Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Wotton Toovey, commanding 3rd Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment, Damdil, North West Frontier, India, September 1937

Photograph compiled by Major General Cecil Wotton Toovey (1891-1954), 5th Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment, formerly the 82nd Punjabis, 1937. Inscribed on reverse, 'With kindest regards to Col Toovey from H L Khos, Damdil, Sep '37''.

Toovey standing on a rocky hillside and smiling for the camera, at Damdil, India (now Pakistan), September 1937. He is wearing khaki drill and is holding his pith helmet and a walking cane. He has binoculars and a bandolier across his chest, possibly a revolver on his right hip, and wears chuplis (leather Indian sandals) on his feet.

Cecil Wotton Toovey was born on 17 April 1891 and educated at Malvern College, Worcestershire. He joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) in May 1913. He was seconded to serve with the 82nd Punjabis in 1917. Having served in Mesopotamia, Toovey saw action on the North West Frontier of India during the 3rd Afghan War (1919). He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions on 21 December 1919.

Captain Toovey served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at General Headquarters (GHQ), India, from 1927 to 1929. Toovey was Brigade Major for the 2nd Rawalpindi Infantry Brigade, between 1929 and 1931. In 1932 Toovey was back on active duty on the North West Frontier, receiving a bar for his Military Cross. He returned to England in 1933 where he served at the War Office in London, rising through the ranks to lieutenant colonel in 1937.

Toovey took command of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment in January 1937 and was promoted to colonel in 1939. Toovey served in Eritrea in 1941 before returning to India as Deputy Adjutant General GHQ India. Promoted to major general in 1943, Toovey commanded the Rawlpindi District prior to his retirement in January 1947. He died in 1954.

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'