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 topics discuss aspects of the Regiment during WW2.
• Detailed description of a 1995, 5 reel oral history, catalogue number 14962 by Harry A Bainbridge, officer 3/8th Bn Gurkha Rifles 1943-45 in India, Burma and Saigon, Vietnam. Note, the audio is not available online. Imperial War Museums.

Historical books online

• Page 104Memories of Seven Campaigns: a record of thirty-five years' service in the Indian Medical Department in India, China, Egypt, and the Sudan by James Howard Thornton, Deputy Surgeon General, Indian Medical Service, late Principal Medical Officer Punjab Frontier Force. 1895 Archive.org. (The author was in the Bengal Medical Service 1856-1891). The author was appointed as Medical officer of the 44th Regiment of Native Infantry in March 1862, which took part in operations around Jowai. He was subsequently based at Cherra Poonjee in the Khasi Hills, Assam, took part in the Bhutan War, and was then based at Shillong, until October 1868, when he took leave and left the regiment (page 154).
• 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.
• Sport and Service in Assam, and Elsewhere by Lt.-Col Alban Wilson, late 1st Battalion, 8th Gurkha Rifles. 1924. Archive.org, mirror from Pahar-Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. Some of the contents first appeared in the Fishing Gazette and Indian papers such as the Pioneer. Covers the period from c 1890.
• History of the 8th Gurkha Rifles, 1824-1949 by H. J. Huxford. 1952. Link to a pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset. If download does not display, locate under Books/Indian Subcontinent/1952. Archive.org mirror version.
• The Gurkhas Archive.org version, mirror from 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.

The Gurkhas by James, 1965. Link to a pdf download, PAHAR Mountains of Central Asia Digital Dataset.

• Shikar Memories by Lieut.-Col. H S Wood [Henry Stotesbury], IMS (Late M O 2/8th Gurkhas and Civil Surgeon, Assam) 1934. Full title: Shikar Memories. A record of sport and observation in India and Burma. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India.
• A Connecticut Yankee in the 8th Gurkha Rifles : a Burma Memoir by Scott Gilmore with Patrick Davis 1995 Archive.org Texts to Borrow. In 1941 Gilmore volunteered to serve as an American Field Service Ambulance driver in the British Army. He was later accepted to train as an officer in the Indian Army, joined the 8th Gurkha Rifles, and was deployed to Burma. The book also contains a 6 page bibliography.