Researching Indian Army Soldier - Mesopotamia and the Fall of Kut

[LEUZEWOOD]

Good morning all, 

 

I hope that you are all safe and well.

 

It has been some time since I have posted here, but yet again I find myself cap in hand asking for some assistance please from this most excellent knowledge base.

 

I am slightly out of my comfort zone in that I have been asked to help a friend research his great uncle in the Indian Army.

 

The man in question is 16182 SULTAN KHAN, Driver,  Royal Artillery, Attached 63rd Battery, Royal Field Artillery, X Brigade, 6th (Poona) Division. He died a POW following the surrender at Kut.

 

I think I have been able to satisfy my friend with the extent of my research, but no MIC or medal rolls are showing up - I had read that they had been destroyed, is this the case? 

 

Any other sources of information/records for the Indian Army would also be most helpful, I have only followed the usual path of Ancestry, LLT, NA and Archive.org. 

 

Many Thanks 

 

Tom

[sr97]

Hi Tom,

Have you contacted the British Library, they may have access to records held in Asian collections. The India office branch has a record of his marriage online. 

 

[LEUZEWOOD]

10 minutes ago, sr97 said:

Hi Tom,

Have you contacted the British Library, they may have access to records held in Asian collections. The India office branch has a record of his marriage online. 

 

I haven't, but will pass this on thank you.

 

[Sepoy]

You will find a few Indian Army MIC cards via the National Archives on-line site.
These cards were not among'st the MICs transferred to the Western Front Association, and then filmed by Ancestry. You will, however, be extremely lucky to find your man.
Most other ranks records were probably left in India when the British pulled out in 1947, but I have not heard of anyone successfully gaining access to them at the Indian National Records Office in New Dehli. Also, from memory, a large quantity of Other Ranks service papers turned up a couple of years ago, somewhere in Pakistan, but were in very poor condition and I do not know what happened to them.
Your best bet is to check the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records and, if he died as a Turkish POW, check the International Red Cross POW website. (This can be difficult)
The Indian Office Library at the British Library, did have a nominal roll of all Indian Army POWs taken at Kut Al Amara, but this vanished during the Indian Office Library's move from Blackfriars. It had not reappeared on my last visit the British Library, which is frustrating because I would have really liked to have obtained a copy of the roll.
It may also be worth checking to see if the Battery War Diary is among'st those available (currently free of charge) on the National Archives website, to get an idea of the Battery movements prior to Kut.
Ordinary Indian Soldiers are next to impossible to research if they were not casualties. Indian Army Officers (which your man is not) are easier to track using Indian Army Lists.
I hope this helps

Sepoy

 

[LEUZEWOOD]

2 hours ago, Sepoy said:

I hope this helps

Sepoy

 

Thank you Sepoy, most informative and helpful.

[charlie962]

63rd Bty was indeed one of those under siege in Kut with the survivors going into Turkish Captivity.

 

Do you know for certain that he was with the Battery when the gates closed at KUt, rather than being say sick somewhere down the line ?

 

The Death date on CWGC of 1/3-31/3/17 is reasonably specific. If he was in Kut for the siege then by March 1917 he would have been in one of the work camps for the Berlin-Baghdad Railway, particularly on the early stages such as Nisibin and Ras-el-Ain.  The treatment of the average Indian soldier was even worse than that meted out to the British ORs, if that was possible. Only the Indian Muslim soldiers recieved any preferential treatment, and were seperated from the non-muslims.

 

Does Sultan Khan as a name tell us he was a Muslim ?

 

ICRC have extensive listings of Indian soldiers imprisoned in Turkey but there does not appear to be a set of index cards. So only by trawling through the pages in the R50000 series may you stumble across him. If you have any more clues as to where he might have been imprisoned that may help. Happy to search some pages as I think it is a very neglected area.

 

Charlie

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear Tom,

I have for example a Medal Index Card for Jemadar Mohd Yaqub, 1-128 Baluchis for his GSM clasp IRAQ, who subsequently had the IGS clasp NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1937-39 as a Subadar, Kurram Militia, so it is not necessarily a lost cause...

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[LEUZEWOOD]

8 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Does Sultan Khan as a name tell us he was a Muslim ?

If you have any more clues as to where he might have been imprisoned that may help. Happy to search some pages as I think it is a very neglected area.

