1.
East India Company
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The company also ruled the beginnings of the British Empire in India. The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December 1600, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the Companys shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect control, during its first century of operation the focus of the Company was trade, not the building of an empire in India. The company eventually came to rule large areas of India with its own armies, exercising military power. Despite frequent government intervention, the company had recurring problems with its finances, the official government machinery of British India had assumed its governmental functions and absorbed its armies. Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean, one of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin to the Malay Peninsula and returned to England in 1594. In 1596, three ships sailed east, however, these were all lost at sea. Two days later, on 24 September, the Adventurers reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project, the Adventurers convened again a year later. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Anybody who traded in breach of the charter without a licence from the Company was liable to forfeiture of their ships and cargo, the governance of the company was in the hands of one governor and 24 directors or committees, who made up the Court of Directors. They, in turn, reported to the Court of Proprietors, ten committees reported to the Court of Directors. According to tradition, business was transacted at the Nags Head Inn, opposite St Botolphs church in Bishopsgate. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601, in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. Early in 1608 Alexander Sharpeigh was appointed captain of the Companys Ascension, thereafter two ships, Ascension and Union sailed from Woolwich on 14 March 1607–8. Initially, the company struggled in the trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company. The company opened a factory in Bantam on the first voyage, the factory in Bantam was closed in 1683. During this time belonging to the company arriving in India docked at Surat. In the next two years, the company established its first factory in south India in the town of Machilipatnam on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal
2.
British Raj
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The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
3.
British Indian Army
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The Indian Army was the principal army of India before independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of both British India and the Princely states, which could also have their own armies. The Indian Army was an important part of the British Empires forces, the term Indian Army appears to have been first used informally, as a collective description of the Presidency armies of the Presidencies of British India, particularly after the Indian Rebellion. The first army officially called the Indian Army was raised by the government of India in 1895, however, in 1903 the Indian Army absorbed these three armies. The Indian Army should not be confused with the Army of India which was the Indian Army itself plus the British Army in India, before 1858, the precursor units of the Indian Army were units controlled by the Company and were paid for by their profits. These operated alongside units of the British Army, funded by the British government in London. Many of these took part in the Indian Mutiny, with the aim of reinstating the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II at Delhi. The meaning of the term Indian Army has changed over time, The officer commanding the Army of India was the Commander-in-Chief, the title was used before the creation of a unified British Indian Army, the first holder was Major General Stringer Lawrence in 1748. By the early 1900s the Commander-in-Chief and his staff were based at GHQ India, Indian Army postings were less prestigious than British Army positions, but the pay was significantly greater so that officers could live on their salaries instead of having to have a private income. Accordingly, vacancies in the Indian Army were much sought after and generally reserved for the higher placed officer-cadets graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. British officers in the Indian Army were expected to learn to speak the Indian languages of their men, prominent British Indian Army officers included Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, Claude Auchinleck and William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim. Commissioned officers, British and Indian, held identical ranks to commissioned officers of the British Army, Kings Commissioned Indian Officers, created from the 1920s, held equal powers to British officers. Viceroys Commissioned Officers were Indians holding officer ranks and they were treated in almost all respects as commissioned officers, but had authority over Indian troops only, and were subordinate to all British Kings Commissioned Officers and KCIOs. They included Subedar Major or Risaldar-Major, equivalents to a British Major, Subedar or Risaldar equivalents to Captain, recruitment was entirely voluntary, about 1.75 million men served in the First World War, many on the Western Front and 2.5 million in the Second. Soldier ranks included Sepoys or Sowars, equivalent to a British private, British Army ranks such as gunner and sapper were used by other corps. In the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny. The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own Commander-in-Chief, overall operational control was exercised by the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies. From 1861, most of the manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps
4.
