The 30th Lancers (Gordon’s Horse) a Regiment of the British Indian Army, The Almost Forgotten Gordons

Being of Scottish heritage I became aware of the 92^nd 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 30^th 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.

 The regiment was raised 1826 by Capt Sir John Gordon as the 4^th Regiment, Nizar’s Cavalry, stayed as the 4^th Cavalry (Lancers) until 1903 when it became the 30^th Lancers (Gordon’s Horse). In 1921 it was amalgamated with the 26th King George's Own Light Cavalry, to form 8th King George's Own Light Cavalry . Reference sources on the Internet cite that during WW1 "30th Lancers saw action in France where, though being a cavalry regiment, it received a good taste of trench warfare. It then went on to extinguish the embers of an Arab rebellion in Iraq, before going into action in Persia (Iran)".

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 30^th 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.

 It was a pair of sets produced by Imperial Toy Soldiers of New Zealand in1989 that for some reason finally triggered my awareness. I didn’t acquire the sets until 2005! The sets are No. 50d and 51d. In addition to other individual figures, am aware that Greenwood & Ball also produced the figure of an officer of the regiment. In all cases the silvered chain epaulets are replicated on all the figures.

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.