Background
Disunity and discontent in regiment
Even before its departure from India the 5th Light Infantry suffered from weak senior leadership and discord amongst its British officers (see details of Court of Inquiry report below). To compound the problem, the sepoys themselves were divided into two major cliques. One was led by theMutiny
On 27 January 1915, Colonel Martin announced that the 5th Light Infantry was to be transferred to Hong Kong for further garrison duties, replacing another Indian regiment. However, rumours were circulated among the sepoys that they might instead be sent to Europe or to the Ottoman Empire to fight against their Muslim co-religionists. Three Indian officers, Subedar Dunde Khan, Jemedar Christi Khan, and Jemedar Ali Khan, were later to be identified by a court of enquiry as key conspirators in the matter. When the final order to sail to Hong Kong aboard the ''Nile'' arrived in February 1915, they and other ringleaders among the sepoys decided that it was time to rebel. On the morning of 15 February, the General Officer Commanding Singapore addressed a farewell parade of the regiment, complimenting the sepoys on their excellent turnout and referring to their departure the next day, without mentioning Hong Kong as the destination. At 3:30 pm on the afternoon of the same day, four Rajput companies of the eight companies making up the 5th Light Infantry mutinied. The mostly Pathan sepoys of the remaining four companies did not join the mutiny but scattered in confusion. Two British officers of the regiment were killed as they attempted to restore order. The mutineers divided themselves into three groups. A party of 100 went to obtain ammunition from Tanglin Barracks, where 309 Germans, including crew members from the German light cruiser SMS ''Emden'', had been interned by the British. The mutineers fired on the camp guards and officers without warning, killing ten British guards, three Johore troops present in the camp and one German internee. Amongst the dead were Second Lieutenant John Love Montgomerie, Rifles; Sergeant G. Wald, (Reserve) Engineers; Corporal D. McGilvray, Rifles; Corporal G.O. Lawson, Cyclist Scouts; Lance Corporal J.G.E. Harper, Rifles; Private B.C. Cameron, Rifles; Private F.S. Drysdale, Rifles; Private A.J.G. Holt, Rifles and Stoker 1st Class C. F. Anscombe, HMS Cadmus. Three Britons and one German were wounded but survived the attack, as did eight Royal Army Medical Corps personnel in the camp hospital, including one who managed to escape under heavy fire to raise the alarm. The mutineers tried to persuade the Germans to join them, but many of the latter were shaken by the sudden violence and reluctant to do so. Some German sailors and reservists wanted to join with the mutineers, but the majority adopted a neutral stance, refusing to accept rifles from the Indians. Thirty-five Germans escaped but the rest remained in the barracks. As it was the middle of the Chinese New Year, most of the Chinese Volunteers Corps were on leave, leaving Singapore almost defenceless against the mutiny. The British government was caught unprepared, and other mutineers went on a killing spree atMalay States Guides
Attached to the 5th Light Infantry at Alexandra Barracks were a detachment of 97 Indian officers and men of the Malay States Guides (MSG) Mule Battery. Raised in 1896 for the internal garrisoning of the Federated Malay States, the regiment was recruited from Sikhs, Pathans and Punjabis in both India and Malaya. The British officer commanding the battery was shot dead by an unknown sniper as he hastened to the gun park. The MSG gunners then dispersed when a large body of 5th Light Infantry mutineers approached their lines. The MSG artillery pieces were abandoned but not brought into action by the mutineers. Seven men of the MSG were subsequently arrested in Outram Road, Singapore while they were carrying rifles, which had been fired. They were court-martialed and sentenced to a year in prison.Killing of women civilians
Among the civilian fatalities during the mutiny were thirteen British men; one British woman, Mrs. G.B. Woolcombe (her death was later assumed by the British authorities to have possibly been unintended); two Chinese women; one Chinese man; and two Malay men. The fact that only one British woman was killed was often ignored in the reports that followed the mutiny. For instance, in a long letter detailing her experience during the mutiny, a British woman who was an eyewitness to the incident misleadingly wrote in to ''The Times'' that the sepoys had "deliberately shot at every European man or woman they saw" and that "21 English men and women were buried yesterday" (26 March 1915). Sir Evelyn Ellis, a member of the Legislative Council in Singapore and of the official court of enquiry that investigated the mutiny, publicly described the revolt as "part of a scheme for the murder of women and children". More than 15 years later, in 1932, a journalist in Penang, George Bilainkin, wrote that during the mutiny, the sepoys had "knifed and shot white men and women indiscriminately".Final suppression
