The University of Greenwich will host a CWGC funded PhD research project to help ensure all Indian soldiers who died fighting for the British Empire are commemorated equally. Approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers served in the First World War and more than 74,000 died; although unique challenges were faced on battlefields outside Europe, it is now known that many Indian casualties of the Middle East and Mesopotamia campaigns were treated unequally; many Indian soldiers who died at home were not commemorated at all.
Funding for this important PhD, the first of its kind to be provided by CWGC, will run under joint supervision with initial research focused on a collection of important historical documents known as the Punjab Registers, which are archived at the Lahore Museum. These documents, which have recently been digitised and transcribed by the University of Greenwich and the UK Punjab Heritage Association, provide an important and unique record of more than 300,000 men who served with the Indian Army during the First World War.
In 2021 the CWGC’s Non-Commemoration Programme was given a clear mandate by the UK government to find the names of the missing dead and work with communities to find appropriate forms of commemoration. This work is well underway, with advance stage programmes running in Kenya, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and Southern Africa.
Dr George Hay, Official Historian of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said:
“We are delighted to partner with the University of Greenwich to ensure we can fully understand the remarkable collection of material that makes up the Punjab Registers – an archival source that documents the names and service histories of around 320,000 Punjabi recruits, many thousands of whom died and are not believed to be commemorated by name.
"It is not only soldiers, but thousands of others who lost their lives in Indian Army service, including cooks, cleaners, and labourers; this newly funded post will provide unparalleled insights into all those who served on behalf of the British empire, allowing us to provide a fuller account of their service, experience and bravery, and – where it is currently lacking – give them the named commemoration they deserve. Though we cannot know for sure at this stage, it is possible this work might add up to 10,000 names to the CWGC’s casualty database.”
Professor Gavin Rand, University of Greenwich added:
“The Punjab Registers provide remarkable insights into the Indian Army’s rank and file, helping us to make sense of those who served as soldiers and labourers – and to identify those whose deaths were not properly commemorated at the time. This scholarship will not only enable us to better understand who enlisted and why they did so, it will also make an important contribution to addressing the historical shortcomings acknowledged by the Commission. We are delighted to be part of this important and timely work.”
The researcher will form part of a global team already exploring different aspects of Indian commemoration with academics from the University of Essex and University of Kent, as well as researchers working on behalf of the CWGC in Indian state archives. Today’s partnership marks an important further step in ensuring all those who are entitled are commemorated as they should have been 100 years ago.
