HISTORY OF THE 19TH KING GEORGE’S OWN LANCERS 1858-1921

The sixty years covered by this wide-ranging unit history encompassed the high noon and final sunset of both the British Army’s proud cavalry arm and the Indian army of which the 19th Lancers were such an ornament. The 19th Lancers were raised in India in 1858 in the aftermath of the Great Mutiny. In the 1870s it fought in the second Afghan war; was on garrison duty in India in the 1880s; served on the ever-restive North West Frontier in the 1890s. With the outbreak of the Great War, the regiment was rushed to France, where, after the formation of the trench lines, it fought as infantry – including the battle of the Somme in 1916. In 1917 it fought at Arras and Cambrai, and ended the war in Egypt and Palestine where it took part in the advance on Damascus. This is a valuable and rare official account of an Indian regiment in the Great War, and is laced with vivid vignettes of the Indian army’s social life in peace and war. There are photos and maps and numerous appendices; awards; and Rolls of Honour.