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Major Daljinder Singh Virdee (born March 1990) is a pharmacist, British Army officer, and chairman of the Defence Sikh Network (DSN), who campaigned for the re-introduction of Nitnem Gutkas, Sikh daily prayer books, into the British military.
Daljinder Singh Virdee was born March 1990. He acquired his Master of Pharmacy degree from the University of Reading in 2012.
Virdee worked as technical services pharmacist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, before embarking on a four-week intensive course for professionally qualified officers (PQO) at the British Army's Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He passed-out as a Lieutenant in 2015. [1] Chairman of the Defence Sikh Network (DSN), [2] [3] Virdee has campaigned for the re-introduction of a Nitnem Gutkas, a Sikh daily prayer book, into the British military, which was last issued over a century ago. On 28 October 2022, the book was handed out at the Central Gurdwara temple in London. [4] In November 2022, Virdee presented a copy of the new prayer book and other Sikh literature in a ceremony at the Golden Temple as part of a delegation of British military personnel to Amritsar to participate in an event in memory of the Battle of Saragarhi. [5] The DSN has also advised on the different colours used for turbans in the three branches of the British military. [5] In October 2022, Virdee represented the Defence Sikh Network at a ceremony in Thetford to honour Duleep Singh at St. Andrew and St. Patrick Church, Elveden, Suffolk. [6]
Rawalpindi is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's capital Islamabad, and the two are jointly known as the "twin cities" because of the social and economic links between them.
Ranjit Singh, popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel the Afghans in his teenage years and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.
The following outline is provides an overview of Sikhism, or Sikhi.
Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI, or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, the only child of Maharani Jind Kaur.
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu and Kashmir as a separate princely state under British suzerainty.
The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company that took place in 1848 and 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company.
The Sikh Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army. Sikh regiment is the highest decorated regiment of the Indian Army and in 1979, the 1st battalion was the Commonwealth's most decorated battalion with 245 pre-independence and 82 post-independence gallantry awards, when it was transformed into the 4th battalion, Mechanised Infantry Regiment. The first battalion of the regiment was officially raised just before the partial annexation of the Sikh Empire on 1 August 1846, by the British East India Company. Currently, the Sikh Regimental Centre is located in Ramgarh Cantonment, Jharkhand. The Centre was earlier located in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
Maharani Jind Kaur was regent of the Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846. She was the youngest wife of the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, and the mother of the last Maharaja, Duleep Singh. She was renowned for her beauty, energy and strength of purpose and was popularly known as Rani Jindan, but her fame is derived chiefly from the fear she engendered in the British in India, who described her as "the Messalina of the Punjab".
The Anand Sahib is a collection of hymns in Sikhism, written in the Ramkali Raag by Guru Amar Das Ji, the third Guru of the Sikhs. It appears on the pages 917 to 922 in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The word Anand means complete happiness.
Shabeg Singh, PVSM, AVSM (1925–1984), was a Sikh resistance officer who had previously served in the Indian Army.
The Indian Order of Merit (IOM) was a military and civilian decoration of British India. It was established in 1837, although following the Partition of India in 1947 it was decided to discontinue the award and in 1954 a separate Indian honours system was developed, to act retrospectively to 1947. For a long period of time the IOM was the highest decoration that a native member of the British Indian Army could receive and initially it had three divisions. This was changed in 1911 when Indian servicemen became eligible for the Victoria Cross. A civilian division of the IOM also existed between 1902 and 1939, however, it was only conferred very rarely.
The Battle of Saragarhi was a last-stand battle fought before the Tirah Campaign between the British Raj and Afghan tribesmen. On 12 September 1897, an estimated 12,000 – 24,000 Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen were seen near Gogra, at Samana Suk, and around Saragarhi, cutting off Fort Gulistan from Fort Lockhart. The Afghans attacked the outpost of Saragarhi where thousands of them swarmed and surrounded the fort, preparing to assault it. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, the 21 soldiers in the fort—all of whom were Jat Sikhs—refused to surrender and were wiped out in a last stand. The post was recaptured two days later by another British Indian contingent.
Princess Sophia Alexandrovna Duleep Singh was a prominent suffragette in the United Kingdom. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who had been taken from his kingdom of Punjab to the British Raj, and was subsequently exiled to England. Sophia's mother was Bamba Müller, and her godmother was Queen Victoria. She had four sisters, including two half-sisters, and three brothers. She lived in Hampton Court in an apartment in Faraday House given to her by Queen Victoria as a grace-and-favour home.
English Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.92% of England's population in 2021, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. In 2006 there were 352 gurdwaras in England. The largest Sikh populations in the U.K. are in the West Midlands and Greater London.
Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora was an Indian Army General Officer who was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Eastern Command during the third war with Pakistan in 1971.
Sikhism in Singapore has its roots in the military and policing forces of the British Empire. Currently, there are 12,000-15,000 Sikhs in Singapore. There are 7 Sikh Temples along with a missionary society, a welfare society, two youth organizations and two sports clubs.
Sikhs served in the British Indian Army throughout the British Raj. Sikh units fought at the Battle of Saragarhi; in the First World War, as the "Black Lions", as well as during the Second World War in Malaya, Burma and Italy.
Raja Lal Singh was Wazir of the Sikh Empire and commander of Sikh Khalsa Army forces during the First Anglo-Sikh War. Along with Tej Singh, Lal Singh was in the employ of the East India Company during the course of the war. Lal Singh was regularly supplying information and even receiving instructions from Company officers, communicating through Captain Peter Nicholson.
Ishar Singh, was an Indian-Sikh Havildar and war hero of the 36th Sikhs. He was known leading the regiment on a last stand against the 10-12,000 strong Afghan Army with only 20 other men at the Battle of Saragarhi. After sustaining enough resistance, Singh was fighting alone but refused to surrender and fought to the death along with the rest.
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