'7th Bombay Lancers (Belooch Horse)', 1897

Photograph from an album entitled 'Types of the Indian Army', by F Bremner, 1897.

Bremner (1863-1941), born in Scotland, worked for his brother-in-law G W Lawrie's photographic company in Lucknow, India from 1883 to 1891. Bremner established his own studios in Quetta and Rawalpindi. By 1905 he was operating in Quetta and Lahore, and in 1911 he also had a studio in the hill station at Simla.

The 7th Bombay Lancers was first raised in 1885 by Major A L McNair at Shikarpur, Scinde as the 7th Bombay Cavalry (Jacob-Ka-Rissallah) and was recruited largely from men of the 3rd Scinde Horse (Belooch Horse), which had been disbanded in 1882.

The regiment was an all-Muslim unit consisting of Pathans and Baluchis, and in 1886 was renamed the 7th Bombay Cavalry (Belooch Horse). In 1890, the regiment was reclassed and renamed as the 7th Bombay Lancers (Belooch Horse) and under Lord Kitchener's 1903 Indian Army reforms, Bombay cavalry regiments had thirty added to their existing number, so it was retitled as the 37th Bombay Lancers (Baluch Horse).

From a photograph album of 60 photographs taken by F Bremner, 1893, produced in Quetta, India 1897, 'Illustrating the races enlisted in the Bengal, Punjab, Madras and Bombay Armies', dedicated to General Sir George Stewart [sic] White VC GCIE KCB, Commander in Chief in India.