'3rd Bn. 2nd Bombay Pioneers. Meerut. Christmas Day 1928'

Photograph, Meerut, India, 1928.

Group photograph of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Bombay Pioneers. Meerut, India, Christmas Day 1928.

Rear row (left to right): Jemadars Labh Singh, Sirpati More, Nihal Khan; Subadar Binda Singh (Meritorious Service Medal); Jemadars Sohrab Khan, Daji Gujar and Fateh Mohomed; Subadar Krishna Kalange; middle row (left to right): Lieutenant (later temporary Brigadier) Ian Conaill Anthos Lauder (1904-1962), Captains John Fergus Kekwick and Douglas Richmond Stanley; Jemadar Munir Khan, Subadars Shadi Khan (Indian Distinguished Service Medal) and Laximanrao Ghag; Captain (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Gerard Lionel Tomkins (Military Cross; 1894-1963) and Captain (later Major)George Stanley Newman (1900-1965); front row (left to right): Captain (later Brigadier) Robert Douglas Whitehill (1892-1977), Captain W R Lloyd-Jones; Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Leonard William Henry Mathias (Distinguished Service Order) and Henry Blackwell (Order of the British Empire), Lieutenant Colonel David Benjamin Gray (Military Cross, 1884-1942); Subadar-Major Hony Lieutenant Karam Singh Sardar Bahadur (Indian Distinguished Service Medal), Major Alfred William Pulverman, Captains Montagu Arthur Stephen Cousins and Roger Willis Kearns.

The 28th Bombay Native Infantry was raised in 1846. The term 'Native' was dropped from its title in 1885. In 1888 the regiment became the 28th (Pioneer) Regiment of Bombay Infantry. In 1901 the unit became the 28th Bombay Pioneers. It was renumbered the 128th Pioneers as part of the reform of the Indian Army in 1903. In 1922 the 128th Pioneers was amalgamated and formed the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Bombay Pioneers. The regiment fought on the North West Frontier of India, the Sudan and served in the Middle East during World War One (1914-1918).

From an album of photographs relating to the 28th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, 128th Pioneers, 2nd and 3rd Battalions Bombay Pioneers, 1889-1930.