Our Family History

January 1919

Your letter dated exactly one month ago arrived this evening. I'm sorry about the under-stamping but it is the fault of a Babu in the post office who told me that 1 anna was still only required.

I now take a troupe of men on squadron drill every morning having finished my riding school. Up till lately I have had a Daffadar beside me to tell me what to do but I can manage all right now. I'm trying to learn the trumpet calls having borrowed a book from the Trumpet-Major. There is no piano available to pick them out on so I have to try & hum them from the book. There is one very interesting movement which we do nearly every morning
[diagram].
I am afraid I have drawn it very badly but you can see the idea of it. The enemy is a squadron advancing in line to attack us. We formed double echelon & keep a straight on until the right time comes when nos, 2, 3 & 4 troops form column of troops & galloped away to the flank leaving no. 1 troop behind. When the enemy 'shoulder'to meet south flank attack nos 2,3 & 4 troops quickly wheel into line & charge while no. 1 troop catches them in the flank while they are shouldering.

It is very good of you & Mummy to send me that money & I shall keep it in Grindleys until I have to buy my Mess kit. As for a regular allowance please don't think of sending me one. I'm out on my own hook now & shall have to look after myself. There are rumours of the Govt. raising subalterns pay & also that we get horses & their food free. I hope this is true as it will make a great deal of difference to me.

Like the 8th we are also a siladar regiment. The only non-silidar regiments are the 26th, 27th, & 28th Light Cavalry & they are not supposed to be up to much. The present commandant of the 8th is Col. Chaplin & I hear that he is very popular. I also hear that he is retiring soon & that Col. Fetherstonhaugh will take over. I saw in the "Pioneer" that Col. F. has had a baby girl born to him.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

April 1919

I have just been round to the doctor's bungalow where he presented me with an old polo saddle. He is going home shortly & does not want the saddle which is rather old & he would not even let me buy it from him. He & his wife are both Irish & come from Cork; his wife presented me with a fresh egg my tea!

I am now a Musketry officer of the depot & consequently have a fair amount of work to do. My Indian Officer is rather a nice chap called Sardar Singh & has won a couple of medals in France. He & I get on quite well & often have long 'bucks' together. I'm afraid he did not approve of the last Musketry Officer who is a nasty little man with a German name. This fellow often called the I.O. 'tum' when he got angry & I'm afraid he is not at all popular either with us all with the men. However, he is going soon, as he is I.A.R.O.

These satyagraha riots have roused great interest all over the country. Everything seems quite enough here though one never knows what is really going on. The Gunners supplier a picquet of 30 men at the Club to guard the Treasury which is nearby & the Garrison Orderly Officer sleeps there every night; I am on this week worse luck.

The weather is beginning to warm up now & I find it a great relief to get behind my tattie in the bungalow where I generally managed to sleep for an hour or so during the afternoon. At night I sleep out under a tree but am continually being disturbed by 'bail' which wander past my bed & grunt at me. I think I shall institute of pound & charge so much a head for cattle found in the compound. I daresay I would pay my mess bill out of it at the end of a month!
Must stop now to write to Granny

Your affectionate son

Teddy

May 1919

There are wars & and rumours of wars flying all round the country. Last Tuesday morning one of our Reserve fellows was told to hold himself in readiness to be demobilised, in the evening a wire came through saying that all demob. was stopped and all ranks on leave were to return to their units at once. Our Major also has bad luck as he will get the wire just as he reaches Kashmir on two months' leave so he will have to spend his 18th hot weather in the plains after all! I'm afraid his temper won't be improved when he gets back! I believe the trouble is from Afghanistan & one never knows that it may turn into a show of sorts.

Before the Major left he told me that if the Regiment want any more officers in Egypt I shall be the first to go. It is quite likely that they will want more officers as the Regiment is temporarily detained on the army of occupation. Anyway, Egypt is halfway home & with luck I might get leave & slip across to Bingfield. I'm afraid I'm looking ahead a bit as the first thing is to get to Egypt.

