Sardar Tara Singh was born on 14 February 1898 in Sunam. He was the eldest son of Captain Ram Singh and Sardarni Jai Kaur. Ram Singh was then a serving member of Her Majesty’s Army as a subedar in the 15th Sikh Regiment. Nowshera was a fair distance from Sunam, and depending on when Ram Singh could get away from the regiment, young Tara Singh spent very limited time with his father. Sardarni Jai Kaur looked after Tara Singh during the whole time that Subedar Ram Singh was away in London taking part in the coronation celebration of King Edward VII. Upon his return from London, Subedar Ram Singh was promoted to be the Subedar Major of a newly raised regiment, the 67th Punjabis, and was posted to Multan. Tara Singh and his mother joined Ram Singh at Multan. Being the only child in the regiment at that time, he was pampered like a young prince. Being the son of a Subedar Major who was held in high esteem, Tara Singh was accompanied by an orderly, who was in constant attendance and saw to all his needs. As a result of the constant companionship of an English soldier, Tara Singh began to speak English at a very young age, even before he had started school. Whenever any regimental photographs were taken, the young Tara Singh was always asked by the regimental Colonel G.W. Maxwell to join in. Colonel Maxwell was so fond of the young boy that he called him Tara Singh Bahadur and presented him with a ceremonial sword inscribed: ‘Presented to Tara Singh Bahadur, From his friend Colonel G.W. Maxwell’. The sword has survived all this time and is in the family’s possession. When the regiment moved to Fort Lockhart, Tara Singh returned to Sargodha along with his mother and resumed his studies.