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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

BRADBURY, Lt Col George Charles (1906-95)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Bradbury

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: BRADBURY, Lt Col George Charles (1906-95)

Date(s): 1983-91 (covers c.1857-1990)

Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

Extent: 1 box (0.01 cubic metres)

Name of creator(s): Bradbury | George Charles | 1906-1995 | Lieutenant Colonel

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Lt Col G C Bradbury born 21 July 1906; served 6 years in ranks (1924-30); 2nd Lt 1930; Joined Indian Army 1931; Lt 1932; Capt 1938, Major 1946; served in 10th Baluch Regt, 1938-1947.
The 10th Baluch Regt: sprang from the old Bombay Army and its predecessors were freely used to sort out India's problems in and around the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. The senior battalion originated in the 2nd (Marine) Bn of the 12th Regt of Bombay Native Infantry raised in 1820. In 1838, as the 24th Regt of Bombay Native Infantry, they stormed Aden, bringing the Colony under the British flag. The 26th Bombay Native Infantry was raised in 1825 as the 2nd Extra Bn of Bombay Native Infantry, changing its name a year later. Sir Charles Napier raised two Regts in Karachi - the 1st and 2nd Belooch Regts - for local service within Sind in 1844 and 1846 respectively. The term 'local' was interpreted fairly loosely when it became necessary to send the 2nd Belooch to the Persian War in 1856-1857, a campaign frequently overshadowed by the events of the Great Mutiny in 1857. The 1st was in Karachi when the news of the insurrection reached the Commissioner. Sir Bartle Frere despatched them with all haste, on foot across the Sind desert in May to join the siege artillery train on its way to Delhi, the only Bombay unit to join the Delhi Field Force. The Regt was brought into the regular line for its services in Central India and it became the 27th Regt of Bombay Native Infantry in the post-Mutiny realignment. The 2nd Belooch, in the meantime, had qualified for a similar change in status for their work on the NW Frontier and became the 29th Regt of Bombay Native Infantry. In 1858, Major John Jacob raised a local battalion, soon to be known as Jacob's Rifles and they made such a reputation in and around Jacobabad that they, too, were accorded regular status, becoming the 30th Regt of Bombay Native Infantry or Jacob's Rifles in 1861. In World War I the Regt served in India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Muscat and Aden, France and East Africa. The 129th Battalion in the 3rd (Lahore) Division, was the only battalion of the Regt to serve on the Western Front, the first Indian Regt to attack the Germans, the first also on two other counts - to lose the first British officer and to earn the first Victoria Cross, this by Sepoy Khudadad Khan at Hollebeke. In the Second World War 16 Battalions served in India, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Malaya, Burma, Iraq, Italy, Palestine, Greece and Libya India, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya and Palestine.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence of Lt Col George Charles Bradbury on the history of the 10th Baluch Regt, Indian Army, 1983-1991. Subjects include regimental history, uniform and regalia, battle honours, gallantry awards, the origin of the regimental warcry "Kai Kai", and the Officers' Dining Club.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Three files arranged chronologically (1983-1988, 1989, 1990)

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by family, 1995

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Sources: Army Lists, http://www.defencejournal.com (for Regimental History). Compiled by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: August 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Indian history | Asian history | National history
Military history | History

Personal names
Bradbury | George Charles | 1906-1995 | Lieutenant Colonel

Corporate names
Indian Army

Places
India | South Asia