This Day in History: 1951-09-03

The Regimental Journal reported ‘As gold is considerably cheaper in Malaya than India, the men invest a large portion of their savings into gold ornaments which are exempt from Indian customs duty’. (Until 1972 Gurkhas travelling to and from Nepal on recruitment, leave or retirement passed through the Brigade of Gurkhas Transit Camps at Barrackpore, near Calcutta, or (until 1959) Lehra in Uttar Pradesh. After 1972 they travelled direct by air to Kathmandu.)

In the 1950s, many Gurkha wives in Nepal carried the family wealth on their person in the form of gold ornaments