King's Commissioned Indian Officer
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A King commissioned Indian officer (KCIO) was an Indian officer 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 ...
who held a full King's commission after training in the United Kingdom, either at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst for infantry officers, Woolwich for artillery officers, and Chatham and Woolwich for engineer officers. They had full command over British and Indian troops and officers. In contrast, the Indian commissioned officers (ICOs), who were trained at the
Indian Military Academy The Indian Military Academy (IMA) is one of the oldest military academies in India, and trains officers for the Indian Army. Located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, it was established in 1932 following a recommendation by a military committee set up ...
at
Dehra Dun Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislativ ...
, and the Viceroy's commissioned officers (VCOs), only had authority over Indian troops and officers. KCIOs were introduced in the early 20th century under the
Indianisation Indianisation also known as Indianization, may refer to the spread of Indian languages, culture, diaspora, cuisines, economic reach and impact since India is one of the greatest influencers since ancient times and the current century has been ...
process. They were equivalent in every way to the British officers holding a King's commission (known in India as King's commissioned officers, or KCOs). In essence, they were commissioned by the King himself at a special induction ceremony. They held the same ranks and privileges as British officers. In fact, most KCIOs served on attachment to a British unit for a year or two early in their careers. There would be an entrance examination and pre-selection interview for KCIOs.


Indianisation

It was announced in 1918 that the King's Commission would be opened to Indians for whom ten places would be reserved in the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...
, UK, to be trained as officers of the
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
. The first cadets from both Sandhurst and another defence college,
Daly College The Daly College is a co-educational residential and day boarding school located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was founded by Sir Henry Daly of the British Indian Army during India's colonial British Raj, following an English public sch ...
in
Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...
, India, were given the King's Commission. There was great disquiet amongst the British, who disliked the idea of serving under native officers; others felt that without good breeding, a
public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
education, and sufficient suitable training, Indians would not become good officers and would neither be able to lead nor be accepted by the native troops. There was a firm belief among British officers and the home government that only the British educational system could provide the right kind of officer, and that it could do it only from suitable stock. The Sandhurst training directly pitted young Indian men against young Europeans in conditions alien to their upbringing and experience, and not surprisingly the results were unsatisfactory. Of the first batch of 25 cadets admitted to Sandhurst, ten failed to meet the requisite standard, two died, two resigned, one was deprived of his commission, and ten passed. To remedy this, on 13 March 1922 the
Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College The Rashtriya Indian Military College (abbreviated RIMC; formerly known as Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College) is a military school for boys and girls situated in Doon Valley, Dehradun in India. The RIMC is a feeder institution for ...
was established for preparing native Indian cadets for entry to Sandhurst. In the meantime, the first measure taken by the British government to "Indianise" the army - the Eight Unit Scheme of Indianisation - was announced on 17 February 1923. Indian proposals for faster induction were rejected, and equally unrealistic plans for Indianisation over forty years, with restricted kinds of commission, were suggested. Finally, only eight units of the Indian Army were accepted by the British for Indianisation - only five infantry battalions out of 104, two cavalry regiments out of 21, and one pioneer battalion out of seven. They were to be reorganised on 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 Gurk ...
model, with King's Commissioned Indian Officers at every officer level and Indian
Warrant Officer Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned ranks, the mos ...
s replacing Viceroy's Commissioned Officers. But, subsequently, the KCIOs distinguished themselves as young officers in the 1930s in the run-up to World War II. Most of them served in Waziristan at one time or another. In World War II, they performed outstandingly. During World War II, they fought in the Western Sector against German and Italian forces and in East and Southeast Asia against the Imperial Army of Japan. The sappers constructed the Kohima road and housing for Gen. Slim's army in Imphal. Other KCIOs, as battalion commanders or Acting Brigadiers, took Japanese surrender in Andaman and Nicobar, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines. After World War II, they formed an essential component of the Commonwealth Occupation Forces in Japan. After Indian independence, they formed the backbone of the Indian and Pakistani armies and defended against the Kashmir attack or were a part of it. Virtually all of them, except those who died in WWII or in the course of their career, rose to very high ranks. Cariappa, Rajendrasinhji, and Ayub Khan became C-in-C; Shrinagesh, Thimayya, Chaudhuri, and Kumaramanglam became Chiefs of the army staff. Ayub Khan became President of Pakistan after staging a military coup while serving as the C-in-C of Pakistan. Nathu Singh Rathore, Kulwant Singh, SPP Thorat, Sant Singh, and LP (Bogey) Sen retired as army commanders. Dewan Misri Chand retired prematurely as GOC of Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa. Harkirat Singh became the first Indian Director of the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, and later, Engineer-in-Chief, Corps of Engineers -- the only person to have ever commanded two technical arms; Kumar Kochar became Quarter-Master General (QMG). Ajit Singh Guraya -- whose grandfather, Sepoy Narain Singh Guraya of Haripur, was martyred at the famous Battle of Saragarhi, for which Narain Singh was posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit -- became Director General of Assam Rifles.


