The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers, also sometimes known as the Murray's Jat Horse, was a

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

regiment of the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

. In 1921 it was renamed as 20th Lancers, and after

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

in 1947 it eventually became 20 Lancers (India) as an armoured regiment of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. Its muslim soldiers were retained in the regiment which is now known as the 20th Lancers (Pakistan).

History

The regiment was first raised at

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Koil) 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 capital, New Delhi. ...

as an irregular cavalry unit in 1857 as the Jat Horse Yeomanry, for the

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

by Captain John Irvine Murray then serving with the Gwalior Contingent. It was raised from 250 sepoys and 120 ''sowars'' (cavalrymen) recruited from the Jats of the rural areas of Hathras,

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...

Bulandshahr Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Governme ...

, and Khurja in present

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, and Palwal and Hodal in present

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, who were offered by Thakur Gobind Singh, a Jat chieftain of Khair in Aligarh, to combat the 1857 uprising, and thus became the first regiment to be manned completely with Jat troops in the British Indian Army. Until 1861, the regiment was paid for by private funds of the British officers and Indian Risaldars. Later the Regimental Centre and Officers' Mess was established at Palwal. The regiment participated in a number of actions in 1857–58, especially at

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

, the Siege of Delhi and the Siege of Lucknow, but did not qualify for any battle honour. Subedar Pratap Singh was the first Subedar of the HQ Squadron of the regiment in 1857–61. Murray's Lancers subsequently served in the Bhutan Field Force during the Duar War (1864 - 65). The regiment formed part of the cavalry brigade of the Kabul Field Force during the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the latter was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dy ...

(1878–790. The regiment participated in a difficult cavalry charge over extremely difficult ground and routed the Afghan line at the Battle of Charasiab, 15 km from Kabul, on 6 October 1879 for which the regiment was awarded the

battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or Military operation, operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In ...

"Charasiah" and the theatre honour "Afghanistan 1878–79". The regiment was mentioned in despatches by General

Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914), was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. ...

, who wrote: In 1921, the regiment was merged with the 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) to form the to form 14th/15th Cavalry. This unit was renamed 20th Lancers in 1922 and transferred to the

after

in 1947.Nath (2009), pp 581-583.

Designations

Like all regiments of the Indian Army the 14th Murray’s Jat Lancers underwent many name changes in the various reorganisations: *1857 The Jat Horse

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

*1859 Murray’s Jat Horse *1861 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry *1864 14th Bengal Cavalry (Lancers) *1874 14th Bengal Lancers *1901 14th Bengal Lancers (Murray’s Jat Horse) *1903 14th Murray’s Jat Lancers *1921 Amalgamated with 15th Lancers (Cureton's Multanis) to form 14th/15th Cavalry. *1922 20th Lancers

Battle honours

The regiment has the following battle honours : * Charasiah * Kabul 1879 * Afghanistan 1878–80 * Northwest Frontier India 1915 * Kut-al-Amara 1917 * Sharqat * Mesopotamia 1916–18

In popular culture

The 14th Murray's Jat Lancers appear as ''(Jat Lancer)'' in the computer game Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties.

Notes

References