'Taj Mahal Hotel, Bombay', 1938 (c)

Photograph, 1938 (c).

The Taj Mahal Hotel, opened in 1903, was converted into a 600-bed military hospital during World War One (1914-1918). Australian and New Zealand medical personnel were deployed to India to attend casualties including service personnel who were wounded or fell ill in Mesopotamia.

In November 2008 the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was among the targets attacked by the militant Islamist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, resulting in a four-day siege that left around 30 people dead.

From an album of 270 photographs compiled by Sergeant George Edward Davies, 2nd Battalion South Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) depicting British Army life in India, 1935-1941. Davies was later killed on 1 April 1945 whilst serving in Burma, and is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery.