Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles

[jamesday]

Does anyone have any knowledge of this tea planter based militia? I am researching an A H Peacock who started WW1 with them and then came back west to join the ASC. I have a copy of their 34th Annual Report 1914-15.

James

[oowebb]

James,

They were part of the Indian Volunteer Force. Can you confirm if Peacock was an O/R or an officer? I would certainly be interested in seeing the annual report that you have, I am a collector of Indian Volunteers but there is very little printed matter available on them. I will see what I can dig out when I get home tonight.

Nick.

[jamesday]

Nick

Just an O/R I believe. He was in ‘K’ squadron, 2nd (Kalchini) Troop, with 30 other troopers under a Major Wood in 1914/15.

I am in Surrey.

James

James,

They were part of the Indian Volunteer Force. Can you confirm if Peacock was an O/R or an officer? I would certainly be interested in seeing the annual report that you have, I am a collector of Indian Volunteers but there is very little printed matter available on them. I will see what I can dig out when I get home tonight.

Nick.

[jdonovan]

James,

They were part of the Indian Volunteer Force. Can you confirm if Peacock was an O/R or an officer? I would certainly be interested in seeing the annual report that you have, I am a collector of Indian Volunteers but there is very little printed matter available on them. I will see what I can dig out when I get home tonight.

Nick.

Nick, James

Hello, I came across this post by accident this evening. My grandfather was in both the NBMR and the Calcutta Light Horse. He never spoke to us about the time though he loved India his entire life. At the time he was serving in the Indian Civil Service. His entry in Debrett's Who Was Who in the 1970s was the first and, so far only, time I have come across either of these units. I would love to know more.

John

[bushfighter]

James

Greetings

Here are some notes on the 9th Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles taken from the Indian Army List of January 1919.

Formed 6th August 73, Reorganised 5th Feb 89, Reconstituted as an Indian Defence Force (Mounted Corps) unit with present designation 1 Apl 1917.

Establishment - 3 combined Active and Reserve Squadrons; 1 combined Active and Reserve Company; 1 Cadet Company; 1 Machine Gun Dett.

Squadrons and Companies at KURSEONG, MAL, NAGRAKATA, KALCHINI and KALIMPONG.

Uniform Full Dress SCARLET with WHITE facings. Work Dress Khaki drill.

Honorary Commandant: His Excellency the Right Honourable Lawrence John Lumley Dundas, Earl of Ronaldshay GCIE (Governor of Bengal).

Honorary Lieutenant: His Highness Maharaja Sir Jitendra Naravan Bhup Bahadur KCSI, of Cooch Behar.

The Commandant is Lieutenant Frederick Evan Wood. Also listed are 3 Majors, 8 Captains, 6 Lieutenants, 10 2nd Lieutenants, 2 Supernumaries and 10 Staff.

It would be very interesting if you could compare the above with the 1914 Indian Army List.

Harry

[jamesday]

Hi Chaps

I would be very willing to show my Annual Report for 1914 - 15 to anyone. I live just west of Reigate in Surrey.

Let me know.

James

[Guest leonjlyell@gmail.com]

Dear all,

 

My grandfather Pvt F G MARSH (mostly at Phoobsering TE) was a member of the NBMR probably from the start of WWI and certainly from 1920 until the end of WWII. He is mentioned in the NBMR Journal 1941-47 which can be seen at http://www.koi-hai.com/Default.aspx?id=485031  My great grandfather Claud BALD (mostly at Tukvar TE) was also a member from before 1883 (when we was awarded a travelling clock by Lieut A B L Webb of H Coy) until his retirement in 1919. 

 

James, would you be kind enough to let me know please if either MARSH or BALD are mentioned in your copy of your 1914/15 Annual Report?  If you were prepared to allow a copy to be made I think the Koi Hai site would be happy to make it available also. I would certainly be interested to read it.

