Sam Browne

General Sir Samuel James Browne VC GCB KCSI (1824–1901) was an officer of the British East India Company, born in India, who joined the 46th Bengal Native Infantry in 1840. He served in the Punjab Campaign and then was ordered to raise a cavalry unit which became the 2nd Punjab Irregular Cavalry later the 22nd Sam Browne's Cavalry (Frontier Force). He fought in the Bozdar Expedition in 1857. Under Sir Colin Campbell in Oudh during the Indian Mutiny. At the Battle of Seerpoorah he won the VC and lost an arm. This led to his invention of the Sam Browne Belt later adopted as part of British Army officers' uniform. He commanded the Peshawar Field Force during the Second Afghan War which captured the fortress of Ali Maslid and forced the Khyber Pass. He was promoted general and retired to the Isle of Wight where there is a memorial marker in Ryde cemetery. There are plaques to his memory in St Paul's Cathedral and Lahore Cathedral.

External links

Sam Browne Dictionary of Indian Biography (1906)
Sam Browne Wikipedia
Grave location