Hodson's Horse (9th Bengal Cavalry)

[acanthus]

Hi all,

Not exactly within the Mutiny period but not far off and quite relevent, I am hoping that someone can Identify the British officer seated in the front who is wearing his helmet; also any opinions on the identity of the other two officers in this picture with the hand written title of "Officers 9th Bengal Cavalry 1864"would be much appreciated.

Gordon

[Maureene]

Hi Gordon

The various editions of the Indian Army List have the names of officers. The nearest to 1864 I can access online (full view) is that for July 1869 and the Google Books link for the 9th Bengal Cavalry is
http://books.google.com/books?id=UwkLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA136 , page 136

Google Books have the following two Indian Army List links which I cannot access, (they are only available as snippet view) but perhaps North American readers are able to access them in full view.

http://books.google.com/books?id=KUc5AQAAIAAJ 1864
http://books.google.com/books?id=yAQLAQAAIAAJ 1867

Cheers
Maureen

[Jonathan]

The two India office and Burma office list titles are not available in North America.

[acanthus]

Hi Maureene & Jonathan,

I already know the names of the officers who were serving with Hodson's Horse, both before and after 1864 however, the problem arises in particular with the officer who was Commandant in 1864, owing two the fact that C. H. Mecham was in command from 1863 to 1864 (after the death of J. P. Caulfield in 1863), and he was then replaced as Commandant by H. L. Campbell, also in 1864.

Being of fairly typical composition the photo shows three British officers, and the officers seated in front are obviously of some importance and in my view would be the Commandant, and the second in command, with the third officer very likely the adjutant; as there was only four officers at that date, the only person who would be missing would be the medical officer.

So for 1864 when the photo was taken, without doubt, the officer wearing the helmet is the commandant however, he could be one of two people, Mecham? or Campbell? The other seated officer is the 2nd in command who was Dayrell.

So I was hoping that someone with a knowledge of the personalities involved, might be able to identify the face of the person wearing the helmet, and thus the answer in part to my original question.

[Will Mathieson]

I opened the link to 1864, then click the purple text "Great Britain. India Office" and several books come up, click on any and they open.

[Billy Fish]

Hi Gordon,

The Officer at the front left wearing his Indian Mutiny Medal with two bars Defence of Lucknow and Lucknow is without doubt Captain Clifford Henry Mecham who was Commandant of 9th Bengal Cavalry (Hodson’s Horse) from April 1863 to September 1864. I have six different photographs of Mecham.

I believe that the officer wearing the Helmet is in fact Captain Henry Thomas Oldfield who was appointed 2nd in Command of the 9th Bengal Cavalry in February 1864 until July 1876. Details taken from the Army List of Hodson's Horse 1857-1928.

The officer in the helmet (Oldfield) is wearing what appears to be a pair of miniature medals. Oldfield was awarded an Indian General Service Medal with bar North West Frontier and a no bar Indian Mutiny Medal. A further check of the Army list for officers of the 9th Bengal Cavalry in 1864 indicates only Oldfield was entitled to wear two medals at that time.

Unfortunately I am still unable to identify the officer peering over Mecham’s shoulder.

I have attached a photograph of Mecham in civilian dress taken in 1856 prior to his participation in the Defence of the Lucknow Residency.

Scan002, March 10, 2006 Captain Clifford Henry Mecham 2.jpg (25.91 KiB) Viewed 1231 times

Regards
Billy Fish

[Billy Fish]

A second photograph of Mecham taken in early 1858, shows him in uniform, but it is clear when you compare it to the previous photograph in civvies that the rigours of the defence of Lucknow took its toll on him, clearly he has lost considerable weight which shows in his face.

captain c.h.jpg (23.95 KiB) Viewed 1231 times

Regards
Billy Fish

[Will Mathieson]

http://books.google.ca/books?id=yRAbAQA ... 22&f=false

Here is a direct link

[Jonathan]

http://books.google.ca/books?id=yRAbAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Great+Britain.+India+Office%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oam_T7CbM6HG6gGA3ZC0Cg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=inauthor%3A%22Great%20Britain.%20India%20Office%22&f=false

Here is a direct link

Yes, but unfortunately it is not for the correct year.

[acanthus]

Hi Billy Fish,

Thankyou very much for your response and photos. Do you know how long Thomas Dayrell held the postion of 2nd in Command, and what position was held by Lieutenant Thomas Dayrell in 1864?

Gordon

[Will Mathieson]

Have not had time to see if these have officers of India listed, computer is slow today. Here is a link to a list of years,

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... 67782.html

[Maureene]

Hi

I have located some full version editions of the India Army List for the period 1864-1871 which I have added to the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Directories online, section India List and India Office List. There is a link , probably accessible by those in North America, for editions from 1872.
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=D ... ffice_List

Indian Army Lists up to 1859 are available on the same Fibiwiki page under the section East India Register and Directory
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=D ... _Directory

The editions I have recently located are available on the Hathi Trust Digital Library
http://www.hathitrust.org.
Many of the books seem to originate from Google Books, but there are certainly some accessible on full view that aren’t accessible on full view Google Books. The Hathi Trust Digital Library has the advantage that pages can be rotated, which is a handy feature for some pages on Army Lists.

Cheers
Maureen

[Jonathan]

Well done, Maureene, and thank you!

Here is the snippet from the July 1864 The Indian Army and Civil Service List...

9th Bengal Cavalry 1864.jpg (126.24 KiB) Viewed 1181 times

[acanthus]

To all concerned,

A special vote of thanks!

This really gives a very clear picture of the officers names, and positions with dates, and certainly much of the information I have been missing; the only date I don't have is when Dayrell was replaced as 2nd in Command?

Gordon

[Billy Fish]

Hi Gordon,

Lieutenant Dayrell was appointed 2nd in Command of 9th Bengal Cavalry on 13th May 1859. He remained in that appointment until 22nd February 1864 when Captain H.T. Oldfield was appointed 2nd in Command. Lieutenant Dayrell then became 2nd Squadron Officer 9th Bengal Cavalry, he remained in this appointment until January 1877 when once again he became 2nd in Command of 9th Bengal Cavalry, he appears to have held the appointment of 2nd in Command until July 1881 his rank at that time being 'Major'.

From 14th August 1881 Major Dayrell becomes Commandant of 9th Bengal Cavalry until 1st October 1882 when he retired as Lieut.Colonel. He died on 12th January 1890.

Regards,
Billy Fish