 

I have had no luck tracking down where the service records for these men are. Both the National Archives of the United Kingdom and the India Office at the British Library say they do not hold the service records of the Indian Army but I am hoping some records will eventually be found.

 

Kind regards from Australia,

 

Leon

[Guest]

Dear all

We are interested to find out if you have any records of Archibald MacKenzie McGregor my paternal grandfather.  We know that he was in the NBMR. 

He was a tea planter. 

 

Kindest regards

 

Susan

 

[Guest]

Hi James,

 

Do you still have your 1914/15 copy of the NBMR A/R? I can't seem to message you.

 

Cheers,

 

Leon

 

leonjlyell AT gmail DOT com

[DavidOwen]

1 hour ago, Leon Lyell said:

Hi James,

 

Do you still have your 1914/15 copy of the NBMR A/R? I can't seem to message you.

 

Cheers,

 

Leon

 

leonjlyell AT gmail DOT com

Leon

Welcome (back) to the forum

James hasn't been on the forum since January 2018 but if you reply to this you will have made the two posts necessary to access the message system which will alert James by an email to his registered address.

I have edited your post to reduce the risk of your email address being scraped.

Regards

David

[Jools mckenna]

5 minutes ago, DavidOwen said:

January 1918 

I didn't know the forum was around from back then!

Edited 15 May , 2019 by Jools mckenna

[DavidOwen]

21 minutes ago, Jools mckenna said:

I didn't know the forum was around from back then!

Too early! Thanks for spotting I have put it right.

[Guest Adeladean]

Hi all - jumping in on the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles. 
 

I came across this wooden ‘baton’ with the initials NBMR and I’d love to know what you think it is, why it would have the unit’s initials on it and where would have it been used?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice?

 

Adam. 

[FROGSMILE]

It’s a swagger stick or cane and since Victorian times was required to be carried by all soldiers below officer rank when “walking-out” (of barracks or camp).  It was generally laid down under the heading “discipline” within unit “standing orders” as part of dress and appearance.  Sticks invariably (but not always) had tops embossed with unit insignia.  If you run an internet image search using the term swagger stick or cane you will see many examples as they are very collectible for those interested in such objects.  Soldiers in mounted units carried a riding whip instead.

 

NB.  Officers and warrant officers generally carried sticks of walking length, but one might occasionally see very senior officers of the Victorian era carrying a shorter, swagger type stick made from superior materials.  Such sticks go back into ancient history to the time of the Romans when they were a mark of rank and authority (Vitis).

 

Edited 24 November , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[VeeWalker]

Hi All,

 

I am researching North or Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles for my work in progress, the sequel (sort of - the other set of grandparents) to my award-winning novel of WWI, Major Tom's War. Tom was in the Calcutta Light Horse so I am pretty well versed in what a reserve regiment did. I have a letter describing a young tea-planter relative taking part in quite detailed and arduous NBMF training manoeuvres in Assam in 1917 'it was so hot we couldn't hold our rifles...' and the intention to send 40 men somewhere for two months. Does anyone know where these young men might have been deployed in 1917/1918? Two months isn't long enough to reach Western Front or Mespot from Assam, I would assume. One suggestion is that they were sent northwards to address the increasing tensions of the North West Frontier and there is some archival evidence of a link with Sikh regiments from Patiala - but I have yet to find corroboration.

 

Most grateful and thank you everyone. You can if you wish message me direct via my website at majortomswar.com.

[FROGSMILE]

14 hours ago, VeeWalker said:

Hi All,

 

I am researching North or Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles for my work in progress, the sequel (sort of - the other set of grandparents) to my award-winning novel of WWI, Major Tom's War. Tom was in the Calcutta Light Horse so I am pretty well versed in what a reserve regiment did. I have a letter describing a young tea-planter relative taking part in quite detailed and arduous NBMF training manoeuvres in Assam in 1917 'it was so hot we couldn't hold our rifles...' and the intention to send 40 men somewhere for two months. Does anyone know where these young men might have been deployed in 1917/1918? Two months isn't long enough to reach Western Front or Mespot from Assam, I would assume. One suggestion is that they were sent northwards to address the increasing tensions of the North West Frontier and there is some archival evidence of a link with Sikh regiments from Patiala - but I have yet to find corroboration.

