North West Frontier Campaigns

North West Frontier Campaigns
1849-1908
Chronological list of Wars and Campaigns
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Location:
Combatants:
East India Company and British Army	North West Frontier tribes
Result: Suppression of border incursions
Medals: India General Service medal 1854 India Medal 1895-1902
Links:
Category: Category:North West Frontier Campaigns

Summary

From 1849 when the East India Company annexed the Punjab it became necessary to prevent incursion by the frontier Pakhtun tribes. Successive punitive expeditions subdued particular areas until further outrages occurred. Control of the region depended to a large extent on the Punjab Frontier Force recruited from local tribesmen commanded by British officers.

North West Frontier Expeditions

For a list of campaigns in order see

• Chronological list of North West Frontier Campaigns

British Library holdings

The following books are available at the British Library

• Operations against the Orakzai tribe on the Miranzai frontier under the command of Brigadier-General Sir W.S.A. Lockhart, K.C.B., C.S.I., in 1891 compiled from official sources (under the orders of the Quarter-Master General in India) by A.H. Mason. 1891
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 1, supplement A: Operations against the Mohmands (including operations in the Khaiber, 1st-7th May) by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2. North-West Frontier Tribes between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908
• Official History of operations on the N.-W. Frontier of India, 1920-35 by General Staff Army Headquarters, India 1945
• Official History of operations on the N.W. Frontier of India, 1936-37 by General Staff Army Headquarters, India 1943

External Links

North West Frontier Military History Wikipedia
The Army in India & Frontier Warfare 1914-1939 www.king-emperor.com
India Medal 1895 www.northeastmedals.co.uk
NWF VCs www.northeastmedals.co.uk
North West Frontier Map Rootsweb
NWF Map Digital South Asia Maps
Story of the Pakhtoons [Pathans] Khyber.org
The limits of power by 'Richard' 20 October 2009. Surveys the policies to subdue the warring tribes on the North West Frontier. Defenceofthe realm.blogspot.com
Northwest Frontier Expeditions - 1849-1902 Globalsecurity.org
"Why was the North-West frontier of India the scene of so much conflict in the period 1849-1901?" by R.A. Johnson from Soldiers of the Queen issue 97, Victorian Military Society
Pathan Revolt – 1897 Globalsecurity.org
"The 1897 Revolt and Tirah Valley Operations from the Pashtun Perspective" by Robert A Johnson November 2009 Tribal Analysis Center html version Original pdf
Colonial Control On A Shoestring — The RAF Experience by Maj Michael J. Petersen includes a section "The Third Afghan War and the Northwest Frontier, 1919-1920"
Pink’s War 1925 Wikipedia
Details of the book North West Frontier 1908 by Peter Duckers , published by Spink ( Medal Dealers) 2006. Contains detailed listings of Honours and Awards to both British and Indian units, detailed Casualty lists etc. Probably only available second hand.
War in the Switzerland of Asia: Swat Valley. Online papers from part of the collection of General Sir Frederick Campbell charting two key campaigns in Swat 1915. King’s College London Collections: The Serving Soldier.
The kidnapping of Mollie Ellis from Kohat cantonment by Afridi tribesmen from the Khyber Pass region 14 April 1923 and the rescue expedition which included Mrs Lilian Starr matron at the Peshawar Mission Hospital: Article by Michael E Lambert, from his website html version, original pdf; Article from Lookand learn.com, Photographs from the Illustrated London News (26 May 1923 pages 894-895 ) Flickr.com. An account of her rescue mission Tales of Tirah and Lesser Tibet by Lilian A Starr, published 1924 is available at the British Library

Historical books on-line

• Nine Years on the North-West Frontier of India from 1854 to 1863 by Sir Sydney Cotton 1868 Google Books
  
• Indian frontier policy: an historical sketch by General Sir John Adye 1897 Archive.org
• The Pathan Revolt in North-West India by H. Woosnam Mills 1897 Archive.org
  
• The Risings on the North-west Frontier being a complete narrative, with specially prepared maps of the various risings of the frontier tribes in the Tochi Valley, the Swat Valley, the country of the Mohmands and Mamunds, and the country of the Afridis and Orakzai... from the middle of June, 1897 to the end of January, 1898 Special War Correspondence of the "Pioneer" 1898 (archive.org)
  
• A Dictionary of the Pathan Tribes on the North-west Frontier of India Asstistant QMG Intelligence Branch 1899 (archive.org)
  
• The Story of the Malakand Field Force: an Episode of Frontier War by Winston L. Spencer Churchill 1916 First published 1898 Archive.org
  
• The Indian Frontier War being an account of the Mohmund and Tirah expeditions, 1897 by Lionel James 1898 Archive.org
  
• Sketches on service during the Indian frontier campaigns of 1897 by Major E.A.P. Hobday. Containing fifty-seven full page engravings from original drawings, and fourteen photographic portraits of the commanding officers and their staffs. 1898 Archive.org
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India: Volume 1 Tribes north of the Kabul River by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1907 Archive.org. There is a supplement Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 1, supplement A: Operations against the Mohmands (including operations in the Khaiber, 1st-7th May) which is available at the British Library and through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop as a reprint.
  
• Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2. North-West Frontier Tribes between the Kabul and Gumal Rivers by Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908 is available partially online to page 97 on the Digital Library of India website. It is catalogued without volume number simply as Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India 1908 and has barcode 99999990229429. It is also available as Snippet view Google Books which viewers in some countries may be able to access as full view. It is available at the British Library and through Amazon.co.uk from the FIBIS Shop as a reprint of 461 pages. There is a supplement Frontier and Overseas Expeditions from India Volume 2 Supplement A ,Operations against the Zakka Khel Afridis Intelligence Branch Army Headquarters India 1908 Archive.org. (Requires a Djvu plug in)
  
• The Pathan borderland: a consecutive account of the country and people on and beyond the Indian frontier from Chitral to Dera Ismail Khan by C.M. Enriquez 2nd edition 1921 (First published 1909) Archive.org
• Gun-running and the Indian north-west frontier by the Hon. Arnold Keppel 1911 Archive.org
• From the Black Mountain to Waziristan being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the North-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past by H. C. Wylly 1912 Archive.org
  
• Campaigns on the North-West Frontier by Capt H.L.Nevill DSO 1912 (archive.org)
  
• Operations in Waziristan, 1919-1920 1921 Archive.org
  
• Waziristan 1919-1920 by H De Watteville 1925 (one of eight in the series Campaigns and Their Lessons) is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website
  
• The Problem Of The North-West Frontier 1890-1908 by Collin C Davies 1932 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. Alternatively, it may be downloaded as a pdf from OUDL Osmania University Digital Library
  
• Passing It On: Short Talks on Tribal fighting on the North-West Frontier of India by General Sir Andrew Skeen , 3rd edition 1934 (originally published 1932) is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.
  
• Waziristan 1936- 1937: The problems of the North-West Frontiers of India and their Solutions by Lieut Colonel C. E. Bruce 1938 Archive.org
  
• The History of the Indian Mountain Artillery by Brigadier-General C A L Graham 1957 Archive.org. This book is also available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, where the print quality is better.

Recommended Reading

Campaigns on the North-West Frontier by Capt H.L.Nevill DSO 1916
Reprinted by The Naval & Military Press Ltd 2005
ISBN 1-845741-87-0
Imperial Frontier: Tribe & State in Waziristan by Dr Hugh Beattie
Routledge 2001
ISBN 0700713093 and ISBN 978-0700713097