45th (Rattray's Sikh) Regiment of Bengal Infantry during the Delhi Camp of Exercise, 1886

Photograph by Raja (Lala) Deen Dayal, Indore, Central India, 1886.

The 45th's origins lay in the 1856 decision to raise a Corps of Military Police to control the Lower Provinces of Bengal, east of Behar, where a rebellion had broken out. The person chosen to raise this body of men was Captain Thomas Rattray. His Bengal Police Battalion was raised in the Punjab, where a large number of ex-soldiers of the old Sikh Army, who had fought the British, were available. The Battalion played an important part in putting down the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859) and was designated as 45th (Rattray's Sikh) Regiment of Bengal Infantry in 1864.

The Delhi Camp of Exercise in 1886 was the largest gathering of troops in peacetime India up to that date. Four divisions, comprising 14 cavalry and 36 infantry regiments took part and 37,000 troops and 25,000 followers were involved. The exercise included sports as well as military manoeuvres and lasted a month.

From an album of 67 photographs taken by Raja (Lala) Deen Dayal, entitled, 'Delhi Camp of Exercise 1886', 'Photographed by Lala Deen Diyal Indore C.I.'; formerly the property of Lieutenant Colonel Frederic Standish Hore (1836-1895), 39th Foot.