Corps of Guides, Punjab Frontier Force

The object of the Corps of Guides, composed of horse cavalry and foot soldiers, was to provide trustworthy men to act as guides to troops in the field, and also to collect intelligence beyond as well as within the North-West Frontier of India. The regiment was located at Mardan on the Peshawar border and became one of the most famous in the Indian army. The Corps of Guides were the first soldiers in either the British or Indian Armies to wear Khaki - which derives from the Indian word for dust.

Chronology

• 1846 raised as The Corps of Guides by Lieut Harry Lumsden consisting of one troop of cavalry and three companies of infantry
• 1857 became The Corps of Guides, Punjab Irregular Force
• 1865 became Corps of Guides, Punjab Frontier Force
• 1876 became Queen's Own Corps of Guides, Punjab Frontier Force
• 1901 became Queen's Own Corps of Guides
• 1904 became Queen's Own Corps of Guides (Lumsden's)
• 1911 became Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's)
• 1914 Cavalry became Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's) Cavalry and Infantry became Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides (Frontier Force) (Lumsden's) Infantry
• 1922 Cavalry became 10th Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) and Infantry became 5th Bn (QVO Corps of Guides) 12th Frontier Force Regiment
• 1947 allocated to Pakistan on Partition
• 1947 Cavalry became Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) and Infantry became 5th Bn (Guides) The Frontier Force Regiment

FIBIS Resources

Corps of Guides Church, Mardan

• Images of named graves in Guides Cemetery at Mardan

External Links

• Corps of Guides Wikipedia
  
• Queen's Own Corps of Guides (Punjab Frontier Force) British Empire website
  
• Harry Lumsden Wikipedia
  
• Guides Cavalry Wikipedia
• 12th Frontier Force Regiment pakdef.org
• Photograph: Indian NCOs of the Guides Cavalry, 1879 UK National Army Museum

Historical books on-line

• The Story of the Guides by Col G J Younghusband 1908 (gutenberg.org). Also available from Archive.org
• History of the Guides, 1846-1922 1938 Hathi Trust Digital Library. Volume 1 of two Volumes.
• Lumsden of the Guides: A Sketch of the Life of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden by Peter Stark Lumsden , George Robert Elsmie 1900 Archive.org
• Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India: being extracts from the letters of the late Major W. S. R. Hodson 2nd edition 1859. Google Books. He was appointed second in command of the Guides in 1847, page 48, and subsequently became famous as Hodson of Hodson's Horse
• A Frontier Campaign: a Narrative of the Operations of the Malakand and Buner Field Forces, 1897-1898 by the Viscount Fincastle, Lieutenant, 16th (Queen’s) Lancers and PC Eliott- Lockhart, Lieutenant “Queen’s Own” Corps of Guides 2nd Edition 1898 Archive.org