proof of her brothel today nor any material evidence left to prove her existence in Meerut."
In the town, Sofi lives on only in these words. There is no other link to her. The army is now based in the area where many people believe she used to live.
"I remember as a child my father used to sometimes discuss the mutiny with me, as his father used to tell him about those days," she recalls.
"This was not just my growing up experience in India but every other British home whose family witnessed the mutiny," she adds.
"Every British child in those days heard about these stories in their families."
Image: Major General Thomas with some family photographs
Photograph: Dominic Xavier
Also see:
Bahadur Shah's remains won't be shifted to India
'Youth unaware of freedom fighters' sacrifices'
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