'The Tochi looking towards Saidgi', 1919 (c)

Pastel and pencil sketch by Captain (later Major General) Cecil Wotton Toovey (1891-1954), 82nd Punjabis, 1919 (c). From a Sketchbook with 28 pages of sketches of Mesopotamia and Waziristan, 1917-1919.

The Tochi Valley was a route into British India for raiders and for reciprocal punitive expeditions by British and Indian Army forces. Saidgi (now in Pakistan), was one of the main posts in the valley.

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.

The 82nd Punjabis arrived at Basra from India on 15 January 1916. It participated in the offensive that resulted in the occupation of Baghdad in March 1917. The regiment remained in the city until moving on to the Persian border. The regiment returned to India in 1919 and served in the 3rd Afghan War (1919) and in the campaign in Waziristan (1919-1920). Toovey 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 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.

Credit line: 'Son of Maj GenToovey'