Kanwar Prithvi Pal Singh Of Chahlari (1875- 1917) He was son of Kunwar Fateh Singh Of Chahlari and grandson of Kunwar Kashmira Singh Of Lahore, was born into Bhatti Jatsikh Family, He was adopted by following the rituals prescribed by the religious tenets of the Sikh faith. He attended the Talukvala School in Lucknow and in 1898, married Rani Pritam Kaur, the daughter of SardarLal Singh Mann of Mananwala, Sheikhupura District. After several years, Rani Lachmann Kaur and her son Prithvi Pal Singh, desired to return to Punjab but eventually settled at Gujranwala as it was historically connected to their ancestors;
Sardar Mahan Singh and Maharaja Ranjit Singh. They purchased over a 1000 acres of land in various villages and four acres in the Civil Lines area, which was initially developed as a township by the British for its officers. This formed the heart of Gujranwala. On this land, Prithvi Pal Singh built a huge mansion with an orchard of Malta trees, adjoining the Company Bagh and a Church. The newly built Gujranwala Railway Station was also near-by. In addition to this, he also purchased a
‘Chak’ (landed property) comprising 625 acres in the Tehsil of Toba Tek Singh in Lyallpur District (now Faisalabad District, Pakistan). It is imperative to mention that at the time, the income generated from just 1 acre of land in Lyallpur District was equal to 100 acres elsewhere in Punjab.
His philanthropic contributions were boundless. He donated handsomely to various charities and worthy causes. This included two acres of his own land to Khalsa School at Gujranwala, which later became Khalsa College, and after the Partition of 1947, the school shifted to Ludhiana. He was elected President of the school, until his untimely death in 1917.
His death was deeply mourned by the public and the Sikh community of Gujranwala. He was also the Vice- President of the first ever Sikh Educational Conference that was held in Gujranwala in 1914. After 1947, the orphanage which was established by him, along with his mother, continued to serve the community.He lastly served as the Honorary Magistrate of Gujranwala and was President of the Khalsa Committee. He was succeeded by six children; Raminder Pal Kaur (she married Sardar Devinder Singh of Sohana, near Ambala), Mohinder Pal Singh, Rajinder Pal Singh, Rajinder Pal Kaur (she married Sardar Jagjit Singh of Siranwali) and Bhupinder Pal Singh. After the Partition of 1947, Kanwar Mohinder Pal Singh and his younger brother Kanwar Rajinder Pal Singh shifted briefly to Sangrur in Punjab.
In 1958, Kanwar Mohinder Pal Singh, then purchased a large property constituting of five acres of land called ‘Craig Top Estate’ in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. The present head of the family is Kanwar Nripinder Pal Singh, who is unmarried.
Interestingly, Motilal Nehru and his son Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, post Independence stayed at the historic house while Motilal Nehru had been recuperating from health issues way back in 1914.