I enjoy polo more & more as I play it. I usually play No. 1 or 2. No. 1 I don't like so much as that means that I'm up against the back who is always a good player & can run rings round me I started off playing with 52½" sticks but found that I was continually missing the ball. I now play with 54½" & get on much better. I should think that polo in Blighty must be a delightful game, nice soft turf to play on & no dust. Our ground is hard brown dust with little pebbles which get in one's eyes & mouth when going behind other ponies. I never knew what real thirst was until I played six chukkers on a hot afternoon. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth & I can only just croak out "Bara soda" to the bearer as I throw myself down on a chair! I feel as though I could drink 20 bara sodas without being satisfied!

The next Lower Standard Exam is in July & I am going up for it. Two of our fellows went for the last one, one passed & the other failed. Pachmanhi rather threw me out of my stride but I have hopes as to the July exam. I have the munshi from 7 to 8 PM instead of from 3 to 4, as I was always too sleepy to work at the latter time, besides it was very hot. At 1 o'clock I am wide awake after tennis or polo & I find I can work much better.

I enclose Nasir Ali's letter which the munshi read to me, he said it was very well written. He also read your postcard for me.
Well I must stop now to write some more letters.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

June 1919

I am still stuck in the depot & I don't think there is much chance of me getting out of it. In two days, eight B.O's was sent from here to join various regiments for service in Afghanistan. Five went off together to the Givalion Lancers, and who belong to the Imperial Service Troops & of the old Rajah's pet hobby. I have just had a letter from one of them giving glowing accounts of Givalion. Free messing, drinks, smokes, and chargers, compasses etc. lent to them to take on service. Of the five, one is now a Major & the remainder are all temp. Captains & Sqdn. Commanders. Of course they are making & saving money hand over fist. Just the sort of life for me, but this beastly musketry has kept me back. The old Major is very keen on musketry - about the only thing he is keen on!

You are quite right about the awfulness of having nothing to do in this country. These long hot afternoons shut up in a dark bungalow and are very trying. It is too hot to play tennis before 6 o'clock & my office work is finished by 12.30, so I have the whole afternoon free. Of course sleep takes up a certain amount of time & the rest the time I usually spend on Hindustani. I have also taken to reading ??? books & find old John Jorrocks & James Pigg very amusing, though I don't agree with the former on the subject of water drinkers! One of the I.O.s in the lines gave me a bound volume of the [squiggle] - a sort of military newspaper - which I intended to send you could have taken to reading it instead & will send it to you later. Part of it is written in the shikasta (spelling?) hand which I find very difficult to read as the letters are so badly formed & the dots thrown about everywhere. However, I suppose it is all a matter of practice. The other fellow in my bungalow is much better at it than I am; he has passed his LS & is going up for his HS in a month's time when I also take my LS.

We had a great argument the other day about a word which I heard some of our recruits use when giving fire orders. They used the word [squiggle] & on asking an N.C.O. I was told that it meant a small bush. The Munshi says he is only heard it used as meaningless opposite in [squiggle] but I'm certain they use it alone. The other fellow, Ryan, says I mistook it for [squiggle], but I am sure I did not. Perhaps you can throw some light on the matter.

I had my first accident at polo the other day & consider myself lucky in getting off lightly. I was writing off an I.O. When my pony crossed her legs & we both came down a deuce of a smack as we were going at full gallop. I did about 6 yards on my elbow, on hard hard ground slowly followed by the pony on his nearside. She was rather knocked about and won't be able to play again for some time. I got off with a bruised hip & a badly scraped elbow which has since got slightly poisoned & I have to go to the hospital every other day to have it dressed & iodined; iodine gives me ghip!
Love to all

Your affectionate son

Teddy

My LS exam is being held here on the 7th of next month. There are only myself & one other in this Division up for LS & one other fellow from the depot up for HS. The examiner is a Capt. Ruck who has passed Higher Proficiency & is coming here from Nasirabad. The other fellow up for LS is Williams of the Central India Horse whom I met in Rachmardi. I will put the examiner up in the mess & the Major advises me to give him the best bottle of champagne to put him in a good temper; I must be careful that he does not have too much of it or it might have the reverse effect! You see Mess Sec. now & have to do the honours!

