Neil Carleton, Senior Documentation Officer, Victoria and Albert Museum

Saturday 1st April 2017: Newarke Houses Museum, Leicester 1pm – 3pm

As part of the SMI exhibition Anglo Sikh Wars: Battles, Treaties and Relics.

For the last twenty years Neil Carleton has studied the history and development of Sikh artillery during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many pieces were captured during the Anglo-Sikh Wars and brought to Europe as trophies. His research has helped identify surviving examples of Sikh cannon in museum collections that remained little known about or largely unrecognised.

This talk outlines their development and the story behind how they came to be preserved as potent symbols of the military strength and sophistication of the former Sikh Kingdom of Lahore. It also shows their historical significance as works of art and examples of the metalworking skills and technical expertise of Panjabi craftsmen and engineers.