The Chattri on the South Downs outside Brighton is an unique Memorial which stands in memory of all Indian soldiers who died during the First World war but it is particularly associated with 53 Hindu and Sikh soldiers, including from the Jullundur Brigade, who died in hospitals in Brighton during 1914-15 and whose remains were cremated on the spot. Twenty one Muslims who died in Brighton were buried in the Shah Jehan Mosque in Woking.
1st Battalion The Manchester Regiment, part of the pre-war Jullundur Brigade in the Lahore Division of the Indian Army Corps, had fought in the battles of the Western Front since the end of September 1914 and then went to Mesopotamia in January 1916. Heavy fighting had been in progress for some time before their arrival with the object of effecting the relief of the troops besieged in Kut el Amara. When the Manchesters joined the Army in camp the bulk of the force was on the left bank of the River Tigris above the River Wadi, while the advanced troops were already in contact with the Turkish Army entrenched in their Umm-el-Hannah position.