Refugee Camp at Nampong

Film document of a true act of heroism in the wake of a Namphuk River flood

This amateur film documents a genuine act of heroism in the face of disaster. It was made by Gyles Mackrell, a tea planter and big-game hunter who lived in India from the mid-1930s to the late-1950s. During WWII, Mackrell was involved in rescuing refugees fleeing Upper Burma before the Japanese advance. He and a group of Indian workers - together with a team of elephants - saved the lives of more than 60 people trapped on an island in the Namphuk River, living on grass rations for a week before their rescue. Shortly afterwards the island was washed away by the floodwater. Mackrell was awarded the George Medal for his bravery. Sir John Rowland was a railway engineer who had worked in Burma.

Mackrell's amateur films provide some of the clearest records of the adventurous life that many British entrepreneurs and military personnel forged for themselves in colonial India.