Calcutta Light Horse

The Calcutta Light Horse were an auxiliary regiment under the Bengal command.

Chronology

• 1872 raised as Calcutta Volunteer Lancers 22nd August
• 1881 reconstituted as the Calcutta Mounted Volunteer Rifles on 7th October
• 1886 redesignated Calcutta Mounted Rifles on 1st October?
• 1887 renamed Calcutta Light Horse on 20th May?
• 1901 absorbed Central Bengal Light Horse, 1st November

Details

• Headquarters - Calcutta

Uniform

• c1901: Khaki drill
• c1940: Uniform - Blue, Facings - White, Badge - Eight pointed star with crown, "C.L.H." and the motto in a scroll, Motto - Defence not Defiance"

Detached companies

• Berhampore

FIBIS Resources

• Fibis Podcast 'The lure of Indigo - and how the Hills family of East Bengal won three VCs' FIBIS podcast by Miles Macnair in which he also talks about his ancestors involvment with the Calcutta Light Horse.
• Photo of Calcutta Light Horse - Training at Belgaum 1940Metcalfe and Makin collection on FIBIS Gallery

British Library holdings

• Annual report of the Calcutta Light Horse. Holdings: 1st (1887/88)-9th (1895/96). Wanting: 4th (1890/91)
• Gallop : the journal of the Calcutta Light Horse. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1932)-v. 4, no. 4 (Aug. 1939)
• Calcutta Light Horse. A.F.I. 1759-1881-1947. [With plates.] 1957
• Typescript history of the Calcutta Light Horse , written c1938, by Ralph Kington Hewetson Brice, Bengal Covenanted Pilot Service 1929-c1947; with brief biographies of three officers of the Calcutta Light Horse. Mss Eur C714
• Papers and photographs of Norman D Harris, ICI (India) 1927-58, Company Chairman 1950-57, including three copies of 'Gallop', dated 1944-46, the Journal of the Calcutta Light Horse, and miscellaneous material relating to business in Bengal. Mss Eur D1050
• Brief Memoirs of a 'Box Wallah': copy of memoir by Lt-Cdr Brian David Hadlow (1911-81), describing his experiences of working in Calcutta for the shipping firm Turner Morrison and Company 1933-39, service with Calcutta Light Horse, and life as an officer of the Royal Indian Navy Volunteer Reserve 1939-45. Mss Eur Photo Eur 241

National Army Museum holdings

• National Army Museum catalogue entry Calcutta Light Horse Gallop 1933-1946

External links

• Calcutta Light Horse Wikipedia
• The legend of a liquor stop (Part 1) and A tale of heroism untold (Part 2) The Telegraph Calcutta
• German Subs in Goa from Goanet.org
• The Sea Wolves Wikipedia. Movie based on Boarding Party
• The Great War Forum
• Col Archie John Pugh CBE, VD, Colonel of the Calcutta Light Horse from 1912 – 1922 lawfordherry.blogspot.com
• Maj-Gen Lewis Pugh As a member of the Calcutta Light Horse, Lewis Pugh commanded the raid on the German ships broadcasting Allied shipping movements from Goa harbour in 1943.
• The Reincarnation of the Calcutta Light Horse, A.F.(I.) arnhemjim.blogspot.com. Saturday, 14 January 2012
• Page 1 of this newsletter (saintandrewssociety-sf.org May 2009)(pdf) contains a photograph of members of the Calcutta Light Horse, with members of the Calcutta Scottish circa 1916. html version
• The Telegraph Obituary of Philip Crosland (1918-2012). In October 1938 he joined The Statesman in Calcutta and became a member of the Calcutta Light Horse. During World War 2 he accompanied the 2nd Battalion 15th Punjab Regiment to Sarawak and other parts of Borneo from May 1941. He became a Japanese POW April 1942-September 1945. He rejoined the newspaper after the war and worked there until 1967, ultimately becoming general manager.