Sikh Faces of the First World War: Prisoner of War.
Looking pensive and uncertain, this poignant portrait of Risaldar Ajaib Singh Sarkaria was remarkably taken while he was a prisoner of war at Konya in Turkey.
Ajaib Singh was a senior cavalryman of the 7th Hariana Lancers. He arrived in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and some surrounding territories) with his regiment on 9 March 1915 and fought in the vicious three-day battle of Shaiba fought in an attempt to capture Basra.
His regiment was besieged in the Iraqi town of Kut-Al-Amara by the Ottomans in 1916. He was one of the few that were captured after a protracted and ugly siege, and most likely forced to march the 1000 kilomtres to Allepo in Syria before being shipped to Turkey.
We do not know his ultimate fate during the war and hope that a relative is out there who can help us discover hsi fate.
Join us in uncovering more stories and supporting and assisting our research as UKPHA embarks on an exciting new project 'Empire, Faith and War: The Sikhs and World War One'.