Robert Arthur Sloan

Robert Arthur Sloan enlisted on 17th January, 1917 in the 13th Infantry Battalion (24th-26th Reinforcement) February 1917 - March 1917, and embarked at Sydney on 7th February 1917 on board HMAT “Wiltshire" A18. He was 24 years old at the time, single and working as a labourer. His service number is 7315.  He gave his address as Jersey Rd, Wentworthville and named his father, R. Sloan of the same address, as his next of kin. He was Presbyterian. Red Cross records report that during active service at Villers Bretonneux he received machine gun wounds to the right arm, right leg and abdomen, while another account describes a shell bursting, wounding him and killing nine others. The report confirms that he died of his wounds on 18th September, 1918, and was buried at the British Military Cemetery at Brie on the 19th September.He was Lance Corporal.

Service Number: 7315

Rank: Private

Roll title: 13 Infantry Battalion - 24 to 26 Reinforcements (February 1917 - March 1918)

Conflict: First World War, 1914-1918

Date of embarkation: 07 February 1917

Place of embarkation: Sydney

Ship embarked on: HMAT Wiltshire A18

WW1 - William Hutchison

 

Private William Hutchison was born in Mulwala, Victoria. His father was William Hutchison of Daniel St, Granville, NSW. William was a farmer before joining the army at the age of 19. He served in 3rd Battalion and his service number was 2127. He served in Gallipoli and was killed in action on 10 July 1915. He is buried in Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey Plot 1, Row A, Grave 20.

WW1 - William Gregory Fargie

Private William Gregory Fargie was born in Gosford. He served in France in 54th Battalion and was killed in action May 15, 1917. Private Fargie, prior to enlisting on 20^th May 1916, was employed at the Clyde Works as Brass dresser. He was the youngest son of lira. Bnrrett, of Moroe, and resided with his brother, Mr. Norman Fargie, of Trongate street, Granville, who is also in camp. William Gregory Fargie died in action in France at the age of 31. He is buried in Villers Bretenneux Memorial. MR. 26, Part 11, C-F.

WW1 - Commemoration of Indian Soldiers - Honouring Muslim Soldiers

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 

Commemoration of Indian Soldiers

Over one and a half million Indian army soldiers served alongside British troops during the World War One. Twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded on the Western Front.

The fifty-three Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton were taken to a peaceful resting place on the Sussex Downs near Patcham for cremation, after which their ashes were scattered in the sea, in accordance with their religious rites.

The Muslim brothers in arms, totalling nineteen, were buried in a purpose built burial ground near to the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking. Built in 1889, the mosque is the oldest of its kind in north-west Europe.

 

Honouring Muslim soldiers

Muslim soldiers who died in English hospitals also received burial rites according to their religion. Some were taken to Woking - to a new cemetery near to the Shah Jahan Mosque and some were taken to Brookwood Military Cemetery. There, in a fusion of Muslim practices with British military traditions, they were interred and a bugler played 'The Last Post'

Mahomed Sarwar grew up in the Punjab and, like many young men from a rural population, sought adventure and a life outside his ancestral village by joining the 19th Lancers (Fane's Horse). His regiment went to France in October 1914 as part of the Sialkot Brigade of the 1st Indian Cavalry Division.

 

Mahomed only survived for eight short months. In Flanders, trench warfare made cavalry charges not only impractical but impossible, so the men left their horses behind the lines and served as infantry in the trenches.

By April 1915, Mahomed was in the Kitchener Hospital in Brighton. Mahomd died two months later from typhoid. He was only nineteen.

On his headstone in Brookwood Cemetery, it says:

"For God we are and to God we go” … (Qur'an)

 

 

WW1 - Commemoration of Indian Soldiers - Hindu and Sikh Soldiers

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Commemoration of Indian Soldiers

Over one and a half million Indian army soldiers served alongside British troops during the World War One. Twelve thousand Indian soldiers who were wounded on the Western Front.

The fifty-three Hindu and Sikh soldiers who died in Brighton were taken to a peaceful resting place on the Sussex Downs near Patcham for cremation, after which their ashes were scattered in the sea, in accordance with their religious rites.

The Muslim brothers in arms, totalling nineteen, were buried in a purpose built burial ground near to the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking. Built in 1889, the mosque is the oldest of its kind in north-west Europe.

Honouring Hindu and Sikh soldiers

Photo: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

 

Fifty three Hindus and Sikhs, including Manta Singh, were cremated on a specially built funeral ghat on the gentle English hills of the South Downs, overlooking Brighton. Their ashes were scattered in the sea. A “Chattri” was built to mark the site.

Chattri means umbrella in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. Chattris have been used as memorials to the dead for centuries in India. The Brighton Chattri is dedicated to Indian soldiers who died in the First World War.

The Chattri bears the following inscription in Hindi and English:

To the memory of all the Indian soldiers who gave their lives for their King-Emperor in the Great War, this monument, erected on the site of the funeral pyre where the Hindus and Sikhs who died in hospital at Brighton, passed through the fire, is in grateful admiration and brotherly affection dedicated.

In September, 2010, a new screen wall, constructed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, was unveiled. It bears the name of fifty three Indian soldiers, including Gurkhas, who died in Brighton hospitals.