5th Light Infantry mutiny in Singapore

Who: About 700 men of the 5th Light Infantry, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; Wikipedia says four of its eight companies mutinied. The regiment was made up entirely of Muslims, mainly Ranghars and Pathans, so this was not a Sikh mutiny. Its commander was Lt-Col E. V. Martin. Those who put it down included 60 soldiers of the 36th Sikhs, who were passing through, and landing parties from French, Russian and Japanese warships.

What: Rumours spread that the regiment, told on 27 January that it would go to Hong Kong, would be sent to Europe or against the Ottoman Empire instead. A Court of Inquiry blamed Martin's leadership, and Wikipedia adds rival cliques among the Indian officers. At about 3.30 pm on 15 February 1915 four companies mutinied. A party attacked the Tanglin barracks, where 309 interned Germans were held, and others killed civilians; Wikipedia says the mutineers killed 36 soldiers and civilians. Warships arrived on 17 February, and by that evening 432 mutineers had been captured. The round-up ended on 20 February.

The counts of those tried differ. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says 126 were court-martialled, 37 sentenced to death and 41 transported for life. Wikipedia says more than 205 were tried and 47 shot by firing squad at Outram Road before about 15,000 onlookers. The Tribune says 205 were court-martialled and 42 executed.

The Ghadar link is suspected, not shown. The Court of Inquiry suggested Ghadar Party pamphlets had reached the sepoys, but Wikipedia says Ghadar sources show little direct evidence, and the party later claimed credit. Nur Alam Shah, a local imam exposed as a nationalist with Ghadar links, was detained and deported, not tried. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism lists the Malaya State Guides among the units that came out in the open in 1915, and Wikipedia says seven Guides men arrested on Outram Road with recently fired rifles were jailed for a year.

Where: Singapore, at the regiment's barracks, the Tanglin barracks and the roads into the town, with the executions outside Outram Road prison.

Why it mattered: The Ghadr party's paper reached Singapore and Malaya, and its men worked among Indians there, where gurdwaras became centres of political activity, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. That encyclopaedia also says the Komagata Maru passengers were refused landing at Singapore, where several had their homes, and the mutiny came less than five months after the clash at Budge Budge on 29 September 1914 that ended the Komagata Maru voyage. A political intelligence bureau was set up in Singapore afterwards, which Wikipedia says led to the Special Branch of 1919, and the regiment left for Africa on 3 July 1915.