 

Charlie

 

Hi Charlie, many thanks for the offer of help. I will ask the family if he was muslim, as regards where he was imprisoned, frankly I have no idea, so any help or additional clues would be most welcome. 

 

Many Thanks

Tom

[charlie962]

3 hours ago, LEUZEWOOD said:

additional clues would be most welcome.

 

16182 Sultan Khan was part of 63 Battery RFA under siege in Kut.

 

At 14th March 1916, some 6 weeks before the surrender of the Garrison, the 63 Battery RFA manning was:

British Officers   4

Indian Officers    0

British ORs      126

Indian ORs        34   presumably incl Sultan Khan

Followers            7

       total          171

 

Because Sultan Khan was inside Kut,we can be certain that he was with 63 Battery in 1915 and thus will have qualified for the 1914/15 Star, BWM, VM.

 

As I suggested above, you might find something in the ICRC pages.

 

I have found him on List R50424 (scroll down to page if link doesn't take you direct)  with a few of his comrades.

List dated 15/1/17  Airan,     Sultan Khan, aged 29,  63 Battery,   16182,  taken Kut 29/4/16,

 

It tells us that per this list, dated 15/1/17 and thus probably accurate as at the end of December 1916, he was at Airan railway camp. Airan is in the Amanus Mountains in Asia Minor, halfway between Entelli and Bagtche. There was a tunnel under construction there (one of many). At this stage he was still alive. Early 1917 the Turkish started to move many of the prisoners back down the incompleted line towards Mosul and I therefore suggest that Sultan Khan died between Airan and Nisibin.

 

There may yet be another list with him on it.

 

Anyway we can be certain that he will have completed that extraordinary brutal march (with a very short train ride) under appalling conditions all the way from Kut, via Baghdad and Mosul then into the Amanus Mountains. Having survived that he will have been put to work on the Baghdad-Berlin railway, under German direction and Turkish 'care'. He will probably have died of disease as most did, exacerbated by lack of medical facilities and Turkish indiference.

 

Out of some 13,000 who surrendered in April 1916, about 10,000 were indian troops; Of these Indian soldiers at least 3 or 4 thousand never made it back home.

 

Whilst I have identified most of the 63 Battery RFA British ORs I have not progressed yet with Indian ORs ( lack of time, lack of records, my ignorance !) but would be interested to learn of any research. I would also like to know more about the individual. Is there a photo ?

 

 

Charlie

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 22 June , 2020 by charlie962

[charlie962]

20 hours ago, Sepoy said:

It may also be worth checking to see if the Battery War Diary is among'st those available (currently free of charge) on the National Archives website, to get an idea of the Battery movements prior to Kut.

It is available at Nat Archives here. Like all these Diaries it peters out Oct/Nov 1915 because of the destruction of records at Kut.

 

Charlie

[LEUZEWOOD]

2 hours ago, charlie962 said:

16182 Sultan Khan was part of 63 Battery RFA under siege in Kut.

 

Charlie

 

Charlie, that's quite outstanding, thank you so much. 

 

Apologies for the short reply, I am busy at work, but I will take a proper look later this evening. 

 

Thanks once again, I'm sure the family will be delighted to find out so much.

 

Regards

 

Tom

[rolt968]

I have checked the Medal Roll Index Cards on thegenealogist website, which are, I believe, copies of the National Archives microfilm rather than the WFA set. There are Indian drivers in the RFA and indeed a number of men called Khan, but alas no Sultan Khan (nor that serial number).

RM

[LEUZEWOOD]

6 hours ago, rolt968 said:

I have checked the Medal Roll Index Cards on thegenealogist website, which are, I believe, copies of the National Archives microfilm rather than the WFA set. There are Indian drivers in the RFA and indeed a number of men called Khan, but alas no Sultan Khan (nor that serial number).

RM

 

Many thanks for trying.

 

Best

 

Tom

[MaureenE]

Your friend could try the National Archives of India,  and the Indian Army (which may, or may not be the same records, no one knows) although I think there is very little chance there would be a record.

 

Firstly, SULTAN KHAN was in the British, not Indian Army, and I don't know whether NAI holds any British Army records for Indian soldiers.

Secondly, I suspect that the records held date from WW2 and do not include WW1, although I do not know this for a fact.

Thirdly records in India generally suffer from insect and  climate damage, so how much would survive after 100 years is very doubtful, given many archives are in bad condition.

 

The FIBIS Fibiwiki page Indian Army has some information about applying for records from the National Archives of India.

