British Gurkhas Nepal (BGN) is an administrative organisation of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

History

Following generations of territorial disputes between the successors of

Prithvi Narayan Shah Maharajadhiraj Prithvi Narayan Shah (1723–1775) ( ne, श्री ५ बडामहाराजाधिराज पृथ्वीनारायण शाह देव) was the last ruler of the Gorkha Kingdom and first monarch of the ...

, Leader of the

Gorkha Kingdom Gorkha Kingdom ( ne, गोरखा राज्य) was a member of the Chaubisi rajya, a confederation of 24 states on the Indian subcontinent ruled by Khas people. In 1743 CE, the kingdom began a campaign of military expansion, annexing s ...

, and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

a peace treaty was signed in 1816 which allowed Nepalese nationals to volunteer for service in the East India Company's Army. BGN fell under the responsibility of HQ 4th Division in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

in 2011 when Support Command (now Regional Command) took over that role.

Operations

The mission of BGN is to deliver Gurkha recruitment, provide local support to the soldier and ex-servicemen and maintain Disaster Relief preparedness within resources in order to support Firm Base activity in Nepal. BGN is commanded by a full

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

, who also serves as the defence

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

at the British Embassy in Kathmandu, and operates from three locations within

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

: *Jawalakhel, Patan - just south of the river from central

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

is the location both of Headquarters British Gurkhas Nepal and the Kathmandu station, which is the focal point for organisation of transit to and from Nepal, the welfare of serving soldiers and payment of pensions. *The British Gurkha Camp in

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

is the main recruitment centre, where the annual selection course is run. Pokhara is also the location of the main pension records and houses the headquarters of

the Gurkha Welfare Trust The Gurkha Welfare Trust is a British charity (Reg. Charity No. 1103669) established in 1969. It is the principal UK charity for the provision of aid to Gurkha ex-servicemen and their dependants in their homeland of Nepal, and increasingly in ...

. *British Gurkha

Dharan Dharan ( ne, धरान) a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Province No. 1, Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in Eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and It ...

is a small station intended to assist BGN operations in eastern Nepal. It is used primarily as a movement base and regional recruiting centre.

References

External links

British Gurkhas Nepal
- on British Army official website {{coord missing, Berkshire Brigade of Gurkhas Gurkhas Nepal–United Kingdom military relations Military installations of the United Kingdom in other countries