Pouch belt, officer, Colonel Norman Meredith Geoghegan, 29th Regiment (7th Burma Battalion) of Madras Infantry, 1901 (c)

Brown leather belt and pouch, with silver mountings, with whistle, chain and boss, and badge. The regimental badge has a quoit bearing the unit title, '29 Madras Infantry', intertwined with a crescent, surmounted by a Guelphic crown, on crossed Union and Royal Ensign flags, with a scroll below bearing the unit title, '7th Burma Battalion'.

Colonel Norman Meredith Geoghegan (1877-1962) was born on 7 September 1876. He served with the Indian Staff Corps (from 1898) and with the 89th Punjabis, with the rank of major, from 1914. Geoghegan was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Geoghegan died 28 September 1962.

The 3rd Extra Battalion of Madras Infantry was raised in 1798. It became the 29th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry in 1824. It served in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malaya and Burma. Continued service in Burma led to its designation as 29th Regiment (7th Burma Battalion) of Madras Infantry in 1893 and 29th Burma Infantry in 1901. As part of the Indian Army reform of 1903 the regiment became the 89th Punjabis. During World War One (1914-1918) the regiment was expanded and elements served in India, Aden, Egypt, at Gallipoli, on the Western Front, in Mesopotamia, and in Greece and the Caucasus. Amalgamation with other 'Burma Battalions' followed, with the unit forming the 1st Battalion, 8th Punjab Regiment in 1922.