 

Most grateful and thank you everyone. You can if you wish message me direct via my website at majortomswar.com.

“The 52nd Sikhs twice neutralised gangs of Mahsud raiders in the Bannu district [North West Frontier], on 13 January and 15 March 1917. On the first occasion a gang of Mahsuds, having caused considerable suffering to the people of the Bannu and Derajat Districts and escaped without loss, fled to a cave on the left bank of the Kurram river opposite Kurram Garhi. After artillery and rifle fire had failed to dislodge the raiders they were smoked out of the cave by soldiers setting fire to a large heap of dry jowar at the mouth of the cave, and shot down as they rushed out. On the second occasion a large gang of Mahsud raiders hiding out in caves near Bannu were ‘bombed out’ using hand grenades resulting in the capture of the entire gang.”

 

”In 1916 Mohmand raids into Peshawar had began again, time prompting the Indian Army to build a series of blockhouses and barbed wire defences along the Mohmand border on the North West Frontier known as the ‘Mohmand Blockade’ in order to contain the threat.  The most important engagement of this second series of raids by the Mohmands occurred in November when a large number of Mohmands were defeated at Hafiz Kor.
 

“The Blockade, whose garrisons included the 36th, 1/15th, 1/35th and 52nd Sikh Regiments, was eventually lifted in July 1917 when the Mohmands finally submitted.”

 

For further research I recommend the following four links:

 

1.  https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army
 

(for any specifics @Maureenemay be able to advise you, and there is also access to many contemporary accounts)

 

2.  http://www.durbaronline.co.uk/index.html
 

(there is a modest charge for membership but you can network profitably there)

 

3.  http://dothyphen.co.uk/sikhsatwar/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The_Sikh_Chronicles_Online_Edition.compressed.pdf
 

(the two extracted quotes above are sourced from here (page 63))

 

4.  http://www.king-emperor.com/Photographs - Mohmand Blockade 1916-17.html
 

(very useful for photographs)

 

NB.  For an easy access overview see: 

https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/ecsas2014/paper-download/paper/18627

 

Edited 29 November , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[MaureenE]

22 hours ago, VeeWalker said:

I have a letter describing a young tea-planter relative taking part in quite detailed and arduous NBMF training manoeuvres in Assam in 1917 'it was so hot we couldn't hold our rifles...' and the intention to send 40 men somewhere for two months. Does anyone know where these young men might have been deployed in 1917/1918? Two months isn't long enough to reach Western Front or Mespot from Assam, I would assume. One suggestion is that they were sent northwards to address the increasing tensions of the North West Frontier and there is some archival evidence of a link with Sikh regiments from Patiala - but I have yet to find corroboration.

 

I don't have any specific knowledge, but I think it most unlikely they were going to the North West Frontier. Much more likely that it was some problem in the North EAST of India, where the Northern  Bengal Mounted Rifles were situated.

 

The only one I am aware of is the Kuki Rising,  also called  "Kuki Punitive Operations" but there were most likely other  operations.

Harry Fecitt ( I think bushfighter of this Forum) has written, as part of "Harry's Sideshows"

The Kuki Rising 1917-1919 : Insurrection in north-eastern India and Burma 

http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/525801.html

There is mention of  the Surma Valley Light Horse, so I think this is the type of operations in which the Northern  Bengal Mounted Rifles would be involved, whether it be in some aspect of the Kuki Rising, or some other operations.

