The Indian Army at Hampton Court Palace in 1919

The plan had been for the contingent to join the Victory Parade on 19 July, but when the Peace Treaty of Versailles was finally signed during their voyage, it was obvious they would not arrive in time. When influenza broke out on board ship, leaving five men dead, their journey seemed fruitless. However, King George V led calls for the troops to have their own parade on 2 August. 

On a blazing summer day they marched past the new Cenotaph memorial in Whitehall. They carried banners with the names of the places across the globe where they had fought.

Crowds turned out to cheer, women threw flowers and bands of Guards played at the head of their parade. The march ended with a review by the King and a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Here, 19-year-old Gurkha Naik Karanbahadur Rana was presented with his Victoria Cross.

For over six weeks, the soldiers were well looked-after and entertained on tours of London and across Britain. Their hosts impressed them with the sights and also the military might of the 'home nation'.

They toured in red London buses - the same buses that had driven some of them to the Western Front in 1914. They visited the Tower of London, Madame Tussaud's and a Chelsea football match.

There were trips to a secret warship at Portsmouth dockyard, a bombing demonstration on the River Medway in Kent, and flights at the Handley-Page aircraft factory. They even took a trip down the River Clyde from Glasgow.

The camp was laid out along the River Thames, with streets separating the British and Indian officers’ bell tents from the other ranks. This was not the first time Indian soldiers had camped at Hampton Court; the army fell back on plans made for the coronation celebrations of Edward VII and George V in 1902 and 1910.

Careful arrangements were made to respect the religious and social customs of the different peoples represented by regiments from across India and its modern neighbours – including Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus. There were separate slaughter pens and kitchens, laundries and latrines (dug toilets) run by civilian camp ‘followers’. Entertainments were laid on including a cinema tent provided by the Young Men’s Christian Association as well as organised sports, and the men were allowed to leave camp with a pass.

Behind this forgotten story of British and Indian comradeship in victory hides a much more complicated one of India's role in the First World War. The Indian Army was the creation of British colonial rule, built around racial prejudices to secure dominion over the Indian subcontinent. The Peace Celebrations of 1919 brought this great contribution and sacrifice to the public’s attention but as promises of greater self-rule dwindled, this story from the First World War became easier to forget.

Further Reading

• The Indian Empire at War by George Morton-Jack (2018)
• The World’s War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire by David Olusoga (2014)
• Indian Voices of the Great War/Soldiers Letters, 1914-18 by David Omissi (1999, 2014)
• Thousands of Heroes Have Arisen: Sikh Voices of the Great War 1914-1918, by Sukwinder Singh Bassi (2019)