Dvr Umrao Singh, Indian Signals d17/8/17

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

Dvr UMRAO SINGH, 5316 Indian Signal Corps, who died on 17.08.17. Basra Memorial, Iraq

BASRA MEMORIAL

Country: Iraq

Locality: unspecified

Location Information: The Basra Memorial was originally sited within Basra War Cemetery but in 1997 the Memorial was moved by presidential decree. The move, carried out by the authorities in Iraq, involved a considerable amount of manpower, transport costs and sheer engineering on their part, and the Memorial has been re-erected in its entirety. The Basra Memorial is now located 32 kilometres along the road to Nasiriyah, in the middle of what was a major battleground during the Gulf War. The Panel Numbers quoted at the end of each entry relate to the panels dedicated to the Regiment served with. In some instances where a casualty is recorded as attached to another Regiment, his name may alternatively appear within their Regimental Panels. Please refer to the on-site Memorial Register Introduction to determine the alternative panel numbers if you do not find the name within the quoted Panels.

Historical Information: The Basra Memorial bears the names of more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known.

No. of Identified Casualties: 40661

Name: UMRAO SINGH

Nationality: Indian

Rank: Driver

Regiment: Indian Signal Corps

Secondary Regiment: 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Sappers & Miners

Secondary Unit Text: attd. 2nd Field Troop

Date of Death: 17/08/1917

Service No: 5316

Additional information: Of Kosli, Rohtak, Punjab.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 46

Cemetery: BASRA MEMORIAL

[christine liava'a]

The Indian Sappers and Miners

The Sappers and Miners of the Indian Army were the backbone of the engineering effort in India and represented the equivalent of the Royal Engineers in the British Army. Officered by Royal Engineers, the Sapper and Miner field companies provided the skilled engineer effort for the army in the field.

http://members.aol.com/reubique/indiaeng.htm

There were three Corps of Sappers and Miners, one from each of the Presidencies of India.

THE CORPS OF MADRAS SAPPERS AND MINERS

- Raised at Madras in 1780 as two companies.

- Formed into a battalion known as the Madras Pioneer Battalion in 1793.

- Expanded to form the 1st and 2nd Battalions of Madras Pioneers in 1803.

- Became the Corps of Madras Sappers and Miners in 1831

- Redesignated the Queen's Own Corps of Madras Sappers and Miners in 1876.

- Redesignated the 2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners in 1903.

- Redesignated the 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Sappers and Miners in 1911.

- Redesignated Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners in 1923.

- Redesignated the Madras Sappers and Miners Group in 1941.

[christine liava'a]

Battle Honours of the Queen Victoria's Own Sappers and Miners

The Great War: France and Flanders 1914-15, Suez Canal, Egypt 1915-17, Gaza, Megiddo, Sharon, Palestine 1917-18, Tigris 1916, Kut al Amara 1917, Baghdad, Mesopotamia 1915-18, Persia 1918, NW Frontier India 1914-15 '17, East Africa 1918

[christine liava'a]

ROHTAK, a town and district of British India, in the Delhi division of the Punjab. The town, which is of great antiquity, became the headquarters of a British district in 1824. Viewed from the sandhills to the south, Rohtak, with its white mosque in the centre, a fort standing out boldly to the east, is striking and picturesque. It has a station on the Southern Punjab railway, 44 m. N.W. of Delhi. Pop. (1901) 20,323.

It is an important trade centre, with factories for ginning and pressing cotton, and a speciality in muslin turbans.The district of Rohtak has an area of 1797 sq. m. It is situated in the midst of the level tableland between the Jumna and the Sutlej, forming one unbroken plain of hard clay copiously interspersed with light yellow sand, and covered in its wild state by a jungle of scrubby brushwood. The only natural reservoir for its drainage is the Najafgarh jhil, a marshy lake lying within the boundaries of Delhi. The Sahibi, a small stream from the Ajmere hills, traverses a corner of the district,and the northern portions are watered by the Rohtak and Butana branches of the Western Jumna canal; but the greater portion of the central plain, comprising about two-thirds of the district area, is entirely dependent upon the uncertain rainfall. The climate, though severe in point of heat, is generally healthy; the rainfall averages annually about 20 in.

The population in 1901 was 630,672, showing an increase of 6.8% in the decade. The principal crops are millets, wheat, barley, pulses, cotton and sugar-cane. The district is traversed by the line of the Southern Punjab railway from Delhi to Jind,and also touched by the Rewari-Ferozepore branch of the Rajputana railway. It is peculiarly exposed to drought,suffering in the famine of 1896-97, and yet more severely in 1899-1900, when the highest number of persons relieved was 33,632 in March 1900. Rohtak was formerly included within the region known as Hariana. The district, with the other possessions of Sindhia west of the Jumna, passed to the British in 1803. Until 1832 Rohtak was under the administration of a political agent, resident at Delhi, but in that year it was brought under the general regulations and annexed to the North-Western Provinces.

The outbreak of the Mutiny in 1857 led to its abandonment, when the mutineers attacked and plundered Rohtak,destroying every record of administration. It was not until after the fall of Delhi that the authority of the British government was permanently restored. Rohtak was then transferred to the Punjab.

http://91.1911encyclopedia.org/R/RO/ROHTAK.htm

[christine liava'a]

Memorial to the 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Sappers and Miners, Bangalore, India

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/9460/sapmem.htm

[eviltaxman]

I'd never heard of the Sappers & Miners until about 3 months ago whilst taking pics of local headstones. Below (hopefully) is an image of the grave of Lt A W Thomas, 2nd Reg Queen Victorias Own, Madras Sappers & Miners.

Just thought you peeps might like the "headstone".

[telaw]

Ironically the day we remember one man falling in Basra a British soldier dies in the same place nearly 90 years on.