Britain will honour the one-and-a-half million Indian soldiers who fought for the British Empire during World War 1 with a new war memorial at the downs in Patcham, on the outskirts of Brighton, Sussex, on September 26.
The new memorial, to bear the names of 53 Indian soldiers who died during the Great War, is adjacent to the Brighton Chattri, a memorial to Indian soldiers unveiled on February 1, 1921 by Edward, Prince of Wales. The new memorial has been built by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains the graves of members of the Commonwealth forces killed during the two World Wars.
More than 1.5 million Indians fought in the Great War and of those 12,000 soldiers wounded on the Western Front were hospitalised in and near Brighton.
Sussex Downs, near Patcham, is where 53 Indian Hindu and Sikh soldiers who were injured on the Western Front and died in Brighton were cremated during World War One.
“The new memorial will include the names of all 53 soldiers cremated here as a personal dedication to these men,” Commonwealth War Graves Commission spokesperson Ranald Leask told this newspaper.