Author: Michael Noble

One in six: the Indian subcontinent and the First World War

Michael Noble

Our colleagues at Voices of War and Peace have been working with The National Archives to plan the following events that many of you will find of great interest. Both sessions will take place at Library of Birmingham.

640px-33rd_Punjabi_Army_(Commander_Punjabi_Subadar)_by_A_C_Lovett

One hundred years ago, undivided India provided Britain with a massive volunteer army in its hour of need. From 1914-1918 close to 1.5 million Indians served, fighting in all the major theatres of war from Flanders Fields in Belgium to the Mesopotamian oil fields of present day Iraq. One in six of the service personnel under British command was from the Indian subcontinent. Because of this there are many connections to be made between Britain’s South Asian communities and this landmark conflict.

Talk: Indian soldiers, the British Army and the First World War

Wednesday 15 April 2015, 12.00-13.00, Heritage Learning Space, Floor 4

William Spencer – Principal Military Specialist, The National Archives

Jahan Mahmood – Independent military historian.

What was the contribution of Indian soldiers to the British Army in the First World War?

Further information:  nationalarchives.gov.uk/Birmingham-fww

Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/one-in-six-the-indian-subcontinent-and-the-first-world-war-tickets-16016214930

 

Drop-in session: your heritage, your history with The National Archives

Wednesday 15 April 2015, 13.00-16.00, Book Rotunda

Do you have family stories about India and the First World War that you would like to share? Would you like to find out how to research your own family or community’s First World War stories? This informal drop in session is designed to offer something for everyone who has an interest in the First World War from a South Asian perspective. Bring your photographs, medals, documents or just your questions to us so we can all help tell the story of this amazing contribution. Come along and meet the team from The National Archives and Asian community groups who can help you to explore your First World War heritage.

Booking: No need to book, just turn up

Military Boots Project: Update

Michael Noble

2Many of you will recall the Military Boots project that we blogged about last October. The project, which was led by Nottinghamshire artist Joy Pitts, invited people to stitch names of soldiers from the First World War into strips of cotton, which she would arrange into a coherent image of a pair of military boots. The blog was one of our most popular and it was clear that Joy’s project attracted a lot of interest.

The project has now been completed and you can see some images of the finished piece below.

The artwork will be exhibited at Lace Market Gallery, 25 Stoney Street, Nottingham NG1 1LP from the 23rd April to the 13th May 2015. The gallery is open Monday to Friday, 10am-4pm term time only

www.ncn.ac.uk/gallery

 

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From Bombay to the Western Front

Michael Noble

On Tuesday evening, I attended a commemorative event at the Imperial War Museum North. It had been organised to reflect on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, which was the first major offensive to involve the British Indian Army.

Among the speakers at the event was Dr Santanu Das, of the English department at Kings College London. Dr Das, who is an expert in the culture and literature of the First World War, made the argument that while the First World War is often defined as the ‘clash of empires’, it could equally be defined as a watershed event in the history of cultural encounters in Europe.

Dr Das has been leading an international and interdisciplinary team of researchers and a number of cultural institutions across Europe to illuminate and examine this question during the centennial years of the war’s commemoration.

In this film we see how Dr Das has partnered with Imperial War Museum, London, In Flanders Fields Museum, Ypres, and the Museum of European Culture, Berlin to scour their (and many other) vast archives for letters, photographs, literary texts, sketches, artefacts, newspapers, and audio recordings. We see how all these sources are being brought together to be examined side-by-side, in order to piece together a fuller picture of the experience of the Indian troops and labourers, and the Europeans who they came into contact with.