29,525
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Historical books online
Before the opening of the Suez Canal the 'Crocodile' and 'Serapis' ran between England and Alexandria, whilst the other three ran from Suez to Bombay.
By 1894, four of the five naval troopers were laid up while two P&O ships, 'Victoria' and 'Britannia' had a trial as troopers on charter. The two newcomers soon demonstrated that they could make a better job of it than the old naval ships and 'Crocodile' and her sisters were disposed of in 1896<ref>Preece, Nigel [httphttps://archiverlists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/thhyperkitty/list/readindia.rootsweb.com/INDIAthread/2000-0112901967/0949092435 HM Indian Troopship Crocodile] ''Rootsweb India Mailing List'' 28 January 2000. Retrieved 26 February, 201518 January 2019.</ref> (or 1894<ref>[https://www.worldnavalships.com/directory/shipinfo.php?ShipID=2942 HMS Crocodile] worldnavalships.com </ref>).
The ships were then designated '''HMT Hired Military Transport''', although at least during . During the First World War HMT could also mean His Majesty's Transport.<ref>Currell, Ralph [http://www.titanic-model.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=100&topic_id=48516 "H.M.T."] ''TRMA Discussion Forum'' January 21but this use was probably unofficial, 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2016as the terminology would officially only apply to commissioned ships.</ref>
==Movements of Crocodile 1886-1888==
:17th Mar Sailed Bombay
:12th Apr Arrived Portsmouth
:7th Sep Sailed Portsmouth for Bombay<ref>qprdave [<nowiki>http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8957 </nowiki> HMS Crocodile] from ''World Naval Ships Forum'' 9 January 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2015, but now not available.</ref>
==1904-05 Trooping Season==
:10. January 28, 1905-March 28
:11. February 7, 1905- April 5
:12. February 18, 1905-April 13" <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150919090024/http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/20th-august-1904/15/chaplains-for-troopships "Chaplains for Troopships"] page 15 ''The Tablet'', 20th August 1904, archived page.</ref></blockquote>
==External links==
*[https://www.findmypast.com/blog/discoveries/troop-ship "Life on board a troop ship"] Findmypast Blog 10 September 2020. Stated to from February 1898 ''Army and Navy Gazette'', however this article could '''not''' be located in the Findmypast newspapers database. *[http://www.shippingwondersoftheworld.com/troopships.html "Troopships and Trooping"] Transcript of an article from ''Shipping Wonders of the World'', part 39, published 3 November 1936.*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120224181422/http://www.movcon.org.uk/History/Documents/DID/D-MCHS%200290.10.htm Troopships and Trooping] by R G Robertson movcon.org.uk, now archived. Includes mention of troopships to India.
*Bad conditions on troop ships coming to India in the late 1700s are mentioned in [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1081841/?page=14 "The soldier's friend—Sir Jeremiah Fitzpatrick"] by Richard L. Blanco ''Med Hist. 1976 October; 20(4): 402–421'', particularly 415-417
*[http://www.jstor.org/stable/44223063 First page "A Soldier's Life in Burma and India 1854-1874"] by W. G. Shelton, ''Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research'' Vol. 52, No. 209 (Spring 1974), pp. 17-33. Based on a memoir by Sergeant-Major Alexander Morton of the [[35th Regiment of Foot]]. jstor.org. Contains a description of the conditions on board the ship to India. Register with jstor.org and read online for free, see [[Miscellaneous tips]], including details of conditions.
*[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1858/08/13.htm "Transport of Troops to India"] by Frederick Engels from ''New York Daily Tribune'', 13 August, 1858 states that some troops were sent from England by the overland route from 1857. Marxists.org. This route became permanent some years later, see [[Trooping season#Historical books online|Historical books online, below]].
*Terrible conditions are described in a [http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/infantmortality.html Letter home from a soldier’s wife on a voyage to India] 1859 As a result, the Captain was murdered! :[http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/EasternMonarch.html Eastern Monarch 1859] Fire broke out in English waters on this ship, whose passengers included 352 invalid soldiers from North West India. Old-merseytimes.co.uk.*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150226054503/http://greenhowards.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Job-Waterhouse1.pdf *The Diary of Job Shepherd Waterhouse, 1864 – 1870] Pte. [[19th Regiment of Foot|19th Foot Regiment]] No.1691. There are descriptions of the voyage to India in 1865 on the Malabar, and the return to England in 1870, on the Euphrates. greenhowards.org.uk, now an archived webpage.
