For the Honour of My House: The Contribution of the Indian Princely States to the First World War / McClenaghan

[MaureenE]

For the Honour of My House: The Contribution of the Indian Princely States to the First World War  by Tony McClenaghan 

Published by Helion and Company February 2019 

https://www.helion.co.uk/for-the-honour-of-my-house.html

The Amazon description appears to indicate it is part of a series War & Military Culture in South Asia

 

The publishers description says

"The contribution of the Indian Army to the First World War has been, until recently, at best forgotten, and at worst ignored. This is especially so of those military units provided by the semi-autonomous Indian Princely States whose contribution, even in the Official Histories, barely merits a mention. This book corrects that imbalance. Drawing on a wide range of regimental and Army Headquarters war diaries, few of which have been cited in other publications, as well as political records held exclusively at the National Archive of India, the book explores why the State rulers volunteered their services and those of their armies. It looks at the deployment of those armies in Europe, Egypt and Palestine, Mesopotamia, East Africa, the Dardanelles and within British India. It draws attention to problems encountered in their deployment, but also highlights successes such as the capture of Haifa and Aleppo by State cavalry units, and the outstanding role of some State infantry units in East Africa. One appendix records over 1,600 State soldiers who died – killed in action, died of wounds or as prisoners of war, or died of disease, while other appendices record battle honours and rewards for gallantry or meritorious service. Problems identified during the war were addressed in its aftermath and the book concludes by looking at the recommendations which led to the transformation of the Imperial Service Troops scheme into the Indian State Forces scheme".

 

The book seems to be the same as the pre publication title Indian States Forces in the Great War

 

Cheers

Maureen

[alf mcm]

I have this book, although I have not started reading it yet. It is next on my list!

The main section is split into chapters covering various geographical areas. The Middle East {Egypt and Palestine} gets the most coverage, followed by East Africa, Mesopotamia, France and Flanders, then Gallipoli. Another chapter covers other areas.

There are 5 appendices. One is a Roll of Honour {page 313}, but it is not in the book! Turning to this page you find that the ROH is not in the printed book [perhaps it will be in a Kindle version] for reasons of space, but is available as a free download. This is the first time I have seen this in a book. Following the link leads to a 106 page pdf document, which has clearly taken a lot of work to compile.

There is a similar appendix for ‘Honours and Awards Granted in Recognition of the First World War’. This pdf is 81 pages.

Note that for both these downloads you need to start the link with 'https://', and not 'http://', as printed in the book.

The last 2 appendices {printed in the book} are a very useful table showing deployment of each unit in each country, and an interesting breakdown of units for the period 1914-1919, by year, by Caste.

This is a book I am really looking forward to reading.

Regards,

Alf McM