East Indian Railway Regiment

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East Indian Railway Volunteers 1874

The East Indian Railway Regiment were an auxiliary regiment under the Bengal command. They included staff of the East Indian Railway.

Rudyard Kipling wrote in 1888, in respect of Jamalpur,

"On Tuesdays and Fridays the volunteers parade. A and B Companies, 150 strong in all, of the E.I.R. Volunteers, are stationed here with the band. Their uniform, grey with red facings, is not lovely, but they know how to shoot and drill. They have to. The ‘Company’ makes it a condition of service that a man must be a volunteer; and volunteer in something more than name he must be, or some one will ask the reason why. Seeing that there are no regulars between Howrah and Dinapore, the ‘Company’ does well in exacting this toll."[1]

By 1906, the Corps was 2,300 strong, with the Armoury and Head Quarters staff located at Jamalpur.[2]


Chronology

Details

In 1901:[3]

  • Headquarters - Jamalpore
  • Uniform - Khaki drill
  • Motto - "Strong without Rage."

By 1940:[5]

  • Uniform - Khaki
  • Facings - White
  • Badge - Crest of the East India Railway Company surmounted by a crown which is encircled by a laurel wreath with the words "East Indian Railway Regiment Auxillary Force" and the motto.
  • 2 battalions

Notes

  1. Among the Railway Folk by Rudyard Kipling 1888. Web edition published by eBooks@Adelaide
  2. History of the East Indian Railway, page 243 by George Huddleston 1906 Archive.org
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Indian Army List 1st Sept 1901
  4. Jackson (1940) gives the year as 1890.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Jackson, Major Donovan India's Army (1940)