Members of the 39th Garhwal Rifles, 1909

Photograph, India, 1909.

The Garhwalis came from the Garhwal Hills in the Himalayan district of the United Provinces (now Uttarakhand in India). Originally they were recruited into Gurkha regiments, but the British were so impressed by their martial abilities that in 1887 they raised a separate Garhwal regiment.

From an album of 100 photographs compiled by David Henry Drake-Brockman, 1897-1909.