Indian Army during World War I
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The Indian Army during World War I contributed a large number of divisions and independent brigades to the European, Mediterranean and the Middle East theatres of war in World War I. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died, in total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German Empire in German East Africa, at the First Battle of Ypres, Khudadad Khan became the first Indian to be awarded a Victoria Cross. Indian divisions were sent to Egypt, Gallipoli and nearly 700,000 served in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire. While some divisions were sent overseas others had to remain in India guarding the North West Frontier and on internal security, field-Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from 1942 asserted that the British couldnt have come through both wars if they hadnt had the Indian Army. Herbert Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India in 1902 and after five years, the reforms now directed that there would be only one Indian Army, the three armies of the Presidencies being merged into a unified force. At the same time, the regiments of the Princely states were made available to be called out to become Imperial Service Troops, the British Army also continued to supply units for service in India, in addition to those of the Indian Army. The term Army of India was instituted to refer to the command structure which included both the British and Indian Army units. The Indian Army was also responsible for supplying a division in Burma, to assist command and control of the new divisions, two field armies were formed— the Northern Army and the Southern Army. The regiments and battalions of the new organisation would be numbered in a sequence and the old titles of the Bombay, Madras. One change that was not accepted was the formation of all-British or all-Indian brigades and it was regularly called upon to deal with incursions and raids on the North West Frontier and to provide garrison forces for the British Empire in Egypt, Singapore and China. The two armies contained 39 cavalry regiments,138 infantry battalions, a joint cavalry-infantry unit the Corps of Guides, the nine divisions formed by these reforms each consisted of one cavalry and three infantry brigades. The cavalry brigade had one British and two Indian regiments while the infantry consisted of one British and three Indian battalions. Indian Army battalions were smaller than the British battalions, consisting of 30 officers and 723 other ranks as compared to the British 29 officers and 977 other ranks, Indian battalions were often segregated, with companies of different tribes, castes or religions. Additional troops attached to the headquarters of each included a cavalry regiment. Each division had about 13,000 men on strength, somewhat weaker than a British division in part due to the infantry battalions. The Indian Army was also weakened when 500 British officers on home leave, in addition to the regular Indian Army, the armies of the Princely States and regiments of the Auxiliary Force could also be called upon to assist in an emergency. The Princely States formed the Imperial Service Brigades and in 1914, had 22,613 men in 20 cavalry regiments and 14 infantry battalions, by the end of the war 26,000 men had served overseas on Imperial Service
5.
Bengal Army
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The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. In 1895 all three armies were merged into the Indian Army. The Bengal Army originated with the establishment of a European Regiment in 1756, in 1757 the first locally recruited unit of Bengal sepoys was created in the form of the Lal Paltan battalion. It was recruited from Bhumihar, Bihari Rajputs and Pathan soldiers that had served in the Nawabs Army from Bihar, there were actually no soldiers from the modern Bengal region. Drilled and armed along British army lines this force served well at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and 20 more Indian battalions were raised by 1764. In 1824 the Bengal Army underwent reorganisation, with the infantry being grouped into 68 single battalion regiments numbered according to their date of establishment. Nine additional infantry regiments were raised, though several existing units were disbanded between 1826 and 1843. On the eve of the First Afghan War the Bengal Army had achieved a dominant role in the forces of the HEIC, there were 74 battalions of Bengal regular infantry against only 52 from Madras,26 from Bombay and 24 British. A new feature in the Bengal Army was the creation of irregular infantry and cavalry regiments during the 1840s and these were permanently established units but with less formal drill and fewer British officers than the regular Bengal line regiments. The main source of recruitment continued to be high caste Brahmins and Rajputs from Bihar and Oudh, during the 1840s and early 1850s numbers of Nepalese Gurkhas and Sikhs from the Punjab were however accepted in the Bengal Army. Both Gurkhas and Sikhs served in separate units but some of the latter were incorporated into existing Bengal infantry regiments, two of these BNI regiments were serving in China in 1857 and so escaped any involvement in the great rebellion of that year. A total of 64 Bengal Army regular infantry and cavalry regiments rebelled during the Indian Mutiny, from 1858 onwards the actual high-caste Awadhi and Bihari Hindu presence in the Bengal Army was reduced because of their perceived primary role as mutineers in the 1857 rebellion. A largely unspoken rationale was that an army of diverse origins was unlikely to unite in rebellion, in 1895 the three separate Presidency Armies were abolished and the Army of India was divided into four commands, each commanded by a lieutenant-general. These comprised Madras, Punjab, Bengal and Bombay, the Bengal infantry units in existence at the end of the Presidency era continued as the senior regiments (1st Brahmans to 48th Pioneers of the newly unified Indian Army. Prior to 1857, and despite the name, the actual ethnic Bengali presence was minimal to non-existent, the Bengal Army of the East India Company was mainly recruited from high castes living in Bihar and the Awadh, especially Bihari Rajputs and Bhumihars who were referred to as Purbiyas. Governor Generals Bodyguard 1st to 10th Bengal Light Cavalry Regiments, eight of these regular regiments mutinied and two were disbanded during 1857–58. None were carried over into the post-Mutiny army, 1st to 4th Bengal European Light Cavalry Regiments. Recruited hastily in Britain in November 1857 to replace the eight regiments of Bengal Light Cavalry which had mutinied, the mention of European in the name indicated that it consisted of white soldiers rather than Indian sowars
6.
