The Punjab Register, found in the basement of the Lahore Museum after laying there for almost a century, includes 320,000 of the 500,000 Punjabi men who were recruited during the war. It outlines their service record in great detail, village by village, and now you can search it for yourself.

A panel of experts, including historian of Empire Gavin Rand and Amandeep Madra, founder of UK Punjab Heritage Association, will discuss the significance of these newly–found records.

They’ll be joined by Irfan Malik, who used the records to trace the 460 Muslim soldiers from his village in Punjab, Pakistan. The discussion will be followed by a two hour workshop where you will have the chance to trace your own Punjabi relatives.

Please note: the register does not include Mirpur.

About The Speakers

Amandeep Madra OBE

Amandeep Madra is an author of five books on Punjab and Sikh heritage. He is a founding member of the United Kingdom Punjab Heritage Association (UKPHA) and chairs its Management Board. In 2018 He was awarded an OBE for services to Sikhs and Punjabi Heritage and Culture. Amandeep was a contributor to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Special Committee on Non-Commemoration following which he worked with the University of Greenwich on the Punjab and WW1 project. 

Headshot of associate professor Gavin Rand

Gavin Rand

Gavin Rand is Associate Professor of History at the University of Greenwich. Gavin’s research explores the history of the military in colonial South Asia, focussing on the people, institutions and ideas which sustained imperial military power in, and beyond, ‘British India’. Gavin has published on legacies of the 1857 rebellion, the history of ‘martial races’ and the colonial frontier. He is currently working on a project examining the contribution and commemoration of Punjabi soldiers in the First World War. 

Headshot of Dr Irfan Malik

Dr Irfan Malik

Dr Irfan Malik has worked as a GP in Nottingham for over 25 years.  He has an interest in researching the First World War history of his ancestral village Dulmial, Punjab in present day Pakistan.