Biographical

LABH SINGH. BABU (1895-1947), Akali politician, was born in 1895 at the village of Lasara, in Jalandhar district, the son of Dula Singh. He spent his early youth at Quetta and passed his Matriculation examination from the high school there. In 1914, he took up service in the army as a clerk. Like all clerks, he was addressed there as "Babu", which prefix stuck to his name for the rest of his life. He resigned his job as a protest against the killing of Sikhs at Nankana Sahib on 20 February 1921, and joined the campaign for the reform of Gurdwara management.

MAN SINGH, RISALDAR MAJOR (d. 1892), son of Deva Singh of Rariala, in Gujrariwala district, now in Pakistan, was a soldier in Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army." He was attached to Raja Suchct Singh`s force. He took part in the capture of Peshawar (1834) and then entered Raja Hira Singh`s brigade as a cavalry adjutant. He fought against the British in the first AngloSikh war at Mudki, Ferozeshah and Sabhraori. After the hostilities ceased, he was stationed at Lahore in command of a troop of fifty horse. In 1848, he was sent to Amritsar. After the second AngloSikh war his troop was disbanded and he retired on a pension. In 1852, he joined the police under Col. R. Lawrence, and remained in the force until 1857.

MIT SINGH PADHANIA (d. 1814), soldier, commander and jdgirddr under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was the son of Sukkha Singh Padhama, and entered the service of the Sukkarchakkia mislunder Mahari Singh, who assigned to him a^agirworth Rs 12,000 annually. In 1804, in Ranjit Singh`s reign, he had command of 500 horse. He took part in Ranjit Singh`s occupation of Lahore (1799) and distinguished himself in the Kasur (1807) and Kashmir (1814) expeditions. He was killed in action during the retreat of the Sikh forces from Kashmir in 1814. Ranjit Singh assigned to his son,Javala Singh, additional estates worth Rs 1,25,000 in HaripurGuler, in Karigra district.

NARINDER SINGH, MAHARAJA (1824-1862), born at Patiala on 26 November 1824, succeeded his father, Maharaja Karam Singh, to the Patiala throne on 18 January 1846. Narinder Singh aided the British with supplies and carriage during the first AngloSikh war and was rewarded with additional estates, especially from Nabha territory. After the annexation of the Sikh State of Lahore to the British dominions in March 1849, the Patiala ruler was generally acknowledged as a spokesman for the Sikh community. Maharaja Narinder Singh cemented his alliance with the British by his ready support of guns, carriage, loans and troops during the uprising of 1857.

PARTAP SINGH, coming from the village of Sharikar in the district of Jalandhar, had won repute for his regularity of habit and strong sense of discipline. He had been a Viceroy commissioned officer (Jamadar) in the Punjab army. He had been able to spend his early years at school. He seemed well to understand the value of the three R`s and had sent up one of his sons to the university. That was Swaran Singh who received his Master`s degree in Physics at the University of the Punjab. He had a fabulous career as a minister in Jawaharlal Nehru`s government after Independence.

RAM SINGH CHHAPEVALA (d. 1840) was a man of note who fought in the battles of Ramnagar, Cheliarivala and Gujrat during the second AngloSikh war of 1848-49. His father. Dial Singh, was born in a poor peasant family of the village of Dadumajra, in Sialkot district of the Punjab. Recruited as a trooper in the army of Tara Singh of the Kanhaiya misi. Dial Singh served his master in many of his expeditions. Ram Singh along with his brother Kishan Singh lived at Chhapa, a village in Amritsar district. Maharaja Ranjit Singh took Ram Singh and his brother in his service and gave them command of five hundred sowars under Prince Kharak Singh.

SADHU SINGH BHAURA, JATHEDAR (1905-1984), Sikh missionary who rose to be the Jathedar or high priest of Sri Akal Takhat, Amritsar, was born the son of Bhai Ran Singh and Mai Atam Kaur, on 6 June 1905 at Chakk No. 7, a village in Lyallpur district (now in Pakistan). After matriculating from Khalsa High School, Lyallpur (where Master Tara Singh, later a leading figure in Sikh politics, was the headmaster), he joined police service and served at Quetta from 1923 to 1925 before resigning to take part in the Akali agitation for Gurdwara reform.

SEVA SINGH KRIPAN BAHADUR (1890-1961), Akali activist and newspaper editor, was the son of Bhai Harnam Singh and Mai Prem Kaur of Bakhtgarh, village 18 km northwest of Barnala (30"22`N, 75"32`E), in Sangrur district of the Punjab. Born in 1890, he received lessons in Punjabi and in scripture reading in the local gurdwara. He enlisted in the Indian army (Bengal Sappers and Miners) in 1908 and served in Mesopotamia (present Iraq) during World WarI.

SUJAN SINGH SODHI (1870-1915), educationist and reformer, was born in 1870, the son of Sodhi Kishan Singh of Patiala. He took his intermediate examination at Mohindra College, Patiala, from where he went to Government College, Lahore, to receive his B.A. In 1980, he joined Mohindra College as professor of philosophy, a post he held for the next 20 years, doing between whiles short stints as principal of Khalsa College at Amritsar (1900) and as senior inspector of schools, Patiala. In 1910, soon after assumption of the reins of government on attaining his majority, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (1891-1938) appointed Sodhi Sujan Singh his foreign minister, but he laid down office three years later owing to failing health.

TEJA SINGH, BABU (1867-1933), leader of the Bhasaur school of fundamentalism, was born on 20 January 1867, the son of`Subadar Sudh Singh and Jion Kaur of the village of Bhasaur in present day Sangrur district of the Punjab. His original name was Narain Singh. Having received his preliminary education in Punjabi and gurbam or the Sikh sacred texts under Baba Fateh Singh Virakt of Bhasaur (d. 1875), he studied in Government Primary School, Lang, near Patiala, and matriculated from City High School, Patiala, in 1882.