On 17 February, the French cruiser '' Montcalm,'' followed by the Russian auxiliary cruiser ''Orel'' and Japanese warships '' Otowa'' and '' Tsushima'' arrived. Seventy-five Japanese sailors, 22 Russians and 190 French marines were landed to round up mutineers who had taken refuge in the jungle to the north of Singapore. They were joined in this operation by 60 soldiers of the 36th Sikhs who were passing through Singapore, plus Singaporean police, British sailors and Malay States Volunteer Rifles. Lacking strong leadership, the mutiny had started to lose direction – a large number of the mutineers surrendered immediately, and the rest scattered in small groups into the jungles. Many tried to cross theRussian role and reservations
News of the mutiny reached the Russian Consul-General in Singapore, N.A. Rospopov, on the morning of 16 February 1915 through a Russian citizen who was a patient at a charity hospital in Singapore. As offices were closed for Chinese New Year and the town in a state of siege, Rospopov had difficulty finding formal and conclusive information about the mutiny through official sources. It was only a day later, on 17 February, that the Russians, having been advised by their Japanese allies, dispatched the ''Orel'' to assist the British in putting down the mutiny. It was only on the 18 February that Rospopov eventually received a telegram from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and another from the Commander of the Russian Pacific Squadron, AdmiralJapanese role and reservations
On 16 February 1915, the Third Squadron of the Japanese Navy received a telegram from the Military Attaché Araki Jiro via Ma-Kung in the Formosa Straits (the main base of the Squadron) requesting Japanese help. The Otowa and Tsushima were sent immediately for Singapore. Although help was sent and well received by the British Navy in Singapore, the Japanese Navy was hesitant about doing so initially. Commanding Officer of the Third Squadron, Rear Admiral Tsuchiya Mitsukane had apparently expressed his displeasure in dispatching help as he believed that being a signatory of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, Japan should not interfere in the internal affairs of another country without attaching collateral conditions. Also, Tsuchiya had recalled how a British ship once anchored at Chilung refused to help put down a Taiwanese revolt on Japan. Seeing that Tsuchiya had no choice but to follow orders from the Japanese Government and Naval Headquarters, Tsuchiya secretly advised his land force not to kill or wound any Sepoy intentionally but to simply encourage them to surrender as the former had no enmity with the latter. According to The General Staff of the British Military Headquarters, “in reality the Japanese did not do much…and it was found desirable to disband them as early as possible”. This was apparently in reference to the organisation by their consul-general of 190 armed special constables from the Japanese community in Singapore. However, from the point of view of Japanese politicians, Japan's entry into the mutiny was also a form of projecting Japanese power and strength in the region.Inquiry and public executions
On 23 February 1915, a Court of Inquiry was held, at first meeting ''in camera'' but then in public sessions. It prepared a 450-page report dated 15 May 1915. Although extensive discord amongst both officers and men of the 5th Light Infantry was identified, the cause of the mutiny was not conclusively established. The focus of the report was on possible external German influences, plus internal regimental causes of the mutiny. More than 205 sepoys were tried by court-martial, and 47 were publicly executed, including Kassim Mansoor. Most soldiers killed were Muslims from theCauses
Ineffectiveness of commanding officer
