Collar badge, 74th Punjabis, 1903-1922

Brass badge depicting a left facing dragon.

Initially raised as the 14th Carnatic Battalion in 1776, it became the 14th Madras Native Infantry in 1824. The battalion fought in the Carnatic, Mysore and Maratha wars, as well as the 1st China War (1839-1842), denoted by the dragon insignia, and the 3rd Burma War (1885-1887).

In 1903, with the reorganisation of the Indian Army, the regiment was renamed the 74th Punjabis, with recruitment increasingly from northern rather than southern India. During World War One (1914-1918) the regiment garrisoned Hong Kong, followed by service on the North West Frontier and in Palestine in 1918.

In the 1922 reorganisation of the Indian Army, the regiment became the 4th Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment. The unit was allowed to retain the Chinese dragon insignia, apart from officers attached to the 10th Training Battalion. The 4th Battalion was disbanded in 1939. The disbandment followed an incident in 1938 when a sepoy killed four British officers and three Viceroy's Commissioned Officers at Nowshera on the North West Frontier.

From the Field Marshal Chapple Indian Army Collection.