Riots in Peshawar, 1930

Photograph, India, North West Frontier, 1930.

The Government of India Act 1919 had initiated reforms aimed at involving Indians in all branches of the administration and the gradual development of self-governing institutions. These reforms were not extended to the Northern West Frontier Province, where the Pathans were considered not yet ready for them. A political agitator, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, began to arouse the Pathans against this discrimination and in 1929 he formed an unarmed paramilitary body known as the 'Red Shirts'.

Though the movement drilled openly and preached sedition and violence along the Frontier, no action was taken until the authorities felt compelled to arrest its leaders at a huge rally in Peshawar on 23 April 1930. The action provoked rioting which the police were unable to contain and military assistance was requested. Four armoured cars of the No 1 Armoured Car Company, named after the Western Front engagements, 'Bethune', 'Bray', 'Bullicourt', and 'Bapaume', formed part of a 'City Disturbance Column', together with lorry-borne infantry and part of a squadron of the Poona Horse. As the column of vehicles attempted to navigate through angry crowds, a dispatch rider was killed. Having stopped to aid the unfortunate motorcyclist the armoured cars came under attack. The crew of 'Bethune' was forced to run for their lives as the crowd set the motorcyclist and the armoured car on fire.

Photograph from an album compiled by C G S Clarke, 1st King George's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners, 1930-1931.