Bengal Native Infantry
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The first Native battalion was raised by the East India Company in 1757 and by the start of 1857 there were 74 regiments of Bengal Native Infantry in the Bengal Army. The traditional formation of British and Presidency armies regiments was by a hierarchy in which the 1st Regiment was the oldest, in 1764 however, the Bengal Native Infantry regiments were renumbered in the order of the seniority of their captain. In 1885, the word Native was dropped from the titles of all units in the Bengal Army. Bengal Native Infantry regiments typically consisted of 1,000 privates,120 non-commissioned officers,20 native commissioned officers,2 British sergeants and 26 British commissioned officers. Regiments were commanded by a lieutenant-colonel and were divided into 10 companies, each regiment was assigned an adjutant, an interpreter and a quartermaster. The majority of recruits for the Bengal Native Infantry in the leading up to the Mutiny were from the districts of Oude. In addition, soldiers who did not mutiny when the rest of their regiment did so joined units such as The Lucknow Regiment or The Loyal Purbiah Regiment. During the Indian Mutiny all but twelve of the seventy-four regular Bengal Native Infantry regiments either mutinied, were disarmed, or disbanded peacefully and those that mutinied engaged in armed conflict with their officers, other East India Company forces or British Army units. The executions were carried out either by hanging, by firing squad or by blowing from a gun, mutinying regiments officially ceased to exist and their place in the Order of precedence of the Bengal Army was taken by another unit. Brigadier General Nicholson was doubtful of their loyalty and was unwilling to take these regiments to Delhi. As the Moveable Column made its way to Phillour the 52nd Regiment of Foot, when the 35th BNI arrived at the camping ground they found themselves surrounded on three sides by the 52nd Regiment of Foot and covered by the guns of the artillery. Brigadier General Nicholson then informed Colonel Younghusband, the commanding officer, – this order was complied with peacefully. The scene was repeated a short time later when the 33rd BNI arrived at the camping ground, two regiments of BNI were serving in China at the time of the outbreak and remained unaffected. Section 56 of the Government of India Act stated, LVI, there was then a second renumbering of the regiments the same year as a result of transferring four regiments to the Goorkha list. The post-1861 Bengal Native Infantry therefore consisted of 45 regiments, in many cases these units maintain the traditions and retain the battle honours of their antecedent regiments. The Jat Regiment also traces its lineage to the pre-1857 43rd, the regiment retains the battle honours of its antecedent units. The Sikh Regiment traces its lineage back to the post-1861 14th, 15th and 45th regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, the regiment retains the battle honours and some traditions of its antecedent units. 6th Battalion, The Punjab Regiment directly traces its lineage to the post-1861 20th regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, the Punjab Regiment does not retain any battle honours gained before Pakistans independence
7.
