Surma Valley Light Horse

Formed as the Sylhet Volunteer Rifle Corps on 22nd October 1880 and later became the Cachar and Sylhet Mounted Rifles on the 6th April 1883. Designated Surma Valley Light Horse 13th August 1886.

The headquarters was at Silchar

The regiment consisted mainly of tea planters from the area.

• Uniform - Khaki
• Motto - "Non Sibi Sed Patriae"

British Library holdings

• Nineteenth annual report of the Surma Valley Light Horse, 1901-1902.
• Through Fifty Years. A history of the Surma Valley Light Horse by William Henry Sydney Wood . 1930
• Experiences in Chittagong Riots - April 1930: Catalogue reference for account by Alexander Burnett, tea planter and trooper in the Surma Valley Light Horse, of the rioting in Chittagong and the Armoury Raid, 1930. Mss Eur C806

External Links

• Assam Valley Light Horse from Koi-hai.com has items on the Surma Valley Light Horse including the death of former Commandant, Lieutenant Colonel Eden Currie Showers, in South Africa in 1900 where he was 2nd in command of Lumsden's Horse
• Photographs of the Surma Valley Light Horse from Hussards-photos.com (scroll down)
• Photograph, late 1930’s from Shangrilajournals.com
• Dr T d’O Partridge, Civil Surgeon of Cachar was Commandant of the Lakimpur Rifles 1882-84 and served for ten years in the Surma Valley Light Horse, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. His war services included the Chin Lushai Expedition 1889-90. Obituary BMJ June 5,1897
• Medals to the Indian Volunteers (Scroll down) Qcmilitaria.com
• This button was identified as Surma Valley Light Horse in item 30 from the British Button Society
• Photograph of a memorial inscription (flickr.com) mentions Charles Thorp Jessop, Commandant of the Surma Valley Light Horse, died 2 July 1915 aged 56
• Victorian Wars Forum thread which includes reference to the service of the SVLH in the Manipur Expedition of 1891 which led to the award of the India General Service Medal, 1854-95 with the clasp ‘N. E. Frontier 1891’. A later post advises the definitive work is the book by William Henry Sidney Wood Through Fifty Years: A History of the Surma Valley Light Horse mentioned in the British Library holdings above, which includes a list of medals awarded. This book is available in a reprint edition.
• Long Service Medals of Second Lieutenant J. E. Aird, Surma Valley Light Horse, a Tea Planter & Manager of the Deundi Estate, Sylhet,1, 2, 3 from neatemedals.co.uk .
  • Also group photographs: Photographs Officers Surma Valley Light Horse c 1895-1903, Photographs Officers Surma Valley Light Horse c 1895-1903

Historical books online

• Bengal and Assam, Behar and Orissa: their history, people, commerce and industrial resources, page 433 by Somerset Playne , J W Bond 1917 Archive.org