*[http://www.garenewing.co.uk/angloafghanwar/resources/troopship_crocodile.php Troopship movements: The Crocodile 1878-1881] during the [[2nd Afghan War]]. garenewing.co.uk
*[http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/U187019/The-Indian-Relief-Trooping-Season-passing-through-the-Suez-Canal?img=3&search=delight&bool=phrase The Indian Relief Trooping Season, passing through the Suez Canal] Illustration for The Graphic, 12 September 1891.
*[http://longwaytotipperary.ul.ie/the-military/10th-royal-hussars/service-british-india/p6a_1372_7/ Image: HM Transport "Rewa" No.4 Mail List (Trooping Season 1909-1910)]. The "Rewa" travelled Southampton to Karachi, and return. University of Limerick WW1 Online Exhibition
*[http://www.voyagetoindia.co.uk Voyage to India: Memoirs of the 1st/3rd Kent Battery 1914] Frank William Critchley was 22 years old and a sergeant in the 1st/3rd Kent Battery, Royal Artillery. He travelled to India on the troopship Grantully Castle which departed Southampton 29 Oct 1914 and arrived Bombay 2 December 1914. voyagetoindia.co.uk
* A letter written by Harry Beaumont, 1/6 [[East Surrey Regiment]], No. 2297, from a collection of letters written by staff at the Audit office for the Great Western Railway (GWR) based at Paddington, London. The National Archives. :[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/letters-first-world-war-1915/troop-ship-five-weeks-on-board/ Troop ship: ‘five weeks on board’] 29 November 1914, written onboard SS Grantully Castle.*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050901153643/http://digiserve.com:80/peter/kcb/waters3.htm An Excerpt from the Diaries of Private John Charles Waters February- March, 1916], now an archived webpage. He was a member of the 1st/1st Kent Cyclists and travelled on the S.S."Benalla" a Peninsular and Oriental liner, to Kebbal Camp, [[Bangalore]].*[http://www.warlinks.com/memories/brown/life_on_a_troopship.php Life on a Troopship] A Pictorial History featuring the photographs of John Ernest Brown [[3rd Bengal (European) Light Infantry| Royal Sussex Regiment]]. warlinks.com. He sailed to India in 1932, and returned in 1937, via Egypt (1935) and the Sudan (1936)*"Every Day A Bonus" by Ken Clarke from ''Regimental Association of The Queen's Own Buffs (PWRR): The Journal'' issues No 11-14 Autumn 2005- Spring 2007. The pages covering the voyage to India in 1933, time in India, and voyage back to England in 1938 are (11)48-49; (12)29-39; (13)15-25; (14)38.: [http://thequeensownbuffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Journal-No-11-Autumn-2005.pdf Issue 11], [http://thequeensownbuffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Journal-No-12-Spring-2006.pdf 12], [http://thequeensownbuffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Journal-No-13-Autumn-2006.pdf 13], [http://thequeensownbuffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Journal-No-14-Spring-2007.pdf 14] thequeensownbuffs.com:Issues 11 and 14. He joined the Army as a Boy Musician in 1932 aged 14 and went as part of a a draft to India leaving 4th February 1933 on the troopship HMT Dorsetshire, returning to England on the Dilwara arriving Southampton on 13th January 1938. *[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/76/a8543676.shtml The King's Shilling — Part 2a – India] by Neil Walker .bbc.co.uk./ww2peopleswar.Contains a mention of the Trooping season c 1937*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/03/a8777703.shtml Troopship to Bombay [1944<nowiki>]</nowiki>] from the 1944 diary of Sidney Greaves. He was a radar operator for the RAF . bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.*"Voyage to India (1945)" by Des McDougall. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/24/a9001324.shtml Part 1], [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/97/a9001397.shtml Part 2], [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/86/a9001586.shtml Part 3], [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/58/a9001658.shtml Final Stage] He was a British Officer Cadet, who travelled on the S.S. Otranto, whose destination was the Officers’ Training School, [[Bangalore]]. bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.
