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

• '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.

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
• Boarding Party: The Last Action of the Calcutta Light Horse by James Leasor, from China Burma India WWII. Buy a copy through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop
• The Sea Wolves Wikipedia. Movie based on Boarding Party
• This Great Wars Forum post advises there was a marble tablet in the west end of St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta unveiled in 1922, commemorating the 37 officers and men of the Calcutta Light Horse who gave their lives in the Great War.
• 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.