Bot at 00:34, 5 August 2022

2022-08-05T00:34:41Z

New page

{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox military unit
|unit_name=45th Rattray's Sikhs
| image= 45th Sikh Regiment escorting prisoners - 2nd afghan war.jpg
| image_size = 300
|caption=
|dates=1856–1922
|country=[[British Raj|Indian Empire]]
|branch=Army
|type=Infantry
|size=
|command_structure=[[Bengal Army]] (to 1895) [[Bengal Command]]
|garrison=
|ceremonial_chief=
|ceremonial_chief_label=
|colonel_of_the_regiment=
|nickname= Rattray's Sikhs
|motto=
|colors=1859 Drab; faced blue 1870 Red; faced light buff 1886 white
|march=
|mascot=
|battles=1857–1859 [[Indian Mutiny]] Defence of Arrah 1858 Afghanistan 1878 Ali Masjid Punjab Frontier Malakand
|notable_commanders=
|anniversaries=
}}
The '''45th Rattray's Sikhs''' was an infantry regiment of the [[British Indian Army]]. They could trace their origins to the 1st Bengal Military Police Battalion raised in April 1856, at [[Lahore]], by Captain [[James Rattray|Thomas Rattray]] originally consisting of a troop of 100 cavalry and 500 infantry. The initial class composition of the troops was 50% Sikhs and 50% Dogras, Rajputs and Mussulmans (Muslims) from the [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]] and the [[North-West Frontier (military history)|North-West Frontier]]. It is said that he went through the villages challenging men to wrestle with him on the condition that they had to join up.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/indianinfantry/45thsikhs.htm|title=45th Rattray's Sikhs|access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref> Whatever the case, the regiment was raised and trained and developed as an [[elite corps]], which soon saw action in Bihar (then part of Eastern [[Bengal]]) in the Sonthal 'parganas'. After sterling service in Bihar, Bengal and Assam, and during the 1857 Mutiny, the cavalry portion was eventually disbanded in 1864 and the infantry section was taken into the line of Bengal Native Infantry as the '45th (Rattray's Sikh) Native Regiment of Infantry'.<ref>Omer Tarin and SD Najmuddin, "Risaldar Sardar Habib Khan, 1st Bengal Military Police Battalion" in Durbar: Journal of the [[Indian Military Historical Society]], Vol 27, No 2, Summer 2010, pp. 67–74</ref>

After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.<ref>Sumner p.15</ref> In 1922, the 45th Rattray's Sikhs became the 3rd Battalion, [[11th Sikh Regiment]]. The regiment was allocated to the new [[India]] on independence and is now the 3rd Battalion, the Sikh Regiment, with its headquarters at [[Ramgarh Cantonment|Ramgarh]], Jharkhand (formerly part of [[Bihar]] state), India.

==Defence of Arrah==
{{main|Siege of Arrah}}

The battle honour '''Defence of Arrah''' was awarded to the Bengal Military Police Battalion for their conduct during the [[Siege of Arrah]], when a party of 68 men (including 50 from this unit) held out for 7 days against an estimated 2000–3000 mutinying sepoys and rebellious citizens, suffering only one casualty.<ref name=Singh1993>{{cite book |title=Battle Honours of the Indian Army 1757 – 1971 |last=Singh |first=Sarbans |year=1993 |publisher=Vision Books |location=New Delhi |isbn=81-7094-115-6}}</ref><ref name="Gazette22050">{{cite news|title=Supplement to The London Gazette, October 13, 1857|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22050/page/3422|access-date=18 July 2016|issue=22050|pages=3418–3422|date=13 October 1857}}</ref>

==North West Frontier Province==

The regiment was posted to the North West Frontier Province several times. In 1897, it saw action in Malakand (Landikai), Bajour in Mamund and the Bara valley in Tirah. In 1901, it saw action in Waziristan and in 1908 in Zakka Khel. <ref name="Jan_1922_Indian_Army_List" />

== World War I ==

During World War I, the regiment was deployed to Mesopotamia/Iraq for periods of 1916-1921.