*"Death Of Territorials In India". House of Lords. Hansard [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1916/jul/25/death-of-territorials-in-india 25 July 1916] vol 22 cc911-6, [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1916/aug/01/death-of-territorials-in-india 01 August 1916] vol 22 cc1037-42. "Karachi Troop Train Incident". House of Lords. Hansard [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1920/may/18/karachi-troop-train-incident 18 May 1920] vol 40 cc390-404, [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1920/jul/21/karachi-troop-train-incident 21 July 1920] vol 41 cc413-20. [http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1920/aug/10/karachi-troop-train-incident 10 August 1920] vol 41 cc1169-79
*[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3011881/ 'Perceptions of, and reactions to, environmental heat: a brief note on issues of concern in relation to occupational health"] by Delia Rizpah Hollowell ''Global Health Action'' December 29, 2010. (scroll down) Includes the statement “In 1884 Major-General MacGregor, Quarter Master General in India, wrote of the ‘risk incurred by the prolongation of the trooping season so far into the hot weather,’ arguing that the last British vessel should leave India no later than the 1st of April (14)". Footnote 14 states "14. MacGregor CM. Letter from Major-General Sir CM MacGregor, K.C.B., C.S.I., C.I.E., Quarter Master of India to the Secretary to the Government of India, Military (Marine) Department No. 3515-A. 1884 Indian troop service: general arrangements 1884–85. The British Library File No. 12861 IOR:L/MIL/7/10235".
**[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Euphrates_(1866) HMS Euphrates (1866)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jumna_(1866) HMS Jumna (1866)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Malabar_(1866) HMS Malabar (1866)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Serapis_(1866) HMS Serapis (1866)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Crocodile_(1867) HMS Crocodile (1867)] Wikipedia
*[https://www.flickr.com/photos/126652127@N07/15111064472/ Photograph: HMS Malabar c 1870] flickr.com
*[httphttps://wwwcollection.nam.ac.uk/online-collection/detail.php?acc=1965-05-73-1 The Last of the Indian Troopships, HM Indian Troopship Malabar], painting 1881. nam.ac.uk*[http://www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/galleryship003.htm Troopships - HMT Malabar the last of the Indian Troopships] kingsownmuseum
*[http://nelsonlambert.blogspot.com/2011/10/hms-serapis.html HMS Serapis] nelsonlambert.com
*[http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/t/019pho000000312u00001000.html The Indian Troopships "Clive" and "Tenasserim" in Madras Harbour c 1885]. Click to enlarge. British Library Online Gallery
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140726104656/http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/Troopships.html BI Troopships 1902 to 1922], [https://web.archive.org/web/20140811103629/http://www.merchantnavyofficers.com/Troopships2.html BI Troopships from 1923], now archived. merchantnavyofficers.com
*[http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMTroopshipPlassy.html HM Troopship Plassy]. Sailed 1901 until scrapped in 1924, including the Indian Garrison rotation run. During the First World War she was converted for use as a hospital ship. roll-of-honour.com
*[http://www.kingsownmuseum.plus.com/galleryship024.htm HMT Dongola]. Used for seasonal trooping from 1906 between England, India and Hong Kong. King's Own Royal Regiment Museum. [http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/PO_Liners2.html#Dongola1905 Dongola 1905-1926] simplonpc.co.uk
*[http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/HMHSGrantuallyCastle.html H.M.H.S. Grantually [sic<nowiki>]</nowiki> Castle] Prior to becoming a Hospital Ship during WW1, the Grantully Castle was used as a troopship, including a trip to India at the end of 1914, refer above.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20151226102549/http://www.photoship.co.uk/JAlbum%20Ships/Old%20Ships%20H/slides/Hecuba-04.jpg Image: HMT Hecuba] photoship.co.uk, now archived. Originally the "Brandenburg", built in 1901 for Norddeutscher Lloyd. The ship was awarded to Great Britain as war reparation in 1919 and had brief service as a troopship 1922-1924<ref> Ebay, seller three4five</ref>. There was a voyage from Southampton to Bombay, arriving 1 December 1924.<ref> [http://jramc.bmj.com/content/46/3/214.full.pdf "A Few Stations In India"] by Mrs. H. V. Bagshawe. ''Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps ''1926;46:3 214-223. </ref> *[http://www.the-weatherings.co.uk/pccship0457.htm HMT Neuralia - Troop Ship] the-weatherings.co.uk. Neuralia, built 1912, operated as a permanent troopship from 1925.<ref> A History of the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited , pages 17 and 62. [httphttps://docsweb.googlearchive.comorg/web/20160508162545/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rakaia.co.uk%2Fdownloads%2Fbritish-india-history.pdf html version], [http://www.rakaia.co.uk/downloads/british-india-history.pdf pdfPdf] rakaia.co.uk, archived.</ref> The book ''Pick up your Parrots and Monkeys'' by William Pennington, see [[History reading list]], contains a chapter on the voyage to India on the Neuralia in the 1930s, see [[Trooping season#Historical books online|Historical books online]] below.
