The second in the serialisation of the forthcoming "Empire, Faith and Kinship" exhibtion is this fascinating group portrait of Sikh veterans from the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. 

This group of Sikh veterans was photographed during the Delhi Durbar celebrations of 1903 where Indian Princes came together to recognise Queen Victoria’s successor, King Edward VII, as the Emperor of India.

Many commentators of the day believed that without the vital support of the Sikhs during the mutinous uprising of the Indian regiments in 1857, in terms of men, supplies and communications, the British Empire in India would not have survived. It was due to men like these, who risked their lives some four decades earlier, that the British were able to remain as rulers of the ‘Jewel in the Crown’.

A stirring example of the type of Sikh soldier that helped the British in their time of need is given by Field Marshal Lord Roberts in his autobiography, Forty-One Years In India (1901):

“Amongst the Native officers killed [during the Mutiny] was Subedar Ruttan Sing... He was a Patiala Sikh, and had been invalided from the service. As the 1st Punjab Infantry neared Delhi, Major Coke saw the old man standing in the road with two swords on. He begged to be taken back into the service, and when Coke demurred, he said: “What! My old corps going to fight at Delhi without me! I hope you will let me lead my old Sikh company into action again. I will break these two swords in your cause.” Coke acceded to the old man’s wish, and throughout the siege of Delhi he displayed the most splendid courage. At the great attack on the “Sammy House”..., Ruttan Sing, amidst a shower of bullets, jumped on to the parapet and shouted to the enemy, who were storming the piquet: “If any man wants to fight, let him come here, and not stand firing like a coward! I am Ruttan Sing, of Patiala.” He then sprang down among the enemy, followed by the men of his company, and drove them off with heavy loss.”