Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles

[VeeWalker]

On 01/12/2020 at 23:44, FROGSMILE said:

It’s an interesting letter and paints a picture of its time I think.  My take is that his words convey the measures being taken by the Indian authorities during a period when almost all their regular and seasoned military resources were being taken away to deal with every military administration’s nightmare, a war on multiple fronts.  WW1 was requiring British-Indian and Imperial troops in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Macedonia and Italy, while at the same time there was unrest in more than one part of India.  There was significant demand on shrinking resources.  In such circumstances the most common resort was to ‘backfill’ with auxiliaries and that required mobilising the two categories in India, those exclusively European (all ranks), such as the NBMR, and those made up from natives and eurasian other ranks with European officers, often from the railways.  Young men were naturally excited by the whiff of gunsmoke, as they perceived it, and they speculated according to the rumour and counter rumour that swirled around the messes and drawing rooms.  In reality they almost always carried out garrison duty, relieving in place (i.e. backfilling) the regular and Territorial troops so that they could deploy into the field.  Unless they had a specific special skill required on the NWF, which I think is extremely unlikely, I cannot see that the NBMR (or similar units) were ever, realistically, likely to be posted to the NWF.  There was a great need for protection of the line of communication that was so vital to the troops operating in the forward area, but this was mostly carried out by Territorial and native (British-Indian) units.  Operations on the NWF were taken extremely seriously and it was unlikely that tea planters would ever be used in such a hostile and unforgiving environment.  Your young man comes across as pleasant, and enthusiastic (with all the bravery of youth), but typically ingenuous.  If he went up country individually I can only imagine that it would have been as a political aide, and he would have needed pertinent language skills to do that.

 

P.S.  did you not read the post by member GUEST on the previous page?  Jalpaiguri is mentioned.

 

Northern Bengal Volunteer Rifle Corps, Bengal Army.

 

Northern Bengal Volunteer Rifle Corps, also known as Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles, was a former British Indian Infantry unit that functioned under the Volunteer Corps of the British Indian Army. An auxiliary regiment, it was a part of the Bengal Army of Bengal Presidency as well as the Bengal Command. The regiment was raised on 6th August 1873 by the British Empire in India. Later, on 5th August 1881, the regiment was merged with the Darjeeling Volunteer Rifle Corps.

It was later re-structured and re-designated as the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles on 15th February 1889. The dress uniform of Northern Bengal Volunteer Rifle Corps was a scarlet tunic with white facings (collar and cuffs). The military badge included the image of a Bengal Tiger. The headquarters was established at Darjeeling. The armed force comprised of six companies that were stationed in Purnea, Alipur Duars, Nagrakot, Dam Dim, Jalpaiguri and Kurseong. It also had 3 companies of cadets, and one reserve company. Its total strength (1903-4) is 510 in all ranks.
“...all the British tea planters were members of the North Bengal Mounted Rifles....We were issued rifles and received an allowance to cover the expenses of maintaining a horse”.

 

All very helpful and I agree about Joe sounding young and naïve, it makes painful reading, knowing he died so soon. It's interesting you should pick up on languages though. My entire family on both sides are linguists - it's just what we all do - diplomats and interpreters abound. I have noticed that Joe's other correspondence is scattered with terms from local languages although he has only been there a very short time. That may be something to consider within the plot and is a useful point I had not considered so thank you. Unfortunately I have a writing day job and a young family, and so I will not always be able to respond to posts here as quickly or thoroughly as I might like to. Most grateful to all.

[Dave Rayner]

I collect New Zealand Colonial Silver including Militia era medals, badges and trophies.  This one came in a few days ago .  It is marked on the bottom H & Co (Hamilton & Co Bengal & Calcutta) with the Elephant silver mark.   Not Kiwi but interesting.  It measures 120mm across the top rim and is 245mm tall.  weight is 511 grms.  

Edited 24 July , 2022 by Dave Rayner
left out details

[talisman01]

Thank you for posting the very interesting photo of the NBMR Cup. At the time of presentation and up to 1913 a relative of mine, Major, then Lt Col George Grant Gordon, was Commandant of the regiment and a great supporter of volunteering. He was also a long time Tea Planter and had the Teesta Valley Estate. I am currently trying to find contemporary photos of the regiment.

