'Mohan Ram, Purbhia Kahar (Dholi Bearer)', 2 November 1914

Lithograph by and after Paul Sarrut (1882-1969), 2 November 1914.

One of 70 lithographs of sketches by Paul Sarrut, No 81 in a limited edition of 250 entitled 'British and Indian Troops in Northern France', published by H Delepine, Arras, 1920 (c).

Unusually, this portrait of a stretcher-bearer of the Indian Medical Service, 3rd (Lahore) Division, is signed by the sitter lower left. The cold conditions in October and November 1914 had a serious impact on the health of Indian stretcher-bearers carrying out their duties in difficult conditions. This war particularly true for those who were still wearing the sandals in which they had arrived in France.

Camille Georges Paul Sarrut was born in Grenoble in May 1882. He was an artist and engraver who studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1909, under the name Paul Sarrut. Having undertaken national service in 1903, he rejoined the French Army in 1914 as a corporal and served during the First World War (1914-1918). That same year he was posted to the British Army as a Military Liaison Officer and interpreter for the French, Indian and British troops on the Western Front. The National Army Museum holds a large collection of original sketches that Sarrut drew during the war, many of which he published in this set of lithographs in about 1920.