Who Were The Ceylon Planters’ Rifle Corps?

At a First World War memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula, off the coast of Turkey, the gravestones of three soldiers identify them as belonging to the Ceylon Planters’ Rifle Corps.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, Ceylon was a British colony, and therefore fought on the side of the Allies. The Corps were the island’s most significant military contribution to the war effort, and went on to fight in the Second World War.