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WW1 Punjab Soldiers Digitized: Ancestors Found
6 Jul
Summary
- Digitization project honors 1.4 million South Asian WW1 service members.
- Punjab records detail 320,000 servicemen, split after partition.
- A PhD student found her own ancestors among digitized records.
A significant effort has digitized the records of approximately 1.4 million individuals from the subcontinent who served in World War I. This initiative specifically focused on the state of Punjab, from which 320,000 servicemen originated. These records, meticulously compiled in the years following the war, were later divided when Punjab was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1947.
The UK Punjab Heritage Association spearheaded the multi-year project to digitize and analyze these fragile, handwritten volumes. These historical documents now reside in various archives, including the Lahore Museum in Pakistan. For many, like PhD student Jasmin Basra, the project offered a profound personal connection.
Basra, a second-generation British Punjabi, unexpectedly found records of her great-great-grandfather and his brother. She described this discovery as an emotional and tangible link to her heritage, bridging a perceived disconnect between her British upbringing and her Punjabi roots.
