I am trying to identify the location that this British Army regiment are stationed at. Do any of these photographs ring any bells?
Steve, unfortumately, I cannot identify them, as per usual for British troops in India they are not wearing much in the way of visible insignia. Perhaps the hose tops being worn in the third photograph might have some significance.
Three of the men in the back row are dark coloured Field Service caps with large circular white metal badges, but the photograph is too blurred to show any detail. The two soldiers in the second post have unusual circular water bottles which may also be a clue. They might be a cavalry pattern or perhaps an Indian pattern.
I have recently been reading about Shimla / Simla Hill Station, now in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, which was the hill station (summer) capital of British India. There is no mention of any full time military garrison. I would suggest it is more likely to be a less well-known hill station, possibly nearer the North-West Frontier, where a large part of the British-Indian army was deployed (including cavalry). Murree is the one I know and have been to. A quick scan of old photos does not help though. Murree had several military cantonments (military area term), as described in: Cantonments Of The Murree Galis - The Friday Times - Naya Daur
There were indeed many lesser known hill stations with military garrisons and finding an exact match from old photographs will be difficult. I was hoping that the gateway with the sentry box might be a clue as it is very distinctive. I also thought that they might be the 2nd battalion Worcestershire Regiment as I think that their distinctive curved shoulder title is visible in one of the photographs, although it may be a trick of the light and not actually be a brass shoulder title. They were stationed in India from 1936 and were at Rawalpindi in 1939 and later at Sialkot. I have looked for matching photographs of the barracks at both locations but found nothing that matches.
Might be worth asking: Home - Families in British India Society for help, even joining them? I did scan their albums, nowt similar.
Not sure if there’s a clue in the ship name? The only hill stations I’m familiar with are Chakrata, Dehradun and Gangora. All were home to 1st Beds and Herts in the 1930’s, I’m not sure how many regiments had diamond shape badges on the side of the Indian sun hats, but the Beds and Herts definitely did. Alex.
Looking at the second photo again there are three wires tethered to a substantial ground post. This I expect is for a radio mast and indicates to me it could be Shimla / Simla, as the government would need radio - for higher grade, encrypted communications within India and back to the UK even. Wavell when Viceroy did a broadcast to the public on one of the plans for independence. Tethered radio mast / masts / aerials were - based on very limited knowledge - standard in the inter-war and WW2 years. Marconi erected on contract a wireless telegraphy station at Jutogh, near Shimla before 1912. From: https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Wireless-World/MARCONIGRAPH/Marconigraph-1912-01.pdf Shimla has a fixed concrete mast now on the hills above the town. A search for such a mast and being taken down failed to find either imagery or text. The third photo shows a guard house and 'India Through the Stereoscope' a pre-WW1 travel guide has some details on the Vicreregal Lodge (home of the Viceroy) refers to: There was a small military cantonment 8 kms away from Shimla at Jotogh, with barracks for two mountain batteries and two infantry companies. From: Jutogh - Wikipedia The 1921 Punjab Census refers to three civilian wireless telegraphy stations Delhi, Jutogh (Simla) and Lahore. A couple of photos are on: Jutogh - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia and Postings album India | The Army Children Archive (TACA) I think the buildings are a reasonable likeness, though I fear such building were fairly standard across the very many hill stations.
David, many thanks for your help with the research. You are absolutely right about the gate house being the entrance to Viceregal Lodge as is confirmed by a this photograph borrowed from the internet, I couldn't post a link. I am also very impressed with your detective work regarding the Marconi radio tower and I believe that Jutogh is the most likely location of that particular photograph. I am sure that not all the photographs are taken in the same location as they almost certainl chronicle the owner's overall posting in India. There is for example a particularly distinctive duck or perhaps goose fountain that no amount of internet searching comes up with a match. But, I am very pleased that we have made a start in identifying two of the locations. Simon.
Alex, H.M.T.S. Somersetshire was a troop ship that regularly brought British troops to India, disembarking them at Karachi, it was later converted to a hospital ship. The soldiers in the photograph could possibly have arrived on her or have been guarding the Karachi Docks. With regard to the pagri badge, I believe that several units had diamond shape badges including the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers. It is of course almost impossible to identify the actual colours of the badge in black and white photographs but the Beds & Herts certainly could be a contender.
Confirmation that it is indeed Jutogh Barracks near Simla. The post card is captioned, Hill above Parade Ground Jutogh; it was taken from a very similar angle but from further back on the parade ground..
Well done Simon, seems you’ve cracked another mystery. I thought I’d post this picture of my father on the hills around Simla mid 1930’s with the Norfolk’s. The hills, or khuds thereabouts were used for training purposes as well as for photo opportunities. The khud climbing exercises were of great benefit for their time on the NWFP. Lionboxer
I cannot take the credit, it was DavidBFPO's spotting of the cables supporting the radio mast and his linking the mast to Simla that was the break through. I have contacted the seller and he informs me that he purchased the photographs at auction about ten years ago and that they were part of a lot of Worcestershire Regiment items. I will have to look further into their movements to see if I can find out exactly when they were at Jutogh. Thank you for posting a photograph of your father in the hills around Simla. I was there many years ago and it was an amazing experience. Sadly, there has been so much over development that it has lost that peaceful tranquility and that sense of being far from the madding crowd that it once had.
As a reference source, the FIBIS Fibiwiki contains a page Hill station cantonments and camps Hill station cantonments and camps - FIBIwiki In the past, although I have not had reason to use it recently, the postcard sales website stamps-auction.com had a good selection of postcards relating to hill station cantonments, which possibly could be used for comparison purposes. Old Postcards from Far East, Germany, China, Great Britain for Sale Maureen
