Assam Valley Light Horse

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#London Gazette 1912  
               Thanks to Mike Nancollas
#Circa 1890 SVLH  
             Thanks to  Kirsty Dunkerley of Western Australia
#Surma VLH pics  
            Thanks to Mike Easterbrook
The 13 AVLH Photo 
           Thanks to Mike Nancollas
#Surma Valley 
           Thanks to Dr Imdad Hussein  
#How it all started  
          Thanks to Mike Nancollas
#Bill Charlier Trophy  
           Thanks to Bill Charlier
Three AVLH pics from Bob Powell Jones
#Short history of the AVLH 
           Thanks to Mike Nancollas
#Peter Inglis-Smith
 #Wellesley Ashe

 

May 7 2008
London Gazette--1912

We are indebted to Mike Nancollas who has just completed a search of the London Gazette for AVLH and found the following to add to that which he had already submitted some time back.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 16 JULY, 1912.

NOMINAL RETURN OF OFFICERS WOUNDED.   6179
Rank. Captain
Name. J. R. Hutchison, Adjutant,.                                     Assam Valley Light Horse.
Description of wound — dangerous, severe or slight.             Severe
Nature of wound.                                                                                 Arrow wound, right thigh.

1524 THE LONDON GAZETTE, MARCH 6, 1900.
COLONEL LUMSDEN'S CORPS.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dugald McT.Lumsden, Assam
Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be Commandant, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant- Colonel in the Army- Dated 7th March, 1900.

Lieutenant-Colonel Eden Showers, late Commandant - Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers,
to be Second in. Command, with the temporary rank of Major in the Army. 
 Dated 7th March, 1900.

Captain J. H. B. Beresford, Indian Staff Corp*, to he Company Commander. Dated 7th March; 1900.
To be Captains, with the temporary rank of Captain in the Army. Dated 7th March, 1900 :—

Major Henry Chamney, Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers.
Captain Francis Clifford, Coorg und Mysore

Volunteer .Rifles.
Second Lieutenant Bernard "W. Holmes, East India Railway Volunteer Rifles.
Second Lieutenant John B. Rutherfoord, Behar Light Horse Volunteers.

To be Lieutenants, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant in the Army. Dated 7th March, 1900 :—

Lieutenant Charles L. Sidey, Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers.
Herbert O. Pugh, Gent.
George A. Nevill, Gent.
Charles E. Crane, Gent.

Captain Neville C. Taylor, Indian Staff Corps, to be Adjutant. Dated 7th March, 1900.

Surgeon-Captain Samuel A. Powell, M.D., Surma Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be
Ue'lical Officer, with the temporary rank of Captain. Dated 7th March, 1900.

William Stevenson, Gent., to be Veterinary Officer, with the temporary rank of Veterinary-
Lieutenant. Dated 7th March, 1900.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, JANUARY 1, 1909.

The KING has been graciously pleased to make the following promotions in and appoint-
ments to the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire under the above Statute:—
To be Companion to the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire

Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Thorp Jessop, V.D., Honorary Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant-
Governor of Eastern Bengal and Assam, and Commandant of the Assam Valley Light Horse.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, SEPTEMBER 30, 1898. 5735

  LIST CCCIX of the Names of Officers and Soldiers deceased since 1865 whose Personal Estate is held by the Secretary of State for War for distribution amongst the Next of Kin or others entitled.—Effects 1897-98.

  Lishman, William 1st Class Sergeant- Instructor 1st Battalion East Kent Regiment and Assam Valley. Light Horse     £42 15 9

  7566 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 23 SEPTEMBER, 1914.

Reserve Regiments

Walter Hervey St. John Mildmay, late Major, Assam Valley Light Horse, is ; granted the temporary rank of Captain. Dated 24th September, 1914

8892 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 3 NOVEMBER, 1914.

8th Battalion, The Worcestershire Regiment;

The undermentioned to be Captains Hugh Warburton Davies (late Second Lieutenant, Assam Valley Light Horse). Dated 5th September, 1914. Dated 1st October, 1914.

  38-74 THE LONDON GAZETTE, MAY 21, 1909.