Eight accepted units

The eight units selected were:We Were There. MOD website
*
7th Light Cavalry The 7th Light Cavalry previously the 28th Light Cavalry, was a regular army cavalry regiment in the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1784 under the East India Company. The regiment later saw service on the North West Frontier and in World Wa ...
*
16th Light Cavalry The 16th Light Cavalry is a regiment of the Armoured Corps, a primary combat arm of the Indian Army. Prior to India gaining independence from the British in 1947, it was a regular cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1776 ...
* 2nd Battalion,
1st Punjab Regiment The 1st Punjab Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. Upon the Partition of India, it was transferred to the newly-raised Pakistan Army. It ceased to exist in this form in 1956, when it was amalgamate ...
* 5th (Royal) Battalion, 5th Mahratta Light Infantry * 1st Battalion,
7th Rajput Regiment 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
* 1st Battalion,
14th Punjab Regiment The 14th Punjab Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947. It was transferred to the Pakistan Army on independence in 1947, and amalgamated with the 1st, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments in 1956, to form the Punjab Reg ...
* 4th Battalion,
19th Hyderabad Regiment The 19th Hyderabad Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was formed at the time of reforms of the Indian Army after the First World War, when it moved from single-battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. The reg ...
* 2nd Battalion, 1st Madras Pioneers


Notable KCIOs

The first batch of KCIOs included: Commander-in-Chief Tripura Forces Col. Rana Jodha Jung Bahadur Rana, Amar Singh, Maj. Gen.
Ajit Rudra Major General Ajit Anil "Jik" Rudra OBE (20 October 1896 – 3 November 1993) was an Indian military officer who served as General Officer Commanding, Southern Command of the Indian Army. Early life and education Born in Delhi to the famous e ...
, K.A.D Naoroji (grandson of
Dadabhai Naoroji Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the "Grand Old Man of India" and "Unofficial Ambassador of India", was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who served as 2nd, 9th, and 22nd President of t ...
), Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and C.B. Ponnappa. Many officers who later held high rank in the post-independence
Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
and
Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
began their careers as KCIOs. Maj. Gen. Dinkarrao Appasaheb Surve, Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, Hanmantrao Mohite, Gen Rajendrasinhji, Lt. Gen. Thakur Nathu Singh, Gen Shrinagesh, Lt. Gen. Sant Singh, Gen. K.S. Thimayya, Lt. Gen. S.P.P. Thorat, Lt. Gen. B.M. Kaul, Maj. Gen.
Ishfakul Majid Muhammed Ishfakul Majid (17 March 1903 – 31 March 1976) was the first Sylheti general in the Pakistan Army. Personal He was born on 17 March 1903 in Jorhat, Assam, British India. He is the son of Abdul Majid, the first Muslim who served as ...
, Maj. Gen. Ajit Singh Guraya, and Field Marshal
Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
were a few of the Sandhurst-trained officers. Maj. Gen. Dewan Misri Chand was the first Indian army aviator and won the Viceroy's Cup Air Race in 1934, being the first Indian to do so; the Government of India issued a postage stamp in his honor. Maj. Gen. Harkirat Singh, Lt. Gen. Kumar Kochar, and Maj. Gen. Pratap Narain were Sapper officers, trained at Woolwich and Chatham; they further earned a Tripos in Mechanical Sciences from Cambridge University after earning their Commission. Maj. Gen. Harkirat Singh was twice elected President of the Institution of Engineers (India), was the founding chairman of Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., served as Advisor (Construction) in the Planning Commission, and was the first Chairman of the monumental National Building Code of India for which he was awarded the K S Moudgill Prize by the Indian Standards Institution (ISI). The last of the KCIOs in Indian Army Service was General P.P. Kumaramangalam, who retired in 1969 as Chief of Army Staff.


References

{{reflist Military ranks of British India Military of British India Indian Army 20th century in India