India Medal
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The India Medal was a campaign medal approved in 1896 for issue to officers and men of the British and Indian armies. The India Medal was awarded for minor military campaigns in India. This medal replaced the India General Service Medal, each campaign was represented by a clasp on the ribbon, seven were sanctioned. The ribbon pattern was red, green, red, green, afghan Wars and the North-West Frontier 1839-1947 Cassell. ISBN 0-304-36294-8 Mackay, J. and Mussel, J. - Medals Yearbook -2006, joslin, Litherland, and Simpkin, British Battles and Medals, Spink Wilkinson-Latham, Robert. ISBN 0-85045-275-9 Victorian Medals Indian General Service Medal 1895 -1908 retrieved June 4,2007
8.
Indian Army during World War II
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For other periods, see British Indian Army The Indian Army during World War II began the war, in 1939, numbering just under 200,000 men. By the end of the war, it had become the largest volunteer army in history, serving in divisions of infantry, armour and a fledgling airborne force, they fought on three continents in Africa, Europe and Asia. The Indian Army fought in Ethiopia against the Italian Army, in Egypt, Libya and these campaigns cost the lives of over 87,000 Indian servicemen, while another 34,354 were wounded, and 67,340 became prisoners of war. Their valour was recognised with the award of some 4,000 decorations, Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from 1942, asserted that the British couldnt have come through both wars if they hadnt had the Indian Army. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also paid tribute to The unsurpassed bravery of Indian soldiers and officers, there was no shortage of manpower to call upon, but the army did suffer from a shortage of skilled technical personnel. The conversion of the force into a mechanised tank force had only just begun and was hampered by the inability to supply adequate numbers of tanks. In 1939, British officials had no plan for expansion and training of Indian forces and their mission was internal security and defence against a possible Russian threat through Afghanistan. As the war progressed, the size and role of the Indian Army expanded dramatically, the most serious problem was lack of equipment. The Indian Army of 1939 was different from the Indian Army during World War I, it had reformed in 1922. Overall, the army was reduced to 21 cavalry regiments and 107 infantry battalions, the field army now consisted of four infantry divisions and five cavalry brigades. In the 1930s, the Indian Army began a programme of modernisation—they now had their own artillery—the Indian Artillery Regiment—and the cavalry had started to mechanise. By 1936, the Indian Army had committed to supplying in wartime a brigade each for Singapore, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, Burma and two for Egypt. But, by 1939, further reductions had reduced the Indian Army to 18 cavalry regiments and 96 infantry battalions, there were twenty two regular regiments of cavalry, which supplied armoured and armoured car units. There were twenty regular Indian regiments of infantry and ten Gurkha regiments, before the war, all the Indian regiments had at least two battalions, and most had more. The Gurkha regiments had two battalions each, during the war, the Gurkha regiments raised a further two battalions each, while the Indian regiments raised up to fifteen each. Two further regiments were created during the war, the Indian Army started World War II underprepared and short of modern weapons and equipment. It had not expected to be involved in any hostilities and had been advised after the outbreak of war in Europe, by the British government and these new divisions were primarily intended to be used in the defence of Malaya and Iraq. The 3rd Indian Motor Brigade, from the division, was to go to Egypt
9.
Indian Rebellion of 1857
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The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against British rule. For nearly 100 years, that rule had been presided over by the British East India Company, the rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Companys army in the garrison town of Meerut,40 miles northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a threat to British power in that region. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities formally to have ended until 8 July 1859. The rebellion is known by names, including the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection. Many Indians did rise against the British, however, very many also fought for the British, after the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi, whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, they declared the Emperor of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces. The East India Companys response came rapidly as well, with help from reinforcements, Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and Delhi by the end of September. However, it took the remainder of 1857 and the better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow. Other regions of Company controlled India—Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, in the Punjab, the Sikh princes crucially helped the British by providing both soldiers and support. In some regions, most notably in Awadh, the took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against European presence. However, the rebel leaders proclaimed no articles of faith that presaged a new political system, even so, the rebellion proved to be an important watershed in Indian- and British Empire history. India was thereafter administered directly by the British government in the new British Raj, on 1 November 1858, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation to Indians, which while lacking the authority of a constitutional provision, promised rights similar to those of other British subjects. In the following decades, when admission to these rights was not always forthcoming, the victory was consolidated in 1764 at the Battle of Buxar, when the East India Company army defeated Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II. After his defeat, the granted the Company the right to the collection of Revenue in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar. The Company soon expanded its territories around its bases in Bombay and Madras, later, the Anglo-Mysore Wars, in 1806, the Vellore Mutiny was sparked by new uniform regulations that created resentment amongst both Hindu and Muslim sepoys. After the turn of the 19th century, Governor-General Wellesley began what became two decades of accelerated expansion of Company territories and this was achieved either by subsidiary alliances between the Company and local rulers or by direct military annexation
10.
