Leicester City Museums Service is appealing for information from the South Asian community to help with displays in its new galleries. The museum service is currently preparing for a £1.5 million refurbishment of Newarke Houses, its museum of social history. A very important part of the city’s history is the military service of the Leicestershire Regiment, which served in pre-partition India. The museum service is searching for links the Regiment would have had with people living in pre-partition India.

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment, known as ‘The Tigers’, served almost continuously in the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan from 1804 to 1947, and proudly had as its badge the Royal Bengal Tiger and the legend ‘Hindoostan’. Founded in 1688, the Regiment fought in various conflicts over the years and served as part of the British Empire around the world. In 1946, the title of ‘Royal’ was conferred upon the Regiment in honour of the outstanding service and sacrifice by so many Leicestershire men.

Leicester City Museum Service is very keen to add to its collections in the new regimental wing of Newarke Houses Museum. Of particular interest would be memories, letters, photographs, press coverage and any other souvenirs from people who may have encountered the Regiment in the Indian subcontinent. The Tigers served alongside many famous regiments including the Baluch Regiment (who still serve within the Pakistan Army), the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Punjabis to name a few. The Tigers and also had its own Indian platoon in the 1930s.

Between the 1830s and 1930s, the Regiment spent much of its time in the North West Frontier, including fighting in the wars against Afghanistan in 1839 and 1878-1879. It also served on the Northwest Frontier in the 1930s, stationed at Multan and Razmak. It also served in Razani and Bodari Sar, encountering border skirmishes with the Mahsuds and Waziris. Several soldiers of the Leicestershire Regiment are buried in the Karachi and Rawalpindi War Cemeteries. During World War II, the Regiment undertook training in the Sindh Desert.

The Regiment might be remembered for time spent in Ambala (1929-1933), Jubalpur (1937-38), Agra (1940) and Mumbai and Pune (1945-1947). The Tigers celebrated their 250th anniversary at Jabalpur in 1938, a ceremony at which the Viceroy of India was present.

The overall aim of this particular piece of research is to discover what contact and relationship the Regiment had with the local population, with a particular emphasis on people they served alongside or fought against. Researchers are particularly keen to make contact with people who may have had commercial or other links with the Regiment such as army supply businesses, dhobis, cooks or bearers in army messes etc. Researchers also want to make contact with people who made friends with soldiers from the Regiment.

Present day Leicester has a diverse population of residents of various ethnicities. The city boasts a population of 280,000, over a third of who are from culturally specific backgrounds. Leicester has the third largest Hindu population in England and Wales, the tenth largest Sikh community and the 17th largest Muslim population (source: 2001 Census). It is destined to become the first UK city where the multicultural residents will be the majority rather than the minority.

If you have any information that could help with this research, stories you may have heard, old photographs or any other memorabilia related to the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, please contact 0116 252 7374 or email sher.syed@leicester.gov.uk