Records of Indian soldiers who served in WWI in British Indian Army released for 1st time

The detailed records of at least 3,20,000 soldiers from undivided Punjab who served in World War I have been uncovered for the first time in ‘Punjab Registers’. Ahead of the world observing 'Remembrance Sunday' on 14 November, the names and details of half a million World War One (WWI) soldiers have been uncovered, providing fresh information regarding the allied war effort and valuable information about the British Indian Army troops from Punjab, before partition. 

Citing an official release by UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA), ANI reported that the records of hundreds of thousands of Indian Army soldiers from undivided Punjab have been disclosed for the first time after they lay in a forgotten archive. 

Punjabis across all faiths including Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs made up for around a third of the British Indian Army during WWI even though they amounted to less than 8% of the population of British India at the time. UKPHA said, “That equates to one-sixth of all the Empire's overseas forces hailing from Punjab making their contribution larger than that of Australia. And yet until now, very little was known about them, in most cases, not even their names.”

World War I ended in 1919 and the then Punjab Government had put together a series of registers that listed the names and information of each man that had served in the British Indian Army but the records remained “unresearched for almost a century.” Named the ‘Punjab Registers’, it reportedly comprised of at least 26,000 pages listing over 300,000 individual names. The records even consisted of village-by-village data on the war service and pensions of Punjabi recruits, family background, rank and regiment. 

'They offer a detailed breakdown of the recruiting practices of the Indian Army a century ago and into the individual soldiers revealing insights into their occupational, social, political and faith backgrounds. In some cases, they also detail the awards they received and the far-flung theatres of war that they served in, and from which at least 15,000 did not return,' the release said.

It is also pertinent to note that while historians and the descendants of UK and Irish soldiers had the option of searching public databases of service records, there was no such facility for the families of Indian soldiers who served during WWI until the latest revelation. The records have been digitised and published just in time for Armistice day on Thursday. 

Registers give new information on colonial casualties 

UKPHA also said that the Punjab Registers offer new information on colonial casualties and help to correct the omissions in the historical record identified by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). It added, “They also help us to understand why Punjab was so badly affected by the influenza pandemic which raged across the globe from 1918 and which was largely brought back by returning soldiers. The Registers have been tracked down and are being painstakingly digitised by volunteers from the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA)” while noting that the project is a collaboration with the University of Greenwich which has also helped fund a new website.

(IMAGE: @UKPHA/Twitter)

(With ANI inputs)