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army#National_Archives_of_India

 

Cheers

Maureen

[charlie962]

11 hours ago, Maureene said:

British, not Indian Army

It is always difficult to understand what is contemporary and what is a re-write.  CWGC have him as Indian Royal Artillery, attached 63rd Bty RFA. Was it known as this at the time?

 

63rd Bty RFA was indeed a British Army unit that just happened to be based in India. Typically these units had gun crews etc of British ORs but the Drivers were often Indian, especially so when transport animal was unusual such as bullocks or even more exotic breeds.

 

I note also that there were a number of men called  Sultan Khan who were Drivers attached to different units of the RFA. My understanding of naming practices and identification of individuals from India is very limited hence why I have steered clear of this minefield but I would like to learn. It would be great, for example, to identify as many as possible of the 34 Indian ORs that I noted above for 63rd Bty.

 

Charlie

[MaureenE]

In spite of what the GWGC says, from what I have read there was no such entity as  "Indian Royal Artillery"  other than it meaning Royal Artillery who were Indian.

 

The only Indian Artillery were Mountain Batteries, the Indian Mountain Artillery.

 

My understanding is that Indians in the RFA were part of the RFA, their medals show RFA, and they were not "Attached RFA" 

There is a  paragraph on the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Royal Artillery  "Indians in the Royal Artillery"  which I wrote, which is my understanding of the situation

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Royal_Artillery#Indians_in_the_Royal_Artillery

 

"Prior to 1924, there were Indian soldiers serving in the Royal Artillery as drivers, and native gunners in ammunition columns serving as wagon-men.^[18] During the First World War, there are references to Lascars, see Gun Lascar. There is one reference^[19] to a WW1 medal for an Indian Gunner in a British Mountain Battery, RGA. In 1924, Indian Mountain/Pack Batteries became Batteries in the Royal Artillery, which was the situation until 1939 when the Indian Mountain Batteries were transferred from the Royal Artillery to the Indian Regiment of Artillery. 
C 1927 "Indians are employed as drivers and artificers in the Royal Horse and Field Artillery and in medium batteries, and as drivers, gunners and artificers in the Pack Artillery. In the Frontier Garrison Artillery they are employed as gunners and artificers and in the Indian Coast Artillery as gunners only".^{[20]. "}

 

Cheers

Maureen

[charlie962]

12 hours ago, Maureene said:

In spite of what the GWGC says, from what I have read there was no such entity as  "Indian Royal Artillery"  other than it meaning Royal Artillery who were Indian

Sort of the impression I had. I also thought that CWGC 'modernised' some of their unit titles ?

 

There were also the grooms/syces.  I don't know how long the title 'Syce Driver' was used.Certainly in Victorian days.

 

Charlie

[AN Dukie]

@charlie962

 

I note with interest that you have identified a number of the British soldiers in 63rd Bty.  I am researching Gunner William Godfrey Cowley 68247 who was captured 26.03.1916 according to his medal records and died at Islahie on 31.08.1916, with his entry in the Register of Soldiers' Effects stating him to be a member of the battery.  Do you have any information about his date of capture, i.e. before the fall of Kut or his cause of death please?

 

Thank you

[Keith_history_buff]

Hello Tom, a very tardy response from me. You have had a lot of responses, and they reflect the membership of the forum. A number of people have given informative answers which have clearly addressed your question, and certain others have agendas as to why certain responses have been given which have not addressed your question, which I think is par for the course of most forums. The scope of your question is in relation to an Indian soldier in the ranks of the Royal Artillery during WW1.

There are thousands of MICs where a soldier served both in the British Army and with the Indian Army, so it makes sense that they have medal index cards in the WO 372 series, i.e. started in the Royal Hampshire Regiment and later served in the Supply & Transport Corps. There are over 21,000 cards specifically for the Indian Army within WO 372/25-29. From what I have seen, these latter cards all seem to relate to the General Service Medal awards for postwar campaigns, and do not themselves relate to WW1 awards. This is an anecdotal response, and I do not have hard quantitative evidence to back this up. The fact that your man did not participate in the postwar campaigns in Waziristan, Afghanistan etc eliminates there having been a possibility of him having a medal index card in this series.