Subedar Labh Singh was wounded and awarded the [[Military Cross]] on 26th May, 1919. Nineteen soldiers in the regiment were awarded the [[Indian Order of Merit]] over the course of the campaign. <ref name="Jan_1922_Indian_Army_List" />

==Victoria Cross==
On 27 September 1858 a party of [[Cavalry]] commanded by Lieutenant [[Charles George Baker]] (Commandant of Cavalry for the Bengal Military Police Battalion), consisting of 69 men from the Bengal Military Police Battalion and 56 men from the 3rd Sikh Irregular Cavalry defeated a force of around 1000 mutinying [[Bengal Native Infantry]] soldiers. Only one man from Lt. Baker's force was killed during this operation. For this action, Lieutenant Baker received the [[Victoria Cross]].<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22224/page/377|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22224|date=31 January 1859}}</ref>

==Predecessor names==
*1856–58: Bengal Military Police Battalion<ref>{{cite book|last1=Barthorp|first1=Michael|title=Indian infantry regiments 1860–1914|url=https://archive.org/details/indianinfantryre00bart|url-access=limited|date=2002|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford|isbn=9780850453072|page=[https://archive.org/details/indianinfantryre00bart/page/n23 23]}}</ref>
*1858–63: 1st Bengal Military Police Battalion
*1864: 45th (Rattray's Sikh) Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry
*1885: 45th (Rattray's Sikh) Regiment, Bengal Infantry
*1901: 45th (Rattray's) Sikh Infantry
*1903: 45th Rattray's Sikhs<ref name="Jan_1922_Indian_Army_List">{{cite book|title=The Quarterly Indian Army List: January 1922|year=1922|publisher=Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta, India|page=1203|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284971}}</ref>

==Alternative Names==
During the 1857–59 Indian Mutiny the Bengal Military Police Battalion appears in official paperwork with the following names:

*1st Bengal Police Battalion <ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22232/page/694|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22232|date=22 February 1859}}</ref>
*1st Bengal Police Battalion. (Seikhs.)<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22224/page/379|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22224|date=31 January 1859}}</ref>
*1st Bengal Seikh Police Battalion<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22224/page/380|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22224|date=31 January 1859}}</ref>
*Bengal Police Battalion<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22224/page/378|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22224|date=31 January 1859}}</ref>
*Bengal Police Corps<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22050/page/3422|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22050|date=13 October 1857}}</ref>
*Bengal Police Seikh Battalion<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22224/page/378|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22224|date=31 January 1859}}</ref>
*Rattray's Seikhs<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22183/page/4172|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22183|date=13 October 1857}}</ref>
*Seikh Police Battalion<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22050/page/3423|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22050|date=13 October 1857}}</ref>
*Seikh Police Corps<ref>{{cite news|title=London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/22050/page/3423|access-date=2 May 2016|issue=22050|date=13 October 1857}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Col H St G McRae "Regimental History of the 45th Rattray's Sikhs" Vol 1, 1856–1914, Pub Glasgow 1933
*{{cite book|last=Barthorp|first=Michael|last2=Burn|first2=Jeffrey|year=1979|title=Indian infantry regiments 1860–1914|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=0-85045-307-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Sumner|first=Ian|title=The Indian Army 1914–1947|year=2001|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=1-84176-196-6}}
* Gaylor, John "Sons of John Company: The Indian and Pakistan Armies 1903–1991" New Delhi: Lancer International, 1993. {{ISBN|81-7062-185-2}}

==See also==
* [[Clan Rattray]]
* [http://www.clanrattray.org/ Clan Rattray website]
* [[Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin]]

[[Category:British Indian Army infantry regiments]]
[[Category:Military units and formations established in 1856]]
[[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1922]]
[[Category:Bengal Presidency]]
[[Category:Honourable East India Company regiments]]
[[Category:1856 establishments in India]]

45th Rattray's Sikhs - Revision history

Bot at 00:34, 5 August 2022