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What these dolls ? Puppets ?
They do not look like recruits but regular Sowars
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Arthur Watson Pennington
This photo shows him as a 2nd Lieutenant in the full dress uniform of the 9th Bengal Lancers. The date of this picture must be 1896 as he is wearing an Indian General Service Medal with a clasp for the Relief of Chitral 1895. After the Tirah campaign of 1897/8 he received a two more clasps. The ribbon for this medal is 3 red stripes and 2 green; the medal itself is silver.
This Regiment is now The Hodsons Horse ( 4 Horse) of the IA
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The regiment was raised by William Hodson, one of the most famous personalities of British India. He was the son of a vicar, an old boy of Rugby School and a graduate of Cambridge University. Hodsons Horse was born in the Punjab during the Great Mutiny of 1857. It was formed from risalahs raised and brought in to Delhi by prominent Sirdars. Hodson was at that time, on staff duty with the Delhi Field Force. By the time Delhi had fallen the regiment was large enough to be split into three separate regiments. Unfortunately Hodson did not live long enough to see this happen as he died in battle in March 1858.
The three regiments of Hodson's Horse became two in 1860 when the third regiment was disbanded. The 1st and 2nd Regiments soon became the 9th and 10th Bengal Cavalry. The first overseas posting for the 9th was Malta, in 1878, and then the Sudan in 1885 in which year they became Lancers. The regiment then served in Chitral in 1895-7.
The division of Hodson's Horse into three regiments was formally approved in a General Order by the Commander-in-Chief on 26th August 1858, Allahabad. The 3 regiments were designated a corps whose commander was Major Henry Daly. Each regiment was to have 6 Troops. It was also decided that those sirdars who had brought in a Rissalah (a group of cavalrymen from their community) to Hodson's Horse and been granted the rank of risaldar, should retain the title even though that meant that the regiment was oversubscribed with men of that rank.
In 1914 the 9th were stationed at Ambala so were sent to France with the Ambala Cavalry Brigade. They stayed in Europe until February 1918 when they were posted to Palestine. They finally returned to Ambala on 1st January 1921 creating a record for length of time spent overseas, more than 6 years.
1.Hodson was a war criminal. In fact he was a bounty hunter - something like today's Blackwater. Later he was commissioned into the Company Forces. He himself killed a lot of people with impunity and allowed massacres of Muslims and looting of their property by his free-booters. Muslims at that time were loyal to Emperor Bahadur Shah.
2. He himself shot from the back and killed the sons of the Emperor after they surrendered along with the Emperor and his family in Humayn's tomb.
3. It is a shame that IA and PA celebrate this fiend. We in BD have wiped off all traces of links to the British colonials.