Indian Civil Service

In the west cloister of Westminster Abbey a memorial commemorates those who served in the Indian Civil Service from 1858 to 1947, the period of direct British rule.

The memorial, of white Roman stone set against a black marble background, was designed by Stephen Dykes Bower, the Abbey's Surveyor of the Fabric, and unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II in 1958.  

Its inscription reads:

1858 1947 Here are commemorated the Civil Services of the Crown in India. Let them not be forgotten for they served India well. "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy"

A small additional tablet below the memorial is inscribed:

This memorial tablet was unveiled by Her Majesty The Queen 6 March 1958.

At the top centre is a sculpted and coloured achievement of the Royal arms, flanked by the badges of the two British orders of chivalry associated with India: the Order of the Indian Empire (left), and the Order of the Star of India (right).

The biblical quotation is from the Old Testament book of Micah. Dr Eric Abbott, who became Dean of Westminster in the year after the memorial's installation, regretted that the scripture verse had been shortened. In full the quotation would have read "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God". Although Dean Abbott was not alone in his concern at the omission, the Indian Civil Service (Retired) Association, who had paid for the monument, did not allow the original inscription to be changed.