'No. 4 (Hazara) Mountain Battery.', 1893

Photograph by Frederick Bremner (1863-1941), India, 1893.

Four artillerymen of the 4th (Hazara) Punjab Mountain Battery, posing with a 7-Pounder Rifled Muzzle Loading (RML) mountain gun.

The photograph is captioned (from left to right): 'Naick. (Sikh)'; 'Havildar' and 'Subadar', pointing, with the joint sub-caption, '(Sikhs)'; 'Gunner. Punjabi Musalman)'; with the joint caption, 'Review Order', below.

The 4th (Hazara) Punjab Mountain Battery was originally raised in 1851 as the Hazara Mountain Train. It became part of the Punjab Irregular Force and then the Punjab Frontier Force. It became the 4th (Hazara) Punjab Mountain Battery in 1876 and served in the 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880). it became the 24th Hazara Mountain Battery (Frontier Force) in 1903, the 104th (Hazara) Pack Battery (Frontier Force) in 1921 and the 4th (Hazara) Mountain Battery (Frontier Force) in 1927.

Bremner (1863-1941), born in Scotland, worked for his brother-in-law G W Lawrie's photographic company in Lucknow, India from 1883 to 1891. Bremner established his own studios in Quetta and Rawalpindi. By 1905 he was operating in Quetta and Lahore, and in 1911 he also had a studio in the hill station at Simla.

From an album entitled, 'Types of the Indian Army'; 'Bengal and Punjab Armies', an album of 60 photographs produced in Quetta, India 1897. The album shows the uniforms and weapons of the Indian Army, 'Illustrating the races enlisted in the Bengal, Punjab, Madras & Bombay Armies, Dedicated (By permission) To His Excellency General Sir George Stewart [sic] White V.C., G.C.I.E., K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief in India.'.