A souvenir book commemorating the visit to England of 1,800 Indian troops in the Autumn of 1919 to acknowledge the role the Indian Armed Forces played during the First World War.

Representatives of the Indian Army had been unable to attend the large Victory Parade through London in July 1919 due to an outbreak of influenza aboard their ship. King George V decided they should have a separate celebration after their arrival which took place on 2 August and involved a procession from Waterloo Station to Buckingham Palace. There the King inspected the troops on the East Lawn, presented several awards, and gave a speech thanking them for their service which General Sir Frederick Campbell repeated in Urdu.

The Indian troops remained in Britain until mid-September 1919, camped in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, during which time the artist William Luker painted watercolour portraits of the officers and soldiers.  The India Office used Luker’s portraits to illustrate this commemorative publication. In 1930, the artist offered the original watercolours to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, for £400, which he accepted, and they now form part of the collection of the Rashtrapti Bhavan Museum in New Delhi.

This copy of the volume is bound in leather with gold tooling on the cover and silk doublures and was a presentation copy for King George V.