Indian Army

From FIBIwiki
Revision as of 08:19, 1 March 2012 by Maureene (talk | contribs) (change link)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The official (British) Indian Army was formed in 1895. Prior to this date there were three separate Presidency armies (which after 1861 were sometimes unofficially referred to as the Indian Army).

Indian Army regiments can be viewed here.

See also

British Indian Army Cavalry

The British Indian Army maintained about forty regiments of cavalry, officered by British and manned by Indian sowars (cavalrymen). The legendary exploits of this branch lives on in literature and early films. Among the more famous regiments in the lineages of modern Indian and Pakistani Armies are:

  • Governor General's Bodyguard (now President's Bodyguard)
  • Skinner's Horse (now India's 1st Horse (Skinner's)
  • Gardner's Horse (now India's 2nd Lancers (Gardner's)
  • Hodson's Horse (now India's 4th Horse (Hodson's) of the Bengal Lancers fame
  • 6th Bengal Cavalry (later amalgamated with 7th Hariana Lancers to form 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry) now 18th Cavalry of the *Indian Army
  • Probyn's Horse (now Pakistani)
  • Royal Deccan Horse (now India's The Deccan Horse)
  • Poona Horse (now India's The Poona Horse)
  • Queen's Own Guides Cavalry (now partitioned between Pakistan and India).
  • Several of these formations are still active, though they now are armoured formations, for example Guides Cavalry in Pakistan.

Details of the book Izzat: Historical Records and Iconography of Indian Cavalry Regiments 1750-2007 by Ashok Nath 2009, published by the United Service Institution of India. It includes information about uniforms, badges and emblems. These two reviews give further details about the book: Tribune India review. SASNET review:html version, original pdf version Swedish South Asian Studies Network. This book is available at the British Library

Reserve of Officers

The official title was Army in India Reserve of Officers or A.I.R.O, but it was also known as the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, or I.A.R.O.

Some, or perhaps all, appointments were promulgated in the London Gazette, which may be searched online here

There are India Office Records at the British Library called Collection 397 Reserve of Officers IOR/L/MIL/7/16215-16279 1886-1940 .Another item is the publication Regulations for the Army in India Reserve of Officers 1939. Delhi: Defence Dept, 1939. IOR/L/MIL/17/5/654 1939

The British Library has the book, in five volumes, covering the First World War, Alphabetical list giving particulars of officers of the Indian Army Reserve of Officers / [issued by] Army Headquarters, India, Military Secretary’s Branch. The catalogue entry states "Contents: [v.1]. 26th June 1916 _ v.2. 24th January 1917 _ v.3. 31st December 1917 _ v.4. 30th June 1918 _ v.5. 31st December 1918". The shelfmark is OIR 355.37 Open Access

Records

There are India Office records in the British Library, reference IOR L/MIL/14. The records include Indian Army Records of Service IOR/L/MIL/14/239/1-72481 c1901-1947. The closure period for these files has been set at 75 years from the date of entry of the serviceman/woman into the service. The files are opened on an annual basis. On 1 January 2010, files relating to persons joining the service in 1934 were opened. A complete alphabetical index to the opened files is now available on open access in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room at the British Library

Additionally, there are publications from the Military Department Library in respect of the Indian Army, catalogue entry IOR/L/MIL/17/5 1854-1947 including

Earlier Indian Army Lists may be found in India Office Serials IOR/V/6 1768-1948 including

  • Indian Army and Civil Service List, from January, 1861 IOR/V/6/125-156 1861-1876
  • India List Civil and Military, from January, 1877 IOR/V/6/157-191 1877-1895

These are available as LDS microfilms and appear in the LDS catalogue as An East-India register and directory. It is possible that the publications from 1889 only contain the Civil Service List, and not the Army List, but this is not known. The LDS catalogue also has an entry for "The India Office list, 1886-1940 : containing an account of the services of the officers in the Indian service and other information" available on microfiche. These may be equivalent to the Indian Army Lists (see above), but the range of dates is slightly different, so the exact relationship between the two Lists is unclear.

A limited number of additional LDS (Mormon) microfilms are available in respect of the Indian Army with Library catalogue entries using keyword search “Indian Army” and “India Office”

Naval and Military Press has republished the Indian Army List 1919, a four-volume comprehensive list of the Indian Army during the Great War. It includes British Officers and gives details of ranks, promotions, background, honours and awards of all who served in India and other theatres. It also includes Warrant Officers, including Medical Warrant Officers ie Assistant Surgeons. These books are available to buy as a set through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop. The original publication is available at the British Library, refer above.

Refer Directories online and Military periodicals online for Army Lists available online.

The India Office Records at the British Library include Government Gazettes IOR/V/11 1831-1947 which contain much military information.
The Government Gazettes were the official newspapers of the Government of India and its provincial governments. The series held are: Gazettes of India 1865-1947, Calcutta 1832-1947, Assam 1874-1947, Bihar and Orissa 1912-1947, United Provinces, 1850-1947, Fort St George 1832-1947, Bombay 1831-1947, Punjab 1872-1947, North-West Frontier Province 1932-1947, Central Provinces 1875-1947, Coorg 1885-1947, Sind 1869-1947, Burma 1875-1947. Summaries of the contents of each series are to be found in the handlists in the Reading Room of the British Library.
Some issues of the Gazette of India and the Calcutta Gazette are available online, refer Newspapers and journals online

Indian Army Officers 1939-1945 from World War II Unit Histories & Officers

National Army Museum

The National Army Museum in London has the following guide on its website:

The collection at the NAM includes the card index by Hodson and Percy Smith which includes details of officers who joined the Indian Army from Sandhurst, warrant officers and some Emergency Commissioned Officers of the Second World War. The NAM collection also includes 3,400 questionnaires completed in the 1960’s, 70s and 80s by former India Army Officers about their careers and families.

FIBIS resources

  • Review by Richard Morgan of A Soldier’s Story in FIBIS Journal Number 26 Autumn 2011, page 52. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals. The review may also be read in this link, along with other reviews.
Details of the book A Soldier’s Story-From the Khyber Pass to the Jungles of Burma: The Memoir of a British Officer in the Indian Army 1933-1947 by John Archibald Hislop, edited by Penny Kocher 2010. This book may be purchased online from the FIBIS Shop

External Links

Wikipedia:

Other:

Historical books online

Recommended Reading

References

  1. ↑ "Lieutenant-Colonel Seton Churchill and the financial lessons of the African campaigns, 1879-1902" by J Black Military History Journal Volume 14 No 1 - June 2007 South African Military History Society
Retrieved from "https://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Indian_Army&oldid=41418"