Jager Corps

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Alternative spelling Jaeger Corps

Also known as the British German Legion, the British German Legion Volunteers, the German Legion, the German Legion Volunteers Battalion and the German Volunteer Battalion

Contingents of troops of the British German Legion arrived in Bombay from South Africa in 1858. They had their origins in the German Legion raised by the British to serve in the Crimea. These men were stated to be "in a great part not Germans, but men collected from continental seaport towns".

For further details , see the external links below.

In late 1859, over 500 men of the Jager Corps transferred into the 3rd Bombay (European) Regiment but still retained an identity as the Jager Corps, a few soldiers joined the Bombay Horse Artillery, and a number of soldiers elected to return to South Africa. The following appeared in Allen’s Indian Mail in January 1860, page 56

"Dec. 13 [1859].—Adverting to G. O. No. 1, (dated Sept. 12 last, the C. in C. has been pleased to direct the following arrangements with respect to the late Jager corps:—

The volunteers to the 3rd Eur. regt. as below will be formed into 6 companies with such present organisation as Maj. gen. Sir H. Rose, com. Poona div. of the army, may be pleased to arrange, pending the final embodiment of this detach, with the hd. qrs. of their corps:—

5 staff sergeants, 31 sergeants, 28 corporals, 15 buglers, and 481 privates.

[12 officers and an Assistant Surgeon were also named]

...

The volunteers for the Bombay art. as below will join the hd. qrs. of the horse brigade:—

1 sergeant, 1 corporal, 1 bugler, and 22 privates.

...

The non-commissioned officers, buglers, and privates noted as below, having elected to return to the Cape of Good Hope, will be formed into a separate detachment, and held prepared to embark for their destination under future orders:—

14 sergeants, 11 corporals, 1 bugler, and 346 privates.

[There were also six officers named as not required]

British Library records

• British Army in India: Nominal and Casualty Rolls of Jager Corps Volunteers IOR/L/MIL/15/31-36 1860-1866. Includes troops serving with the 109th Regiment of Foot.
• Discharge papers, Jager Corps IOR/L/MIL/12/283. 1859-1861. The soldiers’ names are listed and the regiment is given as 3rd ER (JC)

External links

• "A Leaf On A Turbulent River:Ensign Simner and the British German Legion, 1855-9" by Emrys Wynn Jones Military History Journal (The South African Military History Society)

"Part 3 of 3: 'When I was in Poona!' The German Volunteer Battalion in India" Vol 13 No 4 December 2005

(Earlier parts:"Part 1: 'By Her Majesty's Command' - Ensign Simner's Commission" Vol 13 No 2 December 2004, "Part 2: 'A New Life' - Military Settlers in Kaffraria" Vol 13 No 3 June 2005)

• Victorian Wars Forum post by Mark Simner dated 12 July 2009 about the history of his ancestor in the British German Legion
• The British-German Legion stutterheim.eci.co.za, an archived website. The origins of the Jager Corps.
• "Sir George Grey and the 1857 Indian Rebellion: the unmaking and making of an imperial career" by Jill Bender Boston College. html version, pdf A paper presented at Mutiny at the Margins New Perspectives on the Indian Uprising of 1857, Conference at the University of Edinburgh, George Square, Edinburgh, July 23rd-26th 2007.

Historical books online

• A short recollection written by the son of Colonel James Warwick Wooldridge prior to 1876 about the history of the regiment. Page 823 The Linzee family of Great Britain and the United States of America and the allied families of Penfold, Hood, Amory, Tilden, Hunt, Browne, Wooldridge [and] Evans: Volume 2 1917 Archive.org
• "The East India Campaign", page 70 Ten years in South Africa. Only complete and authentic history of the British German Legion in South Africa and the East Indies. From the memoirs of Wm. Westphal 1892 Archive.org. This account indicates that a group of Volunteers arrived in Bombay 27 February 1860, many of whom died, and that some returned to South Africa later in the year. No other reference to this group has been found. Note this may not be a genuine account as there appear to be inconsistencies.