Join us for the fourth Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies’ Spotlight Talk featuring Dr Tejpal Ralmill and Professor Gavin Rand. In this talk, they will introduce the ‘Punjab Registers’ – a unique collection of archival records which reveal the scale of India’s ‘contribution’ to the First World War. Housed in the Lahore Museum, the Punjab Registers detail the names, biographies and service histories of some 320,000 recruits from colonial Punjab. As part of a project undertaken by the UK Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) and the University of Greenwich, the Registers have recently been digitised and transcribed – and a sample made available at: www.punjabww1.com. The digitised Registers – all of which will be available online in due course – provide a unique resource for academic historians, as well as for genealogists and family historians, particularly those from the global Punjabi diaspora. Tej and Gavin will discuss their work on the Registers to date and the next steps for their project, as well as reflecting on what the Registers tell us about the complex, and sometimes controversial, legacies of empire in the twenty-first century. Dr Tejpal Singh Ralmill works as a GP in London. Tej’s great-grandfather, Subadar-Major Bawa Singh of the 23rd Sikh Pioneers, was a veteran of the First World War. The UKPHA team located his service record in the Punjab Registers and, since then, Tej has used the registers to help many other Punjabis to research their FWW ancestors. Tej is also one of the community curators of the acclaimed Indian Army at the Palace exhibition at Hampton Court Palace (https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/whats-on/the-indian-army-at-the-palace/#gs.e58cb1). The exhibition, which runs until September 2025, focuses on the Indian Army’s Coronation and Peace Contingents visits to Britain in the early 20th century. Professor Gavin Rand is Professor of History at the University of Greenwich, London. Gavin’s research examines the history of the military in colonial South Asia, focussing on the people, institutions and ideas which shaped imperial military power. A cultural historian by training, Gavin has previously written on changing ideas of race, imperial recruiting strategies and the history of colonial frontiers. Gavin is the academic lead for the Punjab Registers project – a collaboration with the UK Punjab Heritage Association, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, National Army Museum and Ancestry.com.

An email with the Zoom webinar link will be sent by 17.00 GMT on 22 October 2024.