The specifically military grievances that led to the mutiny of the 5th Light Infantry centred on the personality of the commanding officer at the time, Lieutenant-Colonel E. V. Martin. He had been promoted from major in the regiment, but the previous colonel had reported that he was unpopular with his fellow officers and that he inspired little respect among the men. His appointment led to disunity amongst the British officers, which was reflected by division among the Indian officers over the promotion to commissioned rank of a colour-havildar. The issues, which might, under ordinary circumstances, have been of limited impact, were aggregated by the disruptive external influences of the Ghadar Party propaganda noted above and the entry of Turkey into the war. According to the Court of Inquiry, 'the prime cause of this lamentable episode' was the responsibility of Colonel Martin. Described as a "loner" for whom officers had little respect, Martin's primary fault was that he was too trusting, to the point of naivety. While he cared for the welfare of his men and saw that their living conditions were improved, he was described as being too much of a "soldier’s friend", to the point that other British officers found that this attitude and work ethic of Martin's severely undermined their authority over the sepoys. Over time, that served to erode the respect that the British officers and even the sepoys had for him. Colonel Egerton at the India Office commented that the British officers serving under Colonel Martin were comparable to "sheep without a shepherd", avoiding and avoided by Martin whom they should have looked to for guidance. The sepoys were accused of deftly noticing this discontent and disunity among their British officers and then taking advantage of it to mutiny.Role of pan-Islamism
Within less than a week of the mutiny, a Court of Inquiry was set up to investigate and collect evidence for the trial for the mutineers. Although the Court of Inquiry was meant to take place behind closed doors, in accordance with standard military procedures, the proceeding was held in public instead. According to Harper and Miller this was to give the public the impression that the mutineers “were being tried for mutiny and shooting with intent to kill and not, as alleged for refusal to go to the Ottoman Empire". Although the Court of Inquiry was clearly trying to downplay the link between Turkey and the mutiny, with the declassification of new documents and evidence, another perception has emerged in explaining the cause of the mutiny and that is the role of pan-Islamism. Contrary to official British colonial authorities, the mutiny was not an isolated case of a purely local affair but was instead part of a wider anti-British and pro-Muslim battle. When Turkey decided to join in the war on the side of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy), the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed V. Reshad (1844–1918) declared a jihad against the Allied Powers (Britain, France and Russia) and issued a fatwa calling on Muslims all around the world to throw their lot with the Caliphate. This move had a huge impact on Muslims throughout the world as the Ottoman Sultan was revered as the Caliph of Islam and long considered by Indian Muslims as the final bulwark of Muslim power following the collapse of the Mughal empire in India. Overnight, Muslims serving under the British Army, such as the sepoys, faced an existential dilemma and their loyalty being torn between their ummah (community, brotherhood) and their British colonial superiors. For the Muslim sepoys in the 5th Light Infantry, interaction with Kasim Mansur, who was an Indian Muslim merchant in Singapore, served to fuel this sense of divided loyalties further. Kasim Mansur together with a local imam, Nur Alam Shah, would often host members of the 5th Light Infantry at Mansur's home and it was then that the duo persuaded the Muslim sepoys to adhere to the fatwa issued by the Ottoman Sultan. They were encouraged to turn their guns against their British commanding officers and contribute towards the war against the kafirs who were battling Muslim brothers who were defending the Caliphate in the West. It was within this context that the plan was hatched for the mutiny.Global connection
It is difficult to identify any one reason as being the main cause or catalyst of the mutiny. However, a recent perspective has emerged of the role of global connections. The mutiny had revealed the permeable nature of colonial boundaries and the way that external influences affected the British possessions in Southeast Asia. The sepoys of the 5th Light Infantry were constantly receiving information about what was happening outside of Singapore. The British Court of Inquiry speculated that as the news of the fatwa issued by the Ottoman Sultan spread, an anti-British movement spearheaded by the Ghadar Party was also disseminating special pamphlets in a variety of languages which were reaching through secret channels into the hands of the sepoys. Acrimonious slogans against the British only fuelled the anti-colonial sentiment among the sepoys. Some of the slogans were “the wicked English and their allies are now attacking Islam, but the German Emperor and the Sultan of Turkey have sworn to liberate Asia from the tyranny. Now is the time to rise.... Only your strength and religious zeal are required”. The sepoys were clearly being bombarded with a lot of anti-British