 

Another article "Breaking the spirit of the Kukis: launching the 'largest series of military operations' in the northeastern frontier of India" by T Haokip

https://www.academia.edu/40477117/Breaking_the_spirit_of_the_Kukis_launching_the_largest_series_of_military_operations_in_the_northeastern_frontier_of_India

 

This is a chapter from the book The Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919: A Frontier Uprising against Imperialism during the First World War, 2019 edited by Jangkhomang Guite and Thongkholal Haokip 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Kuki-War-1917-1919-Frontier-Imperialism-ebook/dp/B07H44HFJ4 

Cheers

Maureen

Edited 29 November , 2020 by Maureene

[FROGSMILE]

Brilliant stuff Maureen, I knew that you’d know the most likely scenario.  I’ve never heard of the Kuki rising before and shall enjoy reading about it.

[VeeWalker]

12 hours ago, Maureene said:

I don't have any specific knowledge, but I think it most unlikely they were going to the North West Frontier. Much more likely that it was some problem in the North EAST of India, where the Northern  Bengal Mounted Rifles were situated.

 

The only one I am aware of is the Kuki Rising,  also called  "Kuki Punitive Operations" but there were most likely other  operations.

Harry Fecitt ( I think bushfighter of this Forum) has written, as part of "Harry's Sideshows"

The Kuki Rising 1917-1919 : Insurrection in north-eastern India and Burma 

http://www.kaiserscross.com/304501/525801.html

There is mention of  the Surma Valley Light Horse, so I think this is the type of operations in which the Northern  Bengal Mounted Rifles would be involved, whether it be in some aspect of the Kuki Rising, or some other operations.

 

Another article "Breaking the spirit of the Kukis: launching the 'largest series of military operations' in the northeastern frontier of India" by T Haokip

https://www.academia.edu/40477117/Breaking_the_spirit_of_the_Kukis_launching_the_largest_series_of_military_operations_in_the_northeastern_frontier_of_India

 

This is a chapter from the book The Anglo-Kuki War 1917-1919: A Frontier Uprising against Imperialism during the First World War, 2019 edited by Jangkhomang Guite and Thongkholal Haokip 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Kuki-War-1917-1919-Frontier-Imperialism-ebook/dp/B07H44HFJ4 

Cheers

Maureen

This is remarkably helpful stuff, thank you Maureen. Since posting evidence has come to light that Joe may have been killed or wounded on military service with NBMF in early 1919, between January and May. I will be following up your links later this week, but any thoughts on that specific timescale would be welcome. Most grateful.

 

[VeeWalker]

22 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

“The 52nd Sikhs twice neutralised gangs of Mahsud raiders in the Bannu district [North West Frontier], on 13 January and 15 March 1917. On the first occasion a gang of Mahsuds, having caused considerable suffering to the people of the Bannu and Derajat Districts and escaped without loss, fled to a cave on the left bank of the Kurram river opposite Kurram Garhi. After artillery and rifle fire had failed to dislodge the raiders they were smoked out of the cave by soldiers setting fire to a large heap of dry jowar at the mouth of the cave, and shot down as they rushed out. On the second occasion a large gang of Mahsud raiders hiding out in caves near Bannu were ‘bombed out’ using hand grenades resulting in the capture of the entire gang.”

 

”In 1916 Mohmand raids into Peshawar had began again, time prompting the Indian Army to build a series of blockhouses and barbed wire defences along the Mohmand border on the North West Frontier known as the ‘Mohmand Blockade’ in order to contain the threat.  The most important engagement of this second series of raids by the Mohmands occurred in November when a large number of Mohmands were defeated at Hafiz Kor.
 

“The Blockade, whose garrisons included the 36th, 1/15th, 1/35th and 52nd Sikh Regiments, was eventually lifted in July 1917 when the Mohmands finally submitted.”

