44th Gurkha Rifles

Refer to general article Gurkha Rifles

Chronology

• 1824 raised as the 16th Sylhet Local Battalion
• 1826 became the 11th Sylhet Local (Light) Infantry
• 1861 became the 44th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
• 1864 renamed the 44th (Sylhet) Regiment of Bengal Native (Light) Infantry
• 1885 became the 44th (Sylhet) Regiment of Bengal (Light) Infantry
• 1886 became the 44th Regiment, Gurkha (Light) Infantry
• 1891 became the 44th Gurkha (Rifle) Regiment of Bengal Infantry
• 1901 became the 44th Gurkha Rifles
• 1903 became the 8th Gurkha Rifles
• 1947 allocated to India on Partition

FIBIS resources

• "The Walsh Family and the Cawnpore Massacre" by Paddy Walsh FIBIS Journal Number 31 (Spring 2014) pages 3-15. For access, see FIBIS Journals

William Walsh was Acting Quarter Master Sergeant of the Sylhet Light Infantry in 1844.

External Links

• The Gurkha Rifles from The Gurkha Rifles by J B R Nicholson & Michael Rolfe
  
• 8th Gurkha Rifles British Empire Website
  
• 8 Gorkha Rifles Wikipedia
  
• The Telegraph Obituary of Major-General Derek Horsford (1917-2007). He was commissioned into the 8th Gurkha Rifles and joined the 1st Battalion at Quetta in 1938, and was promoted to command the 4th Battalion 1st Gurkha Rifles in 1944 at Kohima in the Burma campaign.
• WW2Talk Forum thread discusses aspects of the Regiment during WW2

Historical books online

• With Mounted Infantry In Tibet by Brevet Major W J Ottley, 34th Sikh Pioneers 1906 Archive.org. The dedication mentions members of the 8th Gurkha Rifles.
• The Gurkhas Pdf download, Digital Library of India. A regimental history. This appears to be a reprint edition, for which no author is given, and which advises first published 1960. However the text refers to events in 1964.The most likely publication appears to be The Gurkhas by Harold James and Denis Sheil-Small published 1965, London.