Singh came from Ramgarhia
Sikh family of
Rasulpur, near
Batala,
Punjab,
British India, and showed early talent. He is supposed to have repaired the piano of the Deputy Commissioner of
Amritsar when he was 13, despite being unfamiliar with the instrument. He became a student at the Mayo School of Arts (now
National College of Arts), in
Lahore, founded in 1875, and became a protege of the principal
Lockwood Kipling, father of
Rudyard Kipling. He became assistant drawing master at the school, and eventually, its principal from 1903 to 1913, as well as designing its building. In 1885-7 he worked with Kipling, decorating the "Indian Passage" and ballroom at
Bagshot Park for the
Duke of Connaught, Queen Victoria's third son, who he had met in India when the duke was Commander-in-Chief of the
Bombay Army from December 1886 to March 1890. This led to the Osborne House commission, and other work in Britain.
Queen Victoria met him when he was working at Osborne in January 1891 and her diaries describe him as "a very intelligent, pleasant, nice man, a Seikh [sp. 'Sikh']; we looked at sketches he had made for the decoration of the room". He became Principal of Mayo School of Arts in 1910 and the following year he was made an MVO (Member of the
Royal Victorian Order by
King George V. He retired in 1913 and died in Lahore, three year later in 1916 aged 58. File:Close view of Lahore Museum.jpg|
Lahore Museum, begun 1890 File:Front elevation, Aitchison College.jpg|
Aitchison College, begun 1886 File:National College of Arts in Lahore.jpg|
National College of Arts (Mayo School),
Lahore File:Islamia College Peshawar mosque interior.jpg|The mosque,
Islamia College, Peshawar, 1913 File:Chamba House, Lahore.JPG|Chamba House, Lahore ==Notes==