There are unanswered questions as to what happened to the WW1 service records and medal rolls pertaining to the Indian Army, and no sign of an answer. Whilst I have not tried to pursue a line of enquiry on an Indian soldier in the Royal Artillery, I have been curious as to whether any "administrative errors" had ever resulted in certain records being passed from say Madras to Woolwich. If that had been the case, then I suspect that news of such material would have long since got a mention on this forum.

Best of luck with your ongoing research.

Keith

[charlie962]

21 hours ago, AN Dukie said:

 I am researching Gunner William Godfrey Cowley 68247 who was captured 26.03.1916 according to his medal records and died at Islahie on 31.08.1916, with his entry in the Register of Soldiers' Effects stating him to be a member of the battery.  Do you have any information about his date of capture, i.e. before the fall of Kut or his cause of death please?

Hm. I'll see what I have but I did not have him on my list of those taken at Kut. His capture date of 26/3/16 suggests he was part of the Relief Force when he was captured ? Perhaps he was previously sick or wounded and avoided being under siege inside Kut ? How he will have made the journey to Turkey I am also not sure but will try to find out. Perhaps being held at Baghdad and marched with the rest in May/june getting as far as Islahie before dying ?

(Edited nonsense- see below)

 

He's not on ICRC but that's not unusual as there was not much generated by the Turks until later 1916.

 

I note that on 1911 Census he is a Trumpeter with the RGA in Gibraltar. At some point he transferred to RFA, landing in Mespot with them in Nov 1914.

 

His Service Number suggests a Nov/Dec 1911 RFA issue. He would have changed number when moving from RGA to RH/FA. Thus given the census info showing him RGA earlier that year I suggest he transferred at the age of 18 and a half ?

 

More to do...

 

Charlie

Edited 24 July , 2020 by charlie962

[AN Dukie]

Thanks for the detailed reply.  I am drawing similar conclusions to you but if you turn anything else up I would be keen to hear of it.

 

My interest is with him being an Old Boy of the Duke of York's Royal Military School and he was discharged into the RGA aged 14 on 12 June 1907.  Sadly he is one of a high number of Dukies we have found to be missing from the memorial tablets in the school chapel, so I am hoping to have the names added in due course.  He had a brother killed in Aden in July 1915 but he did not go to the school.

[charlie962]

7 hours ago, AN Dukie said:

Thanks for the detailed reply.

My appologies.

He was indeed a Kut man. That date on the MIC and Medal Roll was distracting me. It didn't make sense and there was no action on that date 26/3/16 that would lead to an RFA gunner becoming a PoW. I'm pretty sure it is wrong.

 

Starting again:

 

He has an entry date 5a of 16/11/14. The 63rd Bty RFA started disembarking in Mespot on 14/11 and finished 16/11/14, delays being caused by lack of lighters and barges.

 

He was present with them at the battle of Shaiba, 11th-13th April 1915. He is named (Gnr Cowley) in their War Diary as being wounded on 12/4/15 along with two other men Bdr Cracknell and Gnr Pickering, the latter two only slight wounds. (I will come back on these two shortly).

 

He was with the 63rd Bty when Kut came under siege on 7th Dec 1915 and will have become a PoW of the Turkish on 29/4/16 when the Garrison finally surrendered. His name appears in the Times list of those believed taken PoW at Kut.

 

So he will have participated in that terrible march from Kut to Baghdad, on to Mosul then Ras-al-Ain where they were crammed into closed railway trucks and shipped to Islahie. Probably arrived late June 1916. Thereabouts detrained (railway was not yet finished) and marched over the hills to various railway work camps. 63rd Bty RFA lost a lot of men in such camps, particularly at Bagtche and Airan. Whether Cowley stayed at Islahie or went further I do not know. His date of death looks like one of those dates indicating just the month he probably died, August 1916.

 

Charlie

 

 

[charlie962]

Cracknell and Pickering, wounded the same day in April 1915 with Cowley, were also subsequently taken prisoner at the fall of Kut and died in captivity. Pickering's date is given as 30/8/16 and place Bagtche, which is in line with what I said above.

[AN Dukie]

@charlie962 you are a gentleman!  Thanks for taking the time to embellish his wartime service for me and for clearing up the mystery about his date of capture in his MIC.  You have also taught me a lesson to expand my search back in a war diary too much earlier dates.  I normally only go for the days around a death for some context and events on the day.

 

All the best

[charlie962]

If you could pm me a copy of any write-up you do for him I would be very interested. He deserves to be remembered. Some 70% of the Battery that went into captivity never returned.

 

Charlie