INFANTRY. 8th Battalion, The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) ;
Robert Anderson (late Second Lieutenant, Assam Valley Light Horse) to be Lieutenant.
Dated 12th February, 1909.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 JANUARY, 1921. 7 Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire: — To be Companions of the said Most Eminent Order

Lieutenant-Colonel Lionel Augustus Grimsiton, V.D.,O.B.E., Commanding: the 6th. Assam
Valley .Light Horse (I.A.F.), Assam.

7206 SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 17 JULY, 1917. TERRITORIAL FORCE.
Kent Volunteer Regt.
8th Bn.—The undermentioned to be temp. 2nd Lts. 6th June 1917: —
Thomas Barton Cheesman.
Ernest Cyril Coulthurst Holder (late 2nd Lt., Assam Valley Light Horse).

THE LONDON GAZETTE, MARCH 6, 1900. 1531
Infantry ---The Limerick City Artillery (Southern Division),
Sydney John Brasier-Creagh, Esq., late Assam Valley Light Horse Volunteers, to be Captain.
Dated 7th March, 1900.

5176 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 16 JULY, 1912,
No. 1199-A., dated Kobo, the llth April, 1912.
From   Major-General H. Bower, C.B., Com manding, Abor Expeditionary Force,
To the Chief of the General Staff, Army Head- quarters, Simla.

Orders for the demobilisation of the Abor Expeditionary Force having been received, I
have the honour to report as follows for the information of His Excellency the Commander- in-Chief: —

* * * * * Probability of Abor Coalition (summary).

32. Previous to the advance of the force information pointed to the great probability that
we would not only be opposed by the Minyong but that several other tribes would coalesce
with those responsible for the massacre in opposing our advance and from information
obtained afterwards it appears that very many villages assisted in the preparation of stockades and stone shoots. It was soon, however, apparent that the tribes who promised their support to the Minyong had done so under the belief that the punitive force would be on the small and insufficient scale that has been such a marked feature of former expeditions against the Abors. As soon as our strength became manifest the coalition fell to pieces and the guilty villages were left to fight out their own quarrel with us alone. This materially re- duced the active opposition.

Physical Difficulties (summary).

• 33. On the other hand, the physical difficulties of the country presented even a greater
obstacle to rapid advance than had been anticipated. The Abor paths were quite unfit for use by laden carriers, and as an example of the difficulties encountered I may mention that a small exploration party leaving camp soon after daylight only completed a march of 1| miles by 4 p.m. Many other cases showing the difficulty of rapid movement could be quoted, and the necessity for searching out and destroying stone shoots, of which an incredible number had been prepared, also involved delay.

Results (summary).

34. As the result of the operations the culpable villages have been punished, six men who took part in the massacre of Mr. Williamson's party have been captured, tried, five found guilty and sentenced. The rifles taken ha,ve been restored, and our capability to punish evildoers, which hitherto has not been credited, has1 been brought home to the tribesmen. Practically the whole Abor country has been visited and excellent relations established.

The domination exercised by the Kebang- Rotung1 group of villages has been broken, the
villages in the interior can now trade with India which they express a great desire to do.

The part of the north Lakhimpur Districts lying to the north of the Brahmaputra can be recolonised, there being now nothing to fear from Abor raids.

Mule Roads (summary).
35. A good road fit for mules has been con- structed from Kobo to Yambung, and Abor paths improved as far as Shimong and Riga and between Mishing and Kalek.

Survey .(summary). r. .. ^.^

36. The absence of maps, native information being often misleading, was a difficulty. In spite of the fact that the weather, could hardly have been less favourable than it was for sur veying, the following results were obtained: —

(a) An accurate series of triangulation, emanating from the Assam Longitudinal series of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, has been carried over the outlying ranges to the latitude of Kebang, terminating in the base Sadup h. s. Namkam h. s. This will prove of the greatest assistance to future surveyors or explorers.

(b) From this series and an extension of reconnaissance triangulation to the latitude of Simong several large snowy peaks have been fixed on what appears to be the main Himalayan divide, including one very fine, peak over 25,000 ft. high. Many more snow peaks have also been fixed on the watershed between the Dihang and Subansiri rivers, which seems to be a very prominent spur of the main divide. It has only been possible to obtain a mere approximation of the topography of these snowy ranges', but the geodetic results are in themselves of great value.

