Sir John Laing Missionary Films Delhi & The North

Grand buildings and missionary work come together in the 1947 Indian tour of construction magnate John W. Laing.

The structures of North India fascinate construction magnate and missionary John W. Laing, including the large scale astronomy instruments of Jantar Mantar, founded in 1723. Today, Jantar Mantar lies at a traffic hub and is the meeting point for New Delhi protests. Laing captures missionary life: church services, a school for poor children with a white female teacher, and a doctor tending to the sick.

The Indians John Laing captures are equally interested – not in him – but in the technology he is using, particularly the camera and the car. It is likely this footage was shot in early 1947, before Independence and Partition. Preti Taneja