Indian Army Officer Group Photos

[seaforth78]

[Kimberley John Lindsay]

Dear Seaforth,

Super group photos: researchable!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

[Steven Broomfield]

Didn't know you had that one, Yahya!

[Derek Black]

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Edited 4 March , 2017 by Derek Black

[Derek Black]

deleted

 

 

 

Edited 4 March , 2017 by Derek Black
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[Sasha Aus]

Hi There, I was wondering if you manages to track any other names for the people in this image? I am searching for my great grandfather named Ernest Francis Hayes, he was based in Chittral Barracks Nowshera 1910/1911 and was Battery Sargent Major of the 62nd Royal Field Artillery. I have information on him but desperate for a photo. Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks! This is a fantastic photo by the way.

 

[FROGSMILE]

53rd Sikhs (Frontier Force) 1910.

Edited 26 April , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Sasha Aus]

What an incredible image!! I dont suppose there is a list of names?

 

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, Sasha Aus said:

What an incredible image!! I dont suppose there is a list of names?

 

Sadly no, but it is From an album of photographs compiled by Colonel Sir Charles J Melliss VC (1962-1936), covering his regimental service between 1910-1912.  Presumably the Indian Army List for that period would list the officers names.

Edited 2 May , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[RobinJAH]

Hello all.

I'm a newcomer to this board, which I found during some (otherwise unproductive) Googling.

For personal reasons I'm trying very hard to track down a photo (such as the one above) of officers from the 3rd Brahmans.

I know that it's pretty well pot luck what has and hasn't survived. I'd be very grateful if anyone could suggest lines of enquiry. 

Thanks. 

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, RobinJAH said:

Hello all.

I'm a newcomer to this board, which I found during some (otherwise unproductive) Googling.

For personal reasons I'm trying very hard to track down a photo (such as the one above) of officers from the 3rd Brahmans.

I know that it's pretty well pot luck what has and hasn't survived. I'd be very grateful if anyone could suggest lines of enquiry. 

Thanks. 

Robin I can only suggest that you try contacting the National Army Museum, which has an Indian Army Collection, although in my experience they don’t always understand what they have: https://www.nam.ac.uk/subjects/indian-army

There are also photos amongst their online image collection, albeit I think only a fraction has been digitised so you’d probably need to arrange a visit: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1963-10-39-2

Your best option though would have been the old Indian Military Historical Society that closed in 2020 and whose digitised journal “Durbar” has been closed and passed to the Military Historical Society (MHS), where in typical British fashion it is now enclosed behind a Paywall.  See under ‘References’ at this link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Military_Historical_Society

MHS: https://www.militaryhistoricalsociety.co.uk/Welcome2

Edited 14 March by FROGSMILE

[RobinJAH]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

Robin I can only suggest that you try contacting the National Army Museum, which has an Indian Army Collection, although in my experience they don’t always understand what they have: https://www.nam.ac.uk/subjects/indian-army

There are also photos amongst their online image collection, albeit I think only a fraction has been digitised so you’d probably need to arrange a visit: https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1963-10-39-2

Your best option though would have been the old Indian Military Historical Society that closed in 2020 and whose digitised journal “Durbar” has been closed and passed to the Military Historical Society (MHS), where in typical British fashion it is now enclosed behind a Paywall.  See under ‘References’ at this link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Military_Historical_Society

MHS: https://www.militaryhistoricalsociety.co.uk/Welcome2

Extremely kind of you to reply. Thanks.

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, RobinJAH said:

Extremely kind of you to reply. Thanks.

I wish that I could offer something more positive, I’ve long been interested in the old British-Indian Army, but much of the detail relating to them is fragmented, although there is the truly wonderful Families in British India Society website, with its primary custodian Maureene, who is a member here.

Edited 14 March by FROGSMILE

[RobinJAH]

3 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

I wish that I could offer something more positive, I’ve long been interested in the old British-Indian Army, but much of the detail relating to them is fragmented, although there is the truly wonderful Families in British India Society website, with its primary custodian Maureene, who is a member here.

My reason for enquiring is that a DNA test has recently identified a 3rd Brahmans officer as my grandmother's 'natural' father. Tracing a photo of him is proving very difficult. 

I wasn't aware of the Families in British India Society but it's definitely of interest – thanks again. 

[FROGSMILE]

8 minutes ago, RobinJAH said:

My reason for enquiring is that a DNA test has recently identified a 3rd Brahmans officer as my grandmother's 'natural' father. Tracing a photo of him is proving very difficult. 

I wasn't aware of the Families in British India Society but it's definitely of interest – thanks again. 

Forum member and FIBIS cognoscenti @MaureenE  might be able to advise a little bit, I know she will if she can. 

Edited 14 March by FROGSMILE

[FROGSMILE]

12 minutes ago, RobinJAH said:

My reason for enquiring is that a DNA test has recently identified a 3rd Brahmans officer as my grandmother's 'natural' father. Tracing a photo of him is proving very difficult. 

I wasn't aware of the Families in British India Society but it's definitely of interest – thanks again. 

It might well be worthwhile also to contact the successor regiment as they often treasure and keep their old records and photographs as part of their officers’ mess archive.

Afternote: belay that it seems that sadly the regiment was completely disbanded in 1922.

Edited 14 March by FROGSMILE

[PRC]

3 hours ago, RobinJAH said:

My reason for enquiring is that a DNA test has recently identified a 3rd Brahmans officer as my grandmother's 'natural' father. Tracing a photo of him is proving very difficult. 

You may want to consider creating a new thread and giving us some more details there about this officer. Over the years we've had cause to try to identify individuals attending staff colleges and training courses in India, so that might provide an alternative route rather than looking for a Battalion photograph. While its likely he may have been appointed straight to the 3rd Brahmans from the Indian Army Reserve of Offices they may potentially have served with a British Army unit first.

Of course I quite understand if you decide not to go down that route.

Cheers,
Peter

[MaureenE]

FROGSMILE copied me in, but I can't add anything specific.

There is a Fibiwiki page 3rd Regiment of Brahman Infantry but it is quite small https://wiki.fibis.org/w/3rd_Regiment_of_Brahman_Infantry

You may be able to follow him in the Indian Army List,  many of which are online, see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Indian Army List online https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army_List_online

Also see the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Indian Army https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Indian_Army

Note that any references to the British Library probably cannot be accessed currently due to an outage of its computer system some months ago.

Also see the page British Army/Records https://wiki.fibis.org/w/British_Army#Records

Quite often Army Officers came from the social class who attended Public Schools in Britain, these being schools which in most parts of the world would be called private schools. These schools quite often have good records of past students which may include photos.

Maureen

[FROGSMILE]

Maureen makes a very pertinent point about Public Schools.  The two most closely associated with those intending to pursue a military career were Wellington College and Haileybury College.  They would be a good starting point in your investigations, although other colleges are entirely possible of course.

This website might also be of interest: https://www.oldindianphotos.in/2013/01/group-of-soldiers-possibly-in-india.html?m=1

Edited 15 March by FROGSMILE