Helmet badge, 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps, 1861-1901

White metal badge with crown over monogram, 'PVR' and unit number, '1', with a bugle horn and crossed rifles, and a scroll below with the motto, 'Defence not Defiance'.

The 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps was formed in April 1861. The Corps absorbed the Punjab Light Horse (Volunteers) and in 1898 formed the Administrative Battalion, 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifle Corps. The Corps was based in Lahore with detachments at Amritsar, Dhariwal, Gurdaspur, Rawalpindi, Murree, Sialkot, Delho, Karnal, Ferozepore and Dharmsala. The Quarterly Civil List for Punjab records the Corps enrolled strength on 31 March 1898 as 650 with 101 reservists. In 1917 the 1st Punjab Volunteer Rifles became the 3rd Punjab Rifles and then in 1920, became the Punjab Rifles.

From the Field Marshal Sir John Chapple Indian Army Collection.