(c) About 3,500 square miles have been more or less rigorously mapped on scale 4 miles = 1 inch, including the whole of thq Yamne and Shimang Valleys, a portion of the Siyom River, and the whole of the Dihang Valley as far north as Singging. Although I venture to think it is now possible for very small parties to travel about the country. It was found necessary, in the first instance, that exploring parties showed strength. In. addition to reasons of safety a considerable' number of men were required to clear hill tops1.

Conduct of Troops (summary).

37. Campaigning in a country where, the difficulties of transport are so great necessarjl^v involved considerable hardships on the men, and great extremes were experienced from  tropical heat to bivouacking in snow. In one place this was lying 9 feet deep. The continuous bad weather experienced during part of the operations was a greater hardship than it would be in a campaign on which tents could be carried. The work was hard, unremitting, and continued watchfulness was required against, an enemy ever readjr to take advantage of- any opportunity. Difficulties of exploration were accentuated by- the. impossibility .of columns living'on the country. The Abors grow only……….

………..Corps and Departments.

41. Assam Valley Light Horse Dismounted Detachment.

—The members of this detachment showed a most soldierlike spirit in volunteering, in many cases1 at great personal inconvenience and pecuniary loss, to accompany the expedition. They underwent considerable hardship in a most cheerful spirit and played an important part in the taking of the Kekar Monying position. Captain C. L. Lovell commanded the detachment in an efficient manner

5178 THE LONDON GAZETTE, 16 JULY, 1912.

Surgeon-Captain J. M. Falkiner, Assam Valley Light Horse, served as a Volunteer Medical Officer with the Ledum Column and Lakhimpur Military Police. He has served throughout without remuneration and I consider his services worthy of commendation.

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 1 JANUARY, 1931. 7

CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF . KNIGHTHOOD.
St. James's Palace, S.W. 1, •'•'•"-• 1st January, 1931-.

The" KING has been graciously pleased to give orders for vthe following promotion in, and appointment^ to, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire:—

To be Companions of the said Most Eminent Order:—

Lieutenant-Colonel (Honorary Colonel) Horace Craigie Manders, V.D., Auxiliary Force, India, Commandant, Assam Valley Light Horse, A.F.I.  

******************************


April 23 2008
A young lady Kirsty Dunkerley from Western Australia has kindly sent us a photograph of her grandfather  F H CARSLAW  when he was in the Surma Valley Light Horse-- Kirsty believes from her father's  annotations  : and I quote :



Surma Valley Light Horse
“Maud Powell 2nd lady from left
F H Carslaw 3rd in Uniform behind her
Probably sick looking lady No. 1 is Evelyn Victoria Carslaw ** (His Mother) sister of Maud Powell “
No date but I would suspect late 1890’s as grandfather does not have captain’s pips perhaps the Sam Brown is a give away to you historical buffs ?? – what splendid handle bars though!

Kirsty is planning a visit to Assam either later this year or 2009 and we thank her for sharing this 100 plus year old picture with facts with us


    SURMA VALLEY LIGHT HORSE
The photographs below have been kindly sent in by Mike Easterbrook  whose Great Grandfather was Robert John Easterbrook who served in the SVLH for ten years from 1893 to 1903 as Sergeant Major and Instructor. 

Mike inherited  the plates which are in excess of a century in age --scanned them and sent them to the Editor--thank you Mike for helping us build up a picture of yesteryear.


This is the first of twelve pictures---please click here to see the rest


************************************

August 21 2005

The following four pictures show a combined newspaper cutting with a picture in the middle. In order for it to be readable, I have had to break it into four pics

In order to see them please click on the line here

_______________________________________________________________



Mike Nancollas has kindly added this to his previous input and we thank him

   AVLH

This photo was taken between 1914 and 1920 I think, only identity on here is My Gt Uncle Frederick Williamson second in from left on the mid row.  Photo recently sent to me by his Grandson William White.

