Original Source: This piece by tan yi liang has been sourced from http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2014/06/28/The-Singapore-mutiny
Some 800 Indian soldiers rose up against their British officers in a bloody rebellion in the heart of Singapore.
On Feb 15, 1915, the first mutiny of World War I broke out, and it did not happen on the battlefields of Europe.
Original Source: This piece by tan yi liang has been sourced from http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/Features/2014/06/28/The-Singapore-mutiny
Some 800 Indian soldiers rose up against their British officers in a bloody rebellion in the heart of Singapore.
On Feb 15, 1915, the first mutiny of World War I broke out, and it did not happen on the battlefields of Europe.
It happened in Singapore, when 800 soldiers of the Indian Army’s 5th Light Infantry Brigade emerged from their barracks and killed their British officers before spreading out through the city.
By the time the last mutineers were rounded up on Feb 20 by companies of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Shropshire Light Infantry (Territorials) that had arrived from Rangoon (now Yangon), 47 British nationals were dead, 13 of them civilians. A French citizen and three Russians were wounded.
What sparked this outburst of violence? What prompted the sepoys (as Indian infantry were called) of the 5th Light Infantry to turn their guns on their officer corps, proceed through Singapore and lay siege to the bungalow of their commanding officer, Colonel E.V. Martin?
The trigger lay an ocean away with the Ghadar Party, formed in 1913 in the United States by Indian nationalist Har Dayal.
“Ghadar” means “mutiny” or “rebellion” in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, and the party advocated, as its name suggested, an uprising, calling on Indian soldiers deployed overseas to support Indian independence and rise up against their British officers.
The party actively targeted British Indian regiments with its ideas, its first attempt being receptive soldiers in the 130th Baluchi Regiment in Bombay (now Mumbai) who were persuaded to mutiny on Jan 21, 1915. However, this plot was defused by British authorities, who reassigned the soldiers to different outposts.
According to the Gadar Heritage Foundation website, the Ghadar association was originally formed because ‘Only people from a free country … could live in dignity and fight for their rights in alien lands’. Among its plans then was the idea of spreading ‘disaffection among Indian soldiers in the service of British Imperialism and prepare them to mutiny’. This Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in Stockton, California, was one of the centres of activity in America in 1912. – gadar.homestead.com
According to the Gadar Heritage Foundation website, the Ghadar association was originally formed
because ‘Only people from a free country … could live in dignity and fight for their rights in alien
lands’. Among its plans then was the idea of spreading ‘disaffection among Indian soldiers in the
service of British Imperialism and prepare them to mutiny’. This Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in
Stockton, California, was one of the centres of activity in America in 1912. — gadar.homestead.com
This, however, could not be done in Singapore with the all-Muslim 5th Light Infantry, which was made up of Ranghars, or Rajput Muslims, and Muslim Pathans; the Muslims became the target of Ghadar Party propaganda when the Ottoman Empire entered World War I on Germany’s side. Mehmed V, the empire’s Sultan, was widely regarded as a leading authority in the Muslim world, so when he issued a fatwa calling for all Muslims to oppose the British, it carried a lot of weight.
Factor in the activities of local religious leader Nur Alum Shah and a pro-Turkey Gujerati coffee shop owner, Kassim Mansur – both of whom fed the sepoys with anti-British ideals – and the stage was set for an uprising.
All the situation needed was a match to set Singapore alight …
On Feb 15, 1915, the General Officer Commanding Singapore addressed the regiment’s farewell parade – and did not mention that it was headed for Hong Kong. This triggered the camp rumour mill, with three Indian officers, Subedar Dunde Khan, Jemedar Christi Khan and Jemedar Ali Khan, fanning speculation that the soldiers would be deployed to Europe or, even worse, against Ottoman forces.
At 3.30pm on the same day, four of the eight companies of the Light Infantry rose up, along with 100 men of the Malay States Guides Mule Battery, and killed two British officers who tried to restore order. Dividing themselves into three groups, 100 proceeded to kill 10 British guards as they raided the Tanglin Barracks for ammunition, with three British men escaping to raise the alarm.
The mutineers also tried – mostly in vain – to persuade the 309 Germans interned there to join them.
The soldiers then moved to Keppel Harbour and Pasir Panjang where they killed 18 civilians, while another group laid siege to Col Martin’s home, blocking the route into Singapore town.
In response, the British imposed martial law, and marines from HMS Cadmus were deployed along with British, Malay and Chinese Volunteer units and a small number of British regular troops; Vice-Admiral Sir Martyn Jerram also sent out a radio call for help from any allied warships near Singapore.
By daylight the next day, Feb 16, British troops had successfully retaken the regimental barracks and the mutineers had scattered, fighting sporadic skirmishes with volunteers, sailors and marines.
By Feb 17, three allied ships had arrived: the French cruiser Montcalm, the Russian auxiliary cruiser Orel, and Japanese warships Otowa and Tsushima. With the added deployment, most of the mutineers were killed or wounded, prompting the rebellion to lose direction.
In the aftermath of the mutiny, which finally ended on Feb 20, a court of inquiry was held. The court ran until May 15, and concluded that agents had incited and swayed the mutineers using nationalistic and religious sentiments.
Following this, 200 sepoys faced court-martial, with 47, including Kassim Mansur, executed publicly by firing squad at Outram Prison, in front of over 15,000 spectators. Some 73 more were given terms of imprisonment ranging from seven to 20 years while 64 others were transported for life, bringing to an end one of the more curious episodes of the Great War.