Pouch, full dress, officer, worn by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Bredin, 72nd Punjabis, 1903-1922

Brown leather pouch with metal fittings and regimental badge with regimental number, '72', over title, 'Punjabis'.

Alexander Bredin was born on 22 February 1871 at Palamcottah in India. He became a 2nd Lieutenant in the Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) on 9 January 1892. He was promoted to lieutenant on the 8 April 1896 and subsequently joined the Indian Army, serving with the 21st Madras Pioneers, 10th Gurkha Rifles, 72nd Punjabis and 5th Battalion, 8th Punjab Regiment.

Bredin served with the Burma China Boundary Commission in 1899 and surveyed the Namchan-Mogok route through the Kachin Hills. From 1904 to 1912 he was seconded to the Burma Military Police, serving in Mandalay, the Chin Hills, the Southern Shan States, Pyawbay and Rangoon.

Bredin rose through the ranks, becoming a captain in 1901 and a major in 1910. Bredin served on the North West Frontier from 1915 to 1917 and in Mesopotamia and Palestine during the latter stages of World War One (1914-1918). He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1917 and retired from the Army on 15 February 1920. He died in Canterbury, Kent, on 7 January 1943.