 

 

 

Photograph is of members of the AVLH circa 1912 to 1920 kindly supplied by Hilary Eade, Granddaughter of Stanley Lloyd of the Jorehaute Company who retired in 1939 plus memorabilia

Click for larger image. 01 AVLH group


Click for larger image. AVLH Badges


AVLH Shoulder 1


Click for larger image.
AVLH Shoulder 2


Click for larger image.



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 March 2004
We have to thank Dr Imdad Hussain, Professor of History and Dean of the School of Social Sciences  of the North Eastern Hill University Shillong for this very informative item  taken from a paper he created 

THE SURMA VALLEY

LIGHT HORSE

A FORGOTTEN

CHAPTER IN THE

HISTORY OF CACHARS

INDUSTRY

Dr Imdad Hussein


Without doubt few events had left a more lasting impression upon European tea planters in Assam and Cachar  than the massacre of Englishmen, women and children in Northern Indian during the summer of 1857. The lessons they learned of their own exceedlingly isolated and vulnerable situation miles away from the nearest civil station were not easily forgotten . The result was the development in North Eastern India of the Volunteer movement that was to become one of the pillars of the colonial internal security system in India .

Until August 1857, however, things were rather quiet in Assam and eastern Indian generally. Bengal had remained unaffected and its interposition between northern Indian and the north-east each gave a sense of immunity to the planters, missionaries and government officers. But after Jagadishpur in Bihar rose a rebellion considerable anxiety began to show itself among the local officers and planters. None could ignore the fact that a large proportion of the men of the 1st Assam Light Infantry Battalion at Dibrugarh came from that region.
There were no regular regiments of the Bengal Army stationed in territories beyond what was the Eastern Frontier of Bengal before the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26). Assam was defended  by two local battalions of the Assam Light Infantry, the first located-at Dibrugarh and the second at Gauhati, the Headquarters of Assam's Commissioner. The Sylhet Light Infantry with its Headquarters at Cherrapunji was responsible for the defence of Sylhet and Cachar_

For the numerous frontier outposts_there were several companies of irregulars somewhat on the lines of what today are called the para-military forces. The locals and the- irregulars  were-fairly well armed and ­in Assam there were soon anxious reports of anti­ British intrigues developing. In this situation   Donald Mackay of the Assam Company immediately brought to be-notice of the-Bengal Government the-want-of _ European Troops-in Assam . Calcutta could spare none and so sent two Battalions of European sailors, or "Jack Tars" in the parlance of the day. The first consisting of about 104 men under Lieutenant Davis was stationed at Dibrugarh, and the second under Captain Brown that followed was sent to Sibsagar. Cachars' planters had little reason for worry. At least not until March 1858, when the 34th Bengal Native Infantry Mutineer at Chittagong and began to move north, towards Sylhet and Cachar. On the 18th an engagement took place between the mutineers and a detachment of the Sylhet Light Infantry -at place-called Latu. Though its distinguished Commanding Officer Major Byng lost his life in the encounter the mutineers were completely routed and fled in twos. and threes into Cachar. The tea planters quickly joined in the hunt for the rebels and as Cachar's Superintendent Major Robert Stewart told the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal at Calcutta of:"They (the mutineers) were tracked up Jay-the Koakie-Scouts these Scouts were men of Kookie Village in the lands of the Cachar Tea Company, supplied by me_ with firearms and I beg to bring to your Honor's favourable notice the conduct of. Mr. James Davidson, the –Manager of the  Company, who directed them and who during the five days the mutineers were wandering in the wilderness, kept me continually supplied with excellent and- reliable information. concerning-their movements."
Immediate anxiety for Assam and Cachar soon passed over. But the future continued to haunt the Europeans, both planters and officials  And there were good reasons for it.  In 1860 occurred an uprising in neighbouring Jaintia bills which the Sylhet Light Infantry had no difficulty in crushing. In Assam a serious agrarian disturbance took place in  the following year at Phulaguri near Nowgong in which a British Officer was killed. In January 1862 the Jaintias, again rose up in open rebellion. This time the Sylhet battalion, whose strength had in the past few months been reduced as part the post mutiny army reform and reorganization found itself rather weak to control and the uprising soon turned too extensive for the local authorities to handle it. The Jaintia uprising and the continued disturbances in several tribal areas led to a re-examination by the Bengal Government of the defence of North East India. There was some reluctance in taking this up as the question of the defence of Bengal had only recently been settled after the completion of the army and police reforms of 1860 - 61. Nonetheless in May 1862 Brigadier General St. George showers, the celebrated GOC of the Presidency Division was directed to proceed to the Jaintia Hills to assume personal command of the operations and to report on the military requirements of the region.
For some three years before this, the question of locating European troops in north eastern India had been the subject of a protracted correspondence between Assam , Bengal and the Government of India. It started with the Mutiny itself when Colonel Simon Fraser Hannay, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Assam Light Infantry and the senior most military officer in the region suggested as-a measure of security that a European Artillery Company should replace Dibrugarh's Local Artillery Battalion, which was composed wholly of Hindustanies. Differences among both Civil and Military Officers of the relative merits of artillery over infantry for service in the north east considerably delayed the submission of formal proposals for European troops. It was only in January 1862 that Bengal's Lieutenant Governor Sir John Peter Grant could ask for a military garrison of five Native Infantry Regiments and a few European troops, both artillery and infantry.  