Sikhs in the British Indian Army
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Substantial numbers of Sikhs served in the British Indian Army throughout the British Raj. Sikh units fought at the Battle of Saragarhi, in the First World War, as the Black Lions, and during the Second World War in Malaya, Burma and Italy. After the fall of the Sikh Empire and death of its king Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the British conquered this territory with difficulty. The Battle of Saragarhi is considered one of the greatest battles in Sikh military history, on 12 September 1897 a contingent of twenty-one soldiers from the 36th Sikhs regiment, led by Havildar Ishar Singh held off an Afghan attack of 10,000 men for several hours. All 21 Sikh soldiers chose to fight to the death instead of surrendering, in recognition of their sacrifice, the British Parliament paid them respect, and each one of them was awarded the Indian Order of Merit. Sikh soldiers also fought in First Opium War and Second Opium War in China, known afterwards as the Lions of the Great War, during the war they were often called the Black Lions. The strength of the army in Malaya was 104,625 troops, Sikhs represented more than 60 percent of the total Indian force that fought against the Japanese invasion of Malaysia and Singapore. Sikhs served with distinction in repelling the invasion of India by the Japanese. Sikhs served with distinction during the Allied invasion of Italy
11.
Chattri, Brighton
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The Chattri is a war memorial in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is sited 500 feet above the city on the South Downs above the suburb of Patcham and it stands on the site where a number of Indian soldiers who fought for the British Empire were cremated during the First World War. The structure has Grade II listed status, reflecting its architectural, india was part of the British Empire during the First World War, and more than 800,000 Indian soldiers fought for the Allied Powers. During the four years of fighting, thousands of wounded combatants were brought to Britain to be treated in military hospitals. Three were established in Brighton, one was the famous royal palace. King George V is said to have decreed that Indian soldiers were to be treated at the Pavilion, in December 1914,345 injured soldiers were transported to Brighton by train and were transferred to the hospitals. Although the great majority of soldiers recovered from their injuries, some died, the 21 Muslim men who died were taken to the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, Surrey, and buried in accordance with Islamic tradition in a new cemetery. This funeral rite was carried out in line with religious custom. In total,18 men who were treated at the Royal Pavilion died, lt Das Gupta made the proposal, but Otter took on the project almost single-handedly, after leaving his position as Mayor he chaired Brightons Indian Memorials Committee. In July of that year, the land on which the ghat stood, after delays caused by the need to dedicate all available resources to the war effort, in April 1918 a Manchester-based building firm was awarded the contract to build the memorial. The main building material was marble, its arrival from Sicily was delayed by more than a year, a young Indian architect, E. C. Construction work started in August 1920 and continued until the end of that year, Brighton Corporation owned the memorial and took responsibility for its maintenance, and a cottage was provided nearby for a caretaker. This added £1,117 to the final cost of £4,964, the Chattri was unveiled on 1 February 1921 by Edward, Prince of Wales. By the 1930s, the memorial had fallen into disrepair, the caretaker had died, nobody had replaced him, and the cottage had been demolished. Between them, they planned a new policy and agreed to reduce the amount of surrounding land belonging to the memorial. The Second World War intervened, though, and the area was requisitioned by the Army. By the end of the war, The Chattri was covered with bullet holes after being used as a target by troops practising their rifle shooting, after the war, the War Office agreed to pay for repairs, and The Chattri was restored to its original condition. Starting in 1951, the Royal British Legion undertook annual pilgrimages to the memorial, although the pilgrimages ceased in 1999, the Sikh community has led a similar annual ceremony each year since 2000