[bifbas]

Good morning- Had the structure and culture of NBMR changed in any way by 1935?

I am researching a tea planter ( Richard Cuthill) who in 1935, aged 23, joined NBMR Corps No. 1863 in Jalpaiguri as  a trooper. Would his role  have been as a regular or part time? It seems that records ( on line) are not easy to discover- can you point me in a useful direction please? What would his function have been and would he have served until 1941 when

 he was called up to the North Staffs Regt and reported to RBSM in Kirkee. In August he received a regular army engineering commission. 

Any guidance would be useful- many thanks

 

bifbas

 

 

[MaureenE]

There is a FIBIS Fibiwiki page Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles, although the information is somewhat limited.

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Northern_Bengal_Mounted_Rifles

For more general information see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Auxiliary Regiments

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Auxiliary_Regiments

These regiments were part time Volunteer regiments which would have trained on a regular basis, and perhaps had camps during the year. Apart from a few exceptions it seems as though the purpose of the training was to be available and effective if called out in the event of civil unrest. Some areas of India were much more dangerous than others.  I think the area covered by the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles was relatively peaceful, but I don't know for sure.

Regarding records, officers would be mentioned in the Indian Army Lists. As Richard Cuthill appears to have been a trooper until he joined the British Army, I know of no records online or otherwise, apart from the regimental Journal and the difficulty is locating copies.

Maureen

[Leon Lyell]

Re: Richard Cuthill

Looks like he was with the Hantapara Tea Estate in the Dooars as an assistant. The NBMR role was an expected part-time service from planters and some others and between the wars did some work on keeping public order but engaged in an annual February training camp at Jalpaiguri, with families included. Records are rare and were mostly 'lost' after 1947 when it was disbanded. Annual Reports are also rare but I have one for 1932 (about 80 pages will some pix) which I can copy to you. It will give an excellent flavour of the way things were for them at the time. In WWII they were not incorporated into the Indian Army as they were in WWI, but were involved in a variety of infrastructure and logistics works coordinated by the Indian Tea Association.

Very interested to learn of any info you have on his tea or NBMR experiences.

Cheers,

Leon

 

[Michelle Young]

Welcome to the forum. @bifbas last visited the forum fairly recently. My tag should alert them to your post. 

[Leon Lyell]

Thanks Michelle!

[bifbas]

22 hours ago, Leon Lyell said:

Re: Richard Cuthill

Looks like he was with the Hantapara Tea Estate in the Dooars as an assistant. The NBMR role was an expected part-time service from planters and some others and between the wars did some work on keeping public order but engaged in an annual February training camp at Jalpaiguri, with families included. Records are rare and were mostly 'lost' after 1947 when it was disbanded. Annual Reports are also rare but I have one for 1932 (about 80 pages will some pix) which I can copy to you. It will give an excellent flavour of the way things were for them at the time. In WWII they were not incorporated into the Indian Army as they were in WWI, but were involved in a variety of infrastructure and logistics works coordinated by the Indian Tea Association.

Very interested to learn of any info you have on his tea or NBMR experiences.

Cheers,

Leon

 

Many thanks  

[Leon Lyell]

Here is a list of the annual reports of the Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles and their locations. No more than 60 more to find!

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles 33rd Annual Report 1913-1914
< https://archive.org/details/1913-14-annual-report-full>

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles 35th Annual Report 1915-1916
< https://archive.org/details/nbmr-annual-report-1915-16>

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles Journal 1926-1927 [a bit clunky to use]
< https://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/LostScrapbook_Irvine5.htm>

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles Annual Report 1927-28
< https://archive.org/details/nbmr-annual-report-1927-28>

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles Annual Report 1930-31
< https://archive.org/details/nbmr-annual-report-1930-31>

Northern Bengal Mounted Rifles Annual Report 1931-32
< https://archive.org/details/nbmr-annual-report-1931-32>

A re-keyed version of the ‘NBMR Journal 1941-47’ was available on the Koi-Hai site, but the link seems to be inactive. I’ll investigate further and update as needed.

Cheers  Leon

[MaureenE]

Many thanks Leon for providing theses links.  It is great that these volumes are now available for all to access online.

Maureen