General Showers who submitted a lengthy report on the defence of the North East Frontier in September 1862 endorsed Grant's recommendations. But the GOC made it clear that European troops were not required for the defence of the region from the military point of view, and that this part of his recommendation was made only to satisfy the planters, to inspire confidence in them and give a stimulus to their development. The Commander-in-­Chief  Sir Hugh Rose in forwarding Showers report to the Government of India further emphasized the political reasons for European regiments. But he was concerned equally about the health of such regiments and therefore, should Government agree, he would locate the bulk of these in Shillong   (Whose suitability as a miIitary Station was then being favourably reported) with just a few companies in Dibrugarh.

That a large military garrison commanded by a Brigadier General was required for the North East was generally agreed upon by the both Bengal and Supreme Governments. But as regards European regiments Grant's successor Sir Cecil Beadon had with good reason considerable misgivings. There had been an unusually high rate of mortality among the Jack Tars in Upper Assam and the Khasi Hills did not need them. He therefore told Sir John Lawrance, the Viceroy and-Governor General, that he had " no wish to seen an European Soldier stationed anywhere to the eastward of Calcutta on Dum Dum.
When in March 1864  the Government  of India  finally decided upon the military garrison and created the Eastern Frontier Command with four a half regiments of Native Infantry  and one battallion  of Artillery  there was no mention of European Regiments . It was in these circumstances that the planters in Assam and Cachar took to volunteering.

The uncertainties before the tea industry in the years immediately following the Revolt of 1857 - 58 and the almost total dependence of the planters upon the. Government for their security, especially though the agency of European troops, had made them some what lukewarm to the idea of Volunteering The-tea boom had not yet occurred and the expansion of the industry in Cachar was still a few years in the future. The Volunteer movement had began during the Mutiny when the necessity for organized self defence prompted Englishmen to enroll themselves into volunteer units in Bihar, Punjub and other places where there was an immediate threat to life and property. Calcutta too had its volunteer group. Significantly it was General Showers who first suggested such a step for Cachar when he was on his way to the Jaintia hills. Major Stewart thus recorded_ in May 1862 that of "(General Showers) called my attention to the possibility of forming a volunteer Rifle corps in Cachar from among the European residents as one of the most likely measures to insure future peace and security and quietness in the District and prevent internal disturbance".

Major Stewart said that the General had assured him of-his "hearty co-operation" of in any such movement that the planters might organize and promised not only to depute competent drill instructors but also provide arms form Government arsenals. It was not for nothing that General Showers' sympathy for the tea planters should go beyond what his profession demanded. It was also personal  Showers had developed a keen interest in the industry. Of his seven sons four went into tea. The eldest, Major Eden Showers, left the Indian Army to join Octavius Steel and during 1895 and 1900 was Commandant of the Surma Valley Light Horse. He was killed in South Africa , in the Boer War in April 1900.