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"
• Images of sun helmet with regimental flash, regimental badges etc

Detached companies

• Berhampore

FIBIS Resources

• Fibis Podcast '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. (Fibis Youtube channel)
• Photographs of Calcutta Light Horse - 1936- 1940 Metcalfe and Makin collection on FIBIS Gallery

Regimental History and Journal

• Calcutta Light Horse A.F.(I) 1759-1881-1947, published Gale & Polden Ltd, Aldershot UK 1957. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01001795325 .
• Gallop : the journal of the Calcutta Light Horse. Available at the British Library Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1932)-v. 4, no. 4 (Aug. 1939) UIN: BLL01012506704. Available at National Army Museum 1933-1946 Catalogue entry.

Second World War

15 members of the Calcutta Light Horse along with 4 members of the Calcutta Scottish, along with 15 members of the Calcutta Light Horse took part in the raid on Axis shipping in 1943 in Goa. The party sailed a barge into Goa harbour and caused the sinking of three German merchantmen. More details.

There is a 1978 book Boarding Party by James Leasor which is based on this incident, which in turn was the basis for the movie The Sea Wolves starring Gregory Peck, Roger Moore and David Niven. (1980). The book was also published in 1980 with the title The Sea Wolves. Both books are available online, see below.

Individuals

• Col Archie John Pugh CBE, VD was a member of the Calcutta Light Horse for 33 yrars, including Colonel from 1912 – 1922. He introduced the innovation of camps out of Calcutta - at Sonapur, Dum Dum, Maduhpur, Simultalla and Jasidih - in place of those formerly held on the Maidan. Coming to India in December 1889, he was enrolled as an attorney at the Calcutta High Court on January 9th 1895, and subsequently became a member of the Bengal Legislative Council.
• 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.

External links

• Searchable British Library Catalogue
• Calcutta Light Horse Wikipedia
• James Leasor Wikipedia
• The Sea Wolves Wikipedia. Movie based on Boarding Party
• Page 1 of Volume 145, No. 9, May 2009 Newsletter of the Saint Andrew's Society of San Francisco, now an archived webpage, contains a photograph of members of the Calcutta Light Horse, with members of the Calcutta Scottish circa 1916. (More details of the Calcutta Scottish on later pages)
• The legend of a liquor stop (Part 1) and A tale of heroism untold (Part 2) The Telegraph Calcutta, archived webpages.
• German Subs in Goa from Goanet.org
• Search the The Great War Forum.
• The Telegraph Obituary of Philip Crosland (1918-2012) archived. 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.

Historical books online

• Boarding Party by James Leasor 1979. Cover has additional title Last Action of the Calcutta Light Horse. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.

Also published as The Sea Wolves 1980. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.