Indian Army in the Early 20th Century: History, Memory and Empire

Join us for a one-day special conference exploring the experiences of soldiers and officers of the Indian Army before, during and after the First World War.

Exploring the experiences of the soldiers themselves, rather than the framework in which they served, this conference will centre the perspective and histories of Indian servicemen in the early 20th century.

Bringing together experts and new researchers from the National Army Museum, the UK Punjab Heritage Association and leading UK and US institutions, it will look to deepen understanding of the lives, service and legacies of Indian soldiers before, during and after the First World War.

Programme

9.30am–10.00am

Arrival, tea and coffee

10.00am–10.10am

Welcome and introduction

10.10am–10.40am

Opening talk

• Anna Lavelle (National Army Museum):
  'Paul Sarrut and the Indian Army: Drawing and Observing the Individual'

10.40am–11.40am

Panel 1: Recovering the Indian Soldier

Chaired by Dr Santanu Das

• Dr Emma Worrall (National Army Museum):
  'Medical Records of Indian soldiers During the First World War'
• Jasmin Basra (University of Greenwich):
  'Reclaiming Remembrance: Community-Led Memorialisation of the Indian Army in the First World War'
• George Williams (University of Greenwich):
  'Punjab and the War: Forgetting the Sepoy, Recovering the Sepoy'

11.40am–12.00pm

Break

12.00pm–1.45pm

Panel 2: The Indian Soldier: War and Its Aftermath

Chaired by Anna Lavelle

• Dr Alan Wakefield (Imperial War Museum):
  'From Basra to Baghdad and Beyond: The Indian Soldier in Mesopotamia, 1914–18'
• Dr Hilary Buxton (Kenyon College, USA):
  'Marmite, Bromide, Crutch and Boot: Bodily Experience from the Front to the Village'
• Dr Alan Jeffreys (National Army Museum):
  'Commissioning Indian Officers, 1917–20'

1.45pm–2.45pm

Lunch, plus optional tour of Sarrut exhibition

2.45pm–4.30pm

Panel 3: Voices of the Indian Soldier

Chaired by Dr Alan Jeffreys

• Dr Tejpal Ralmill (UK Punjab Heritage Association):
  '34th Sikh Pioneers and the First World War: Novel Approach from the Diary of Honorary Captain Kirpal Singh OBI'
• Dr David Omissi:
  'Writing Through Censorship: The Correspondence of Indian Soldiers in France, 1914–18'
• Rana TS Chhina MBE (United Service Institution of India):
  'Indian Voices: Unpublished Vernacular Memoirs of Indian Soldiers'

4.30pm–5.00pm

Closing reflection

• Dr Santanu Das (All Souls College, Oxford University)