Craster Family Home Movies — extracts

c1933

The Craster family home movies offer a charming snapshot of filmmaker George and daughter Mary at home at Jotwara, Rajasthan. Colonel George Craster had a long and distinguished career in the Indian Army and was first commissioned in 1898. He retired in 1930 and became Chief Staff Officer of Jaipur State where these films were taken.

The films also feature the Craster family menagerie — Baba (a bull terrier), Vanya (a cross-bred ‘mistake’ — born of the union between the Maharajah's pedigree Alsation and a Borzoi!) and Mus (Mary's first pony). There was also a rather larger and more occasional ‘pet’ in the form of Lakshmi, one of the Maharajah of Jaipur's elephants who often came to the house to provide a rather exclusive ride for Mary.