Apparently, a recruitment poster for the 112th Queen's Own Frontier Rangers.
Sometimes at the Victorian Web we come across things which are not quite as they seem. Such was the case with this attractive poster asking for recruits for the 112th Queen's Own Frontier Rangers.
The poster calls for healthy young men "of an adventurous spirit" between the ages of 18 and 25, at least 5'3" in height, to join a frontier regiment in India with its headquarters at Peshawar (a frontier city taken by the British in 1849 and now a busy metropolis in modern Pakistan). It was photographed in an antiques market in Sherborne, Dorset, and came from the estate of the wealthy American widow of John T. Ford II.
Would-be recruits are advised to present themselves at "any post office or ... the recruiting offices in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, or Trallee." Successful applicants would then have their passage paid to the regimental depot at Peshawar. The British had indeed established a large cantonment there, which still exists today, now of course under the auspices of the Government of Pakistan's Ministry of Defence.
This request is then followed by a history of the regiment:
THE REGIMENT TRACES ITS HISTORY BACK TO 1658 WHEN AN ENSIGN AND 20 WHITE MEN GUARDED THE TRADING POST OF THE HON. EAST INDIA COMPANY IN BENGAL. AS THE COMPANY FLOURISHED SO GREW THE COMPANY'S ARMY, ENLISTING MANY NATIVE TROOPS BUT ALWAYS KEEPING A BASTION OF WHITE REGIMENTS KNOWN AS THE BENGAL, MADRAS AND BOMBAY EUROPEANS. THE RANGERS, ORIGINALLY A BENGAL EUROPEAN REGIMENT, SUFFERED IN THE "BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA" AND FOUGHT IN MANY MINOR ENCOUNTERS UNTIL THEY GAINED THEIR FIRST BATTLE HONOUR AT THE HISTORIC BATTLE OF PLASSEY IN 1757. ALWAYS RESOURCEFUL, THE RANGERS BECAME CAVALRYMEN FOR THE SERINGAPATAM CAMPAIGN OF 1799, CHARGING TIPPOO SULTAN'S ELEPHANT MEN ON HORSEBACK. THE OFFICERS WEAR CAVALRY TYPE MESS DRESS TO COMMEMORATE THE GLORIOUS INCIDENT. DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY OF 1857-58 THE RANGERS FOUGHT BEFORE DELHI AND BECAUSE THEY WERE IN THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S ARMY AND HAD A STRONG IRISH ELEMENT IN THE RANKS, THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS GAVE THEM THE NICKNAME OF "THE MURPHY WALLAHS" IT IS A NAME THEY BEAR WITH PRIDE TO THIS DAY AND BY REGIMENTAL TRADITION "DELHI DAY" 1S CELEBRATED ON 14 SEPTEMBER, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE STORMING OF THE KABUL GATE. THE CROWN TOOK OVER THE COMPANY'S FORCES AFTER THE MUTINY AND THE REGIMENT WAS LATER GIVEN THE HONOUR OF HELPING THE FRONTIER FORCE TO MAN FORTS, PATROL AND GUARD THE PASSES AND SO SAFEGUARD THE N. W. FRONTIER OF INDIA AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPIRE. IN 1872 THE REGIMENT WAS HONOURED WITH ITS PRESENT TITLE "112th QUEEN'S OWN FRONTIER RANGERS" BY THE SOVEREIGN, SO ANY YOUNG MAN WHO SEEKS FINE QUARTERS, GOOD PAY, CHANCES OF PROMOTION AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE HIS QUEEN AND COUNTRY LET HIM JOIN —: "THE MURPHY WALLAHS!"
However I was suspicious on two grounds. Firstly the poster is in fabulous condition. I suppose this is possible if it had been rolled up and protected from sunlight. And secondly I had never heard of the 112th Queens Own Frontier Rangers. On the other hand who would bother to forge such a poster which sold for only £38?
What the poster says about the Bengal European Regiment is completely true. It was an East India Company regiment which usually had three battalions but had six for the Mutiny. When the East India Company was abolished after the Mutiny, "these European Regiments were relegated to the British Crown" (Innes 539) the 1st Bengal Europeans became the 101st Regiment of the British Army; the 2nd Bengal Europeans became the 104th Regiment of the British Army; and the 3nd Bengal Europeans became the 107th Regiment of the British Army. The 101st, 104th and 107th, which had always had a large number of Irish soldiers in their ranks, were all Irish Regiments. The 4th, 5th and 6th were disbanded in 1867. But I had never heard of the 112th. I therefore asked Beverly Hallam of FIBIS [The Families in British India Society] for her thoughts.
Beverly agreed that the 112th did not exist and she found an article in the Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser dated 4 October 1968 which read as follows:
Beverly had solved the mystery. The poster was a prop for Frontier, an eight-part TV series which was broadcast by Thames Television in 1968. According to the website Nostalgia Central:
This drama series – the first to be broadcast by the newly-formed Thames Television – followed the fortunes and activities of a British Army battalion during their actions on the North-West Frontier of India during the 1880s.
The unashamedly imperialistic series had excitement (everything from tribal uprisings to lone espionage missions), colour, drama, and romance and told how the British kept the peace along an explosive stretch of frontierland.
As it happens I remember the TV series quite well. Indeed we watched all episodes because my father had been christened on the North West Frontier (at Malakand) and so felt some affinity to the subject matter. The fact that it was filmed in Snowdonia did not seem to matter, nor that we watched it on a Black and White TV.
It is interesting that in 1968 there was still an appetite for Empire-related subjects. The film Zulu, released in 1964, had been a major success and Khartoum appeared in 1966. Attitudes have changed considerably since then.
Photograph and scan by the author, with formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the author and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser. 4 October 1968.
"Bengal Army Regiments." Fibis. Web. 7 September 2024.
Dani, Ahmad Hasan. Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications, 1995.
Frontier. Nostalgia Central. https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/frontier/
Innes. Percival Robert. The History of the Bengal European Regiment: Now the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and how it helped to win India. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Vo., 1885. Internet Archive, from a copy in the University of California Libraries. Web. 7 September 2024.
Created 7 September 2024