 

For further research I recommend the following four links:

 

1.  https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army
 

(for any specifics @Maureenemay be able to advise you, and there is also access to many contemporary accounts)

 

2.  http://www.durbaronline.co.uk/index.html
 

(there is a modest charge for membership but you can network profitably there)

 

3.  http://dothyphen.co.uk/sikhsatwar/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The_Sikh_Chronicles_Online_Edition.compressed.pdf
 

(the two extracted quotes above are sourced from here (page 63))

 

4.  http://www.king-emperor.com/Photographs - Mohmand Blockade 1916-17.html
 

(very useful for photographs)

 

NB.  For an easy access overview see: 

https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/ecsas2014/paper-download/paper/18627

 

Thank you for this brilliant steer, very much appreciated. As I just mentioned to Maureen below, since posting my original query further evidence has come to light of the death or injury of Joe, the subject of these investigations, between January 1919 and May 1919. I will take some time this week to go through the links you have both suggested. In the letter he wrote while training in 1917 he sounds like he is having a high old time of it but I suspect being tall and blonde he would have been a sitting duck when actually in the thick of it. Frustratingly the final tiny letter we have from him, clearly written at speed and in very shaky shakasta script, so probably scribed, but signed and addressed by Joe, has proved untranslatable, although tantalisingly the word 'captive' has been deciphered. 

[FROGSMILE]

28 minutes ago, VeeWalker said:

Thank you for this brilliant steer, very much appreciated. As I just mentioned to Maureen below, since posting my original query further evidence has come to light of the death or injury of Joe, the subject of these investigations, between January 1919 and May 1919. I will take some time this week to go through the links you have both suggested. In the letter he wrote while training in 1917 he sounds like he is having a high old time of it but I suspect being tall and blonde he would have been a sitting duck when actually in the thick of it. Frustratingly the final tiny letter we have from him, clearly written at speed and in very shaky shakasta script, so probably scribed, but signed and addressed by Joe, has proved untranslatable, although tantalisingly the word 'captive' has been deciphered. 

How tantalising to have a last missive that is ominous and enigmatic in equal measure.  If he was a captive, I hope that it was not on the North West Frontier, the Dorset’s and KOYLI had horrendous experiences there when their wounded (officers and men) were left behind and picked up by the tribesmen during the Tirah campaign of 1898.

On careful reflection I agree with Maureen that using any Reserve Regiment personnel on the North West Frontier (regardless of their pedigree) is unlikely in the extreme.  It was regarded as an area suitable for seasoned professional soldiers only.  The year 1919 did mark the short-lived Third Anglo Afghan War, but I’d be very surprised indeed if any part-time auxiliary soldier from far away Bengal was involved.

Edited 30 November , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

How tantalising to have a last missive that is ominous and enigmatic in equal measure.  If he was a captive, I hope that it was not on the North West Frontier, the Dorset’s and KOYLI had horrendous experiences there when their wounded (officers and men) were left behind and picked up by the tribesmen during the Tirah campaign of 1898.

On careful reflection I agree with Maureen that using any Reserve Regiment personnel on the North West Frontier (regardless of their pedigree) is unlikely in the extreme.  It was regarded as an area suitable for seasoned professional soldiers only.  The year 1919 did mark the short-lived Third Anglo Afghan War, but I’d be very surprised indeed if any part-time auxiliary soldier from far away Bengal was involved.

 

     As in the final verse from dear Rudyard in "The Young Soldier"   I believe his verse was influenced by the British defeat at Maiwand in 1880.

 

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

 

     

Edited 30 November , 2020 by Guest

[FROGSMILE]

As in the final verse from dear Rudyard in "The Young Soldier"   I believe his verse was influenced by the British defeat at Maiwand in 1880.

 

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

 

     

Precisely!  It’s quite horrendous to read what happened to the KOYLI.  Almost all their battalion officers became casualties of some kind (dead or wounded), and only a portion were extracted.

[squirrel]

From Arithmetic on the Frontier - Kipling

 

A scrimmage in a Border Station —
  A canter down some dark defile —
Two thousand pounds of education
  Drops to a ten-rupee jezail —
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!
 

[Guest]

The 34th Report (and no other) is available from the library of the Imperial War Museum.

 

Also, the two following items might flesh out "Major Tom"   Both can be found on www.archive.org