sentiments while being stationed on the small island of Singapore. However, Ghadar sources in the United States of America revealed that there was very little evidence to connect the Singapore Mutiny to the Ghadar Party itself, and even though the Ghadar party did seek to take credit for the mutiny after the event, the Ghadar Party headquarters in San Francisco had so little contact with the accused in the ensuing trials, that its publications were reporting that the "Indians of Singapore were still executing the British" and that "some of the portion is under the possession of the Ghadar party' as late as April 1915. There was also awareness in Singapore of the Komagata Maru incident in which Canadian authorities refused to allow a ship with 376 Indian passengers to land and forced them to stay aboard for two months in difficult conditions. On its way back to India, while the ship docked in Singapore, the Governor-General of Singapore remarked that “though the ship had no communication with the land, yet it left a bad effect” on the Indian troops stationed there. It appears that information was reaching the sepoys through a wide range of channels, from origins as diverse and distant as North America, Britain, the Ottoman Empire and India. Much of this information was obtained locally, but even so it was being mediated through a host of international and external actors, including a wide array of Indians from across the subcontinent, British officers and Arab and Malay coreligionists.Aftermath
Setting up of Special Branch Unit and other related initiatives
The 1915 mutiny was a watershed event in the way that the British viewed security in their Malayan colonies. More importance than ever was placed on political intelligence, espionage, and the surveillance of potential subversives. Following the mutiny, a political intelligence bureau was established in Singapore under direct command and control of Major General Dudley Howard Ridout, General-Officer-Commanding (GOC) Singapore. This eventually paved the way for the formation of the Criminal Intelligence Department ( Special Branch) was set up in 1919. Other institutions were also formed with the purpose of providing feedback and monitoring activities on the ground. To enhance the protection of its crown colony further from internal skirmishes and attacks, in August 1915, the legislative council passed the Reserve Force and Civil Guard Ordinance. This was the first Act passed in a British colony which imposed compulsory military service on all male subjects between the ages 15 to 55 who were not in the armed forces, volunteers, or police. Additionally, a Reserve force in the Volunteer Corps was created for fit men over the age 40. From the slew of new initiatives enforced, it was clear that the British had taken the debacle of the mutiny as a serious lesson to learn from and to prevent from happening again.In literature
Currently, there are only two fictional works in English that deal with the subject of the Singapore mutiny. The first is Isobel Mountain's novel, ''A Maiden in Malaya'', written shortly after the mutiny in 1919. The other is '' Rogue Raider: The Tale of Captain Lauterbach and the Singapore Mutiny'', written in 2006. The two stories deal with very different narratives. In Mountain's novel, the plot revolves around a romance between the protagonist Elizabeth Tain and Peter Fenton, a rubber planter. The author projects the mutineers in a standard imperial or colonialist interpretation, with the mutineers being painted in wholly unattractive colours, with no redeeming qualities while hinting at their lustful nature. Mountain's representation of the sepoys can be considered an echo of the colonial reportage of the rogue sepoys. Barley, however, took on a humorous tone and revolved around the adventures of the Captain Julius Lauterbach of the German Imperial Navy. The humorous nature of the book underplays and potentially undermines the actual set of events. Supported by the Singapore Film Commission and the Singapore High Commission in India, Daljit Ami made an Objectifs Residency-sponsored 2017 feature-length documentary ''Singapore Mutiny – A Reclamation'' in English and ''Saada Singapore'' in Punjabi.Commemoration
To commemorate the event and the British soldiers and civilians killed during the mutiny, two memorial tablets were erected at the entrance of theSee also
* Indians in Singapore **References
Notes
Bibliography
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singapore Mutiny Conflicts in 1915 Mass murder in 1915 British rule in Singapore Hindu–German Conspiracy History of Singapore Indian independence movement Indian diaspora in Singapore Mutinies Events that led to courts-martial Military discipline and World War I Singapore Mutiny, 1915 1915 murders in Asia