'Sepoy Harnam Singh 34th Sikh Pioneers', 1914

Pencil drawing by Paul Sarrut (1882-1969), 1914.

Signed and dated lower right 'P. Sarrut 7-11-1914' and inscribed 'Sepoy Harnam Singh 34th Sikh Pioneers / (Turkhan Sikh) fait au Camp de Cercottes'.

Harnam Singh is recorded on the Neuve-Chapelle memorial, Pas-de-Calais. He was killed in action on 23rd November 1914, just 16 days after this portrait was made. This image became one of the most famous images of an individual Indian soldier in the First World War, being published in The Illustrated War News (17th Feb 1915), popular postcard form, and subsequently in Paul Sarrut's collection of lithographs 'British and Indian Troops in Northern France, 70 War Sketches by Paul Sarrut 1914-1915' (published circa 1920).

Harnam Singh became a 'Tommy Atkins' figure, representative of all Indian soldiers to the British public. General Sir James Willcocks (1857-1926), who commanded the Indian Corps in France, even wrote a poem called 'A Poem for Harnam Singh' (which is not specifically about the real Harnam Singh, but about the archetypal Indian soldier).