Being of Scottish heritage I became aware of the 92nd
Gordon Highlanders at an early age. One of the first sets of W. Britains Ltd.
toy soldiers I acquired was set No. 77, The Gordon Highlanders, Marching at the
Slope, With Piper, in 1948.
But it wasn’t until literally 7 decades later, even though
the information was there all the time, that I learned of another regiment of
Gordons, the 30th Lancers (Gordon’s Horse) of the British Indian
Army. The Regiment’s history was originally chronicled in a book entitled; HISTORY OF THE THIRTIETH LANCERS GORDON’S
HORSE by Major E.A.W. Stotherd (a serving officer of the regiment) in 1911,
and reprinted by the Navy & Military Press Ltd. , 2006, ISBN 1-845743-20-2.
It is available to read online on the
Digital Library of India as a pdf
to download. Archive.org version.
It has been previously discussed on
this blog that the uniforms of the lancer regiments of the British Indian Army
had always rivaled the resplendent and colorful nature of the highland regiments
of the British Army. The 30th Lancers were no exception. The regiment was composed of 1 squadron of
Jats, 2 squadrons of Sikhs and 1 squadron of Hindustani Mussulmans, this
composition would account for the variances in turban size and style as each
squadron would tie then according to their religious practice. The second image below was painted by Colonel Edwards, an ex Indian Army officer and a noted
authority.
Subsequent to the initial writing of this article I have very recently had the extremely good fortunate of acquiring one of the early Greenwood and Ball figures (believe it may be Set No. GB30G), replicating an Indian officer (Rissaldar Major) of the 30th Lancers (Gordon's Horse) in near mint condition. As can be seen from the following set of images John Greenwood and Mrs. Katheleen Nathaniel (nee Ball) meticulously replicated in both the sculpture and painting the print contained in the classic definitive reference, THE ARMIES OF INDIA, Painted by Maj A.C. Lovett, text by Maj G.F. MacMunn DSO, Adam and Charles Black, London, 1911 (see first image above).
The following two images are of a regimental cap badge of the 30th Lancers (Gordon's Horse), and a pouch badge of the regiment.
1 comment:
We do have memorial to remember,
MAJ JOHN GORDON OF GH, at AMBAJOGAI,
STATE MAHARASHTRA
INDIA.
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