Sikh Faces of the First World War: Paying Homage to the 'Tomb of the Unknown Warrior'.
Yesterday the UKPHA team met with the cross-governmental team leading the national commemorations for the First World War centenary in the UK at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. We were there to discuss our forthcoming project 'Empire, Faith and War: The Sikhs and World War One'.
We were amazed to see this enormous painting by Frank O Salisbury titled 'Indian Homage to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior' (1924) inside the halls of the magnificent George Gilbert Scott FCO building.
The very prominent Sikh (3rd left) is Subedar-Major Bir Singh 2Bt 8th Punjab regiment. Here he is one of the King's Orderly Officers alongside other Indian colleagues.
Bir Singh served with the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Punjab Regiment throughout the Great War. The 8th Punjabis have a most distinguished record of service during the First World War with the unique distinction of serving in more theatres of war than any other unit of the British Empire.
These included Aden, where they carried out the first opposed sea-borne assault landing in modern warfare, Egypt, Gallipoli, France, Mesopotamia, North-West Frontier Province, Salonika and Russian Transcaucasia. All battalions served in Mesopotamia, while 93rd Burma Infantry also served in France.
Join us in uncovering more stories and supporting and assisting our research as we embark on an exciting new project 'Empire, faith and War: The Sikhs and World War One'.
Picture credit: © estate of Frank O. Salisbury. All rights reserved, DACS 2013 photo credit: British Library