The 20th Lancers was a regiment of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. It was formed in 1922 by the amalgamation of the

14th Murray's Jat Lancers The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers, also sometimes known as the Murray's Jat Horse, was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was first raised at Aligarh as an irregular cavalry unit in 1857 as the Jat Horse Yeomanry, for the Eas ...

and the 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis).

14th Murray's Jat Lancers

The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers was raised at

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

as the Jat Horse Yeomanry in 1857 during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

by Captain J I Murray. It was composed entirely of Hindu

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and su ...

s. The regiment served as part of the Bhutan Field Force during the

Bhutan War The Duar War (or Anglo-Bhutan War) was a war fought between British India and Bhutan in 1864–1865. It has been the only military conflict between the two states since 1774. Background Across the nineteenth century, British India commissioned ...

of 1864-65 and in the

Second Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

of 1878-80. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the regiment served in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. :1857 Jat Horse Yeomanry :1859 Murray’s Jat Horse :1861 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry :1864 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry (Lancers) :1874 14th Regiment of Bengal Lancers :1901 14th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jat Horse) :1903 14th Murray’s Jat Lancers

15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)

The 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) was formed at

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

in 1858 by Captain C Cureton from six of Multani Seraiki originally raised in 1857 by Ghulam Hasan Khan as The Multani Regiment of Cavalry. The first native commandant Nawab Ghulam Hassan Khan also served as the British Political Agent to Afghanistan. The regiment was one of the class regiments, comprising 100% Muslims of Multani Seraiki. The regiment saw service in the Second Afghan War of 1878-80 and in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

during the First World War. :1857 Multani Regiment of Cavalry :1860 Cureton's Multani Regiment of Cavalry :1861 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry :1871 15th (Cureton's Multani) Regiment of Bengal Cavalry :1890 15th (Cureton's Multani) Regiment of Bengal Lancers :1901 15th (Cureton's Multani) Bengal Lancers :1903 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)

Formation

After the First World War, the number of Indian cavalry regiments was reduced from thirty-nine to twenty-one. However, instead of disbanding the surplus units, it was decided to amalgamate them in pairs. This resulted in renumbering and renaming of the entire cavalry line. The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers and 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) were amalgamated at

Sialkot Sialkot ( ur, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of Sialkot District and the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Ka ...

on 21 September 1920 to form 20th Lancers. The new class composition of the regiment was one squadron each of Seraiki, Punjabi Muslims,

Jat Sikhs Jat Sikh (also known by the more conventional endonym Jatt Sikh) is a sub-group of the Jat people and the Sikh religious group from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in the Punjab owing to their large land holdin ...

and Hindu Seraiki. The uniform of 20th Lancers was dark blue with scarlet facings. The badge consisted of crossed silver lances bearing pennons with a crown at the intersection above "XX" and a scroll below. The regiment was in the 7th Cavalry Group based at Delhi. In 1937, when the number of cavalry stations was reduced, 20th Lancers became the training regiment of 3rd Indian Cavalry Group at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. Its associated regiments were the 6th DCO Lancers, 7th Cavalry, 8th KGV Own, Royal Deccan Lancers (9th Horse), 19th KGO Lancers, and the Central India Horse. A Jat squadron from the Lancers passed to the 6th Lancers. About this time the Indian cavalry began the process of changing from horses to armoured vehicles but the process was slow. The war speeded up the process and the Lancers became part of the new Indian Armoured Corps. It was converted into a training centre in 1940 and transferred to India after

Partition of India The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...

.Sandhu, Maj Gen GS. (1981). ''The Indian Cavalry: History of the Indian Armoured Corps till 1940''. New Delhi: Vision Books. 15 Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)

14th Murray's Jat Lancers

15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis)

Formation

References & Notes

Further reading