'Headquarters 2nd (Rawalpindi) Infantry Bde', North West Frontier, India, 1931

Photograph compiled by Major General Cecil Wotton Toovey (1891-1954), 5th Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment, formerly the 82nd Punjabis, 1931.

12 officers and non-commissioned officers of the Headquarters, 2nd (Rawalpindi) Infantry Brigade, possibly at Karawal Camp on the North West Frontier of India (now Pakistan), 1931. They pose for the photograph in three rows in front of a sandbag wall and tent.

Toovey was Brigade Major for the 2nd Rawalpindi Infantry Brigade, Northern Command, between 1929 and 1931.

In late 1930 the Rawalpindi Brigade was deployed to the Khajuri Plain west of Peshawar. Unrest had broken out in the region in 1930 and two incursions by Afridi tribesmen into the Peshawar District convinced the British Government of India to act to deter further outbreaks. Karawal was a prominent hill overlooking the Khajuri Plain and it was selected as the site of a base for operations. The troops constructed roads and fortified posts in an effort to improve security and pacify the region.

Cecil Wotton Toovey (middle row, second from left) was Brigade Major for the 2nd Rawalpindi Infantry Brigade, between 1929 and 1931. The Brigade Commander, Brigadier Edmund Byam Mathew-Lannowe (1875-1940), is seated in the centre of the middle row. Mathew-Lannowe served as an officer with the Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment). He served on the North West Frontier of India, participating in the Tirah Expedition (1897-1898) and the Malakand Field Force (1902) and was wounded on the Western Front during World War One (1914-1918). After working with the Tank Corps from 1918 to 1919, he returned to India with his regiment. Mathew-Lannowe retired from the Army in 1931.

From a photograph album entitled, 'India 1917-1937 - Iraq, Waziristan, NW Frontier, Tank trials, Aden, building Bara Bridge, Indus Ferry', relating to India and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Iran), 1915-1939, compiled by Major General Cecil Wotton Toovey, Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) and the 82nd Punjabis (later the 5th Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment).

Credit line: 'Son of Major-General Toovey'