Lesson 1: Part 1

START by giving out the images from within Resources A1, A2, A3 and A4  as a set of cards to small groups (the context to each image is provided below). Ask each group to:

  • place the images in a circle on a large piece of
    paper;
  • draw lines across and between the images linking them together.

NEXT, within a set time limit, ask groups to discuss how particular images might link together and write their suggestions along the
lines between the images.

THEN display the same series of images in the PowerPoint from Resource B showing each image in turn, leading a discussion about how a particular image might link to another one.

(Note: The aim of this starter activity is to elicit any prior learning that the sight of a particular image might trigger and to gather suggested links between the images, which can be referred to at the end of this stage of the enquiry.)

Context of each image from Resources A and B:

Image 1 The Koh-I-Noor (Persian for ‘Mountain of Light') diamond in its original setting. It was confiscated from the Sikh State by the British East India Company after the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 and subsequently presented to Queen Victoria. In England, it was cut down to almost half its original size in an attempt to make it more attractive to European eyes.

Image 2 A cloth cornflower worn as a symbol of remembrance in France for French soldiers who died during the First World War.

Image 3 A British Victorian print showing Sir Henry Hardinge, British Governor-General of India and his officers surveying the battlefield at Ferozeshah (a village in Punjab, North India) on the first night of this crucial battle during the first Anglo-Sikh War in December 1845 when British forces faced defeat. The images
show exhausted British soldiers sleeping amid the British dead.

Image 4 The Guru Granth Sahib or holy scriptures of the Sikh religion. It contains poetry written by several of the ten Sikh Gurus. It also contains the devotional writings of Hindu and Muslim saints who expressed the same universal message as the Sikh Gurus. It was first compiled in 1604, the same year that the King James's Bible project had begun in Europe.

Image 5 The sword of the Duke of Wellington previously belonging to Napoleon the First and given by Wellington to Sir Henry Hardinge, British Governor-General of India.  Hardinge sent this sword off the battlefield for safe keeping with his son during the Battle of Ferozeshah in 1845 when his forces faced defeat by the Sikh army.

Image 6 A replica of the crown of the late Queen Mother, with the Koh-i-noor diamond set within it. The historic Koh-i-noor diamond was one of the most precious treasures of the Sikh Kingdom, which was taken over by the British East India Company following two battles in 1846 and 1849. From the time of its gift to Queen Victoria it has formed part of the British Crown Jewels and by tradition is only worn by women.

Image 7 The village church at Elveden in Norfolk where the last ruler of the Sikh Kingdom, Maharaja Duleep Singh was buried in 1893. After his kingdom was annexed by the British he lived in exile on a nearby country estate as an English gentleman. Sikhs from around the world visit his grave to this day.

Image 8 The Victoria Cross, the United Kingdom's highest award for military service. In May 1915 on the Western Front in France, Lieutenant John Smyth, a young British officer commanding Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army was awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery. Eight out of the ten Sikh soldiers who volunteered to accompany him on his dangerous mission of delivering bombs across open land were killed or severely wounded. All of the Sikh soldiers in Smyth's party were also awarded medals.


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