*[http://transportsofdelight.smugmug.com/SHIPS/The-Royal-Navy/SUPPLY-SHIPS-AND-TRANSPORTS/25278036_5mNnFn/2290341600_sXphPfH#!i=2290341600&k=sXphPfH Photograph: HMT Nevasa - Troopship] Nevasa, built 1913, operated as a troop ship from 1925<ref>A History of the British India Steam Navigation Company Limited, page 62.</ref>
*[http://www.ssmaritime.com/British-India-Dilwara-Class.htm MS Dilwara and her three sisters, MS Dunera, Ettrick and Devonshire] ssmaritime.com. MS Dilwara and Dunera were completed in 1936 and 1937, and the second pair MS Ettrick and Devonshire in 1938
*Scroll to Image 3: [http://www.mid-day.com/photos/independence-day-special-reliving-history-in-pictures/5861/56226 Photograph: August 17, 1947, soldiers from The Royal Norfolk Regiment embark on the S.S. Georgic bound for Britain] on the quayside in Mumbai, the first British Army unit to leave Indian soil after the country achieved independence. mid-day.com. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxckDsWPko Video: British Troops Leave India 1947] British Pathe on YouTube . This video appears to be of the same troops as in the photograph although they are unnamed. They are however sailing on the 'Georgic'.*[https://500px.com/photo/23071721/troopship-otranto-1947-by-scott-mcculloch Photograph: Troopship HMS Otranto. Voyage home from India to UK in 1947], from the collection of James Wilson, Royal Artillery *[http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/index.html Convoy Web: The Website for Merchant Ships during WW2]. Includes [http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/port/index.html?home.php~armain Search: Port Arrivals/ Departures] including Indian ports.
===Historical books online===
*[http://books.google.com/books?id=c1lNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA308 "East India (Transport of Troops")]. Report of Select Committee c 1858 page 308 'Series F British India, Colonies etc' ''Annals of British Legislation, Volume 5'' edited by Leone Levi 1859 Google Books
*''24 coloured views of H.M. Indian troop-ship to Bombay & back'', published 1885. Bodleian Library Oxford Digital version. Possibly "Jumna". [http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/OXVU1:oxfaleph014026612 Catalogue entry with link], [http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/590522458.pdf direct pdf] (may be slow to load)
*[http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b747693?urlappend=%3Bseq=55 A voyage to India on the Malabar in 1889] page 47, ''Some Rambles of a Sapper'' by Brigr-Genl. Herbert Henry Austin. 1928 Hathi Trust Digital Library
*[https://archive.org/details/jramc-1913-vol21/page/461/mode/2up "Trooping Season 1913-1914 - A few Notes"] by Major J B Anderson page 462 ''Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Volume 21 1913'' Archive.org *[https://archive.org/stream/blackwoodsmag211edinuoft#page/178/mode/2up "The Peregrinations of an Officer’s Wife"] page 178 ''Blackwood’s Magazine'', no 211 January-June 1922 Archive.org. Includes description of voyages to, and from, India. *[httphttps://wwwarchive.org/details/jramc-1925-vol44vol45/page/n241/mode/2up "Notes on a Voyage from Southampton to Bombay on a Trooper H M T "Marglen" 10,500 Tons (Canadian Pacific), January 23 to March 17, 1923"] by Major A D Stirling, RAMC page 218 ''Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps'', Volume 44 Jan.new-June 1925.dliThe emphasis is on the ports of call, including Constantinople. Archive.ernetorg *[https://archive.inorg/handledetails/in.ernet.dli.2015/.527935 ''Seven Cantonments''] by Major SEG Ponder c 1938. The author was an Officer in the Royal Artillery. He describes the voyage to India on HMT Devon in the c 1930sfrom [https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.527935/2015.527935.Seven-cantonments#page/n21/mode/2up page 21]. Pdf downloadArchive.org, Digital Library of IndiaCollection.
*[http://digital.nls.uk/indiapapers/browse/pageturner.cfm?id=74987996&mode=transcription "Hot weather precautions"] ''Volume II [2], Part I - Annual report on the health of the army in India for the year 1939'', page 107 National Library of Scotland “ Medical History of British India”
*[https://archive.org/details/valiantvoyagings0000saun/page/n9 ''Valiant voyaging : a short history of the British India Steam Navigation Company in the Second World War, 1939-1945''] by Hilary St. George Saunders 1948. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
*[https://archive.org/details/pickupyourparrot0000penn/page/60/mode/2up "HMT ''Neuralia'' Liverpool to Bombay December 1925 to January 1936"] Chapter four, page 60 ''Pick up your parrots and monkeys : a boy soldier in India'' by William Pennington 2004, first published 2003. Archive.org Books to Borrow/Lending Library.
== References ==