I find great difficulty in the spelling of this language. I do dictation with the Munshi to try & improve it. It's the hard 'ts'& 'chhs' that are the worst of all. The 'chh' in [squiggle] sounds to me exactly the same as the 'ch' in [squiggle] though the Munshi assures me that there is a great difference. Then there are the various "patars" meaning "clue", "address", "stone", "leaf", "young", " bird" etc. - I can never remember which is which & always mix them up. The same with "uthna" & its various forms. I can usually understand when other people use them from the sense, but to make myself understood is quite a different matter!

As you say, I'm not a probationer for the I.A. but am 'pukka'. My appointment to the Regiment however, is not pukka & I might be sent off to another Regiment at any time & might not come back unless the C.O. applied for me. When the Regiment comes back & settles down I might become pukka, if there are not too many subs already with the Regiment. There is no Indian Staff Corps now; that was all done away with in 1903 when all the regiments were renumbered & we were changed from 1st H.C. Lancers to 20th D.H. Many Regiments took the names of their founders as - 3rd Skinner's Horse - 9th Hodson's Horse - France's horse - Gordon's horse etc. We ask to be called Diccau Horse, on account of long association with the Diccau. The 29th Lancers are also Diccau Horse & were the 2nd Lancers H.C.

As you say, I cannot revert to the British Inf. but if found unsuitable for Cavalry I should be sent to Indian Inf. (Heaven forbid!).

I also got very interesting letters from Grannie & Aunt Florrie.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

August 1919

The exam should have been yesterday but the examiner never turned up. He is coming this afternoon but whether he will hold an exam or not is another matter. The papers were opened yesterday in Bombay & all over the country so we could quite easily get the whole thing through by wire, so the examiner may not hold it. If he doesn't it will be a beastly nuisance as I think it will mean waiting another three months for the next exam. I am really rather glad the examiner did not come yesterday as I was feeling rather bad with fever. I woke up in the morning with a headache & sore throat so I felt rather 'chup' the whole day & dosed myself with quinine. I am better this morning but am rather weak & still feel rather funny. I hope I shall be able to think alright this afternoon!

On Saturday I'm going away for 10 days' leave to Simla. My leave dates from Monday & I'm taking a flying start on Saturday night so I shall get a four week up in Simla.

10./7/19
I broke off this letter the day before yesterday as the headache came on again & I had to retire to bed.

The examiner bird blew in all right & we had the exam yesterday I passed in all the subjects taken by the examiner but I think the English unseen is very doubtful as I found it rather hard. I know I made a number of spelling mistakes but hope they won't take off too many marks for that. The other papers I found easy & can safely bet on passing on them all. If I fail on one paper it means that I fail on the whole exam & have to do the whole thing all over again. I will send you a long the papers sometime.

My stable companion Ryan, has gone off to Simla on a month's leave to stay with some people, so I am in the bungalow by myself. I am following him the day after tomorrow on 10 days' leave & shall either stay at the Grand Hotel or the 'trago'. The latter is a convalescent home & a fellow whom I knew at Cheltenham may be able to put me up & the charge will only be about Rs5/- per day instead of Rs8/- or 9/- at the Grand. Hope he can do it.

I enclose the Munshi's translation of your peace, it seems rot, but it is what you want.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

However I have some good news for you - yesterday a Divisional Order came through saying that Ryan had passed his HS & I my LS so that is finished with & I can burn the beastly LS books. We have just had the munshi in and received his congratulations. Before I went up I promised that I would give him the whole of the reward as I had given him such a little for the colloquial. Ryan has decided to go up for Proficiency only in October so he is going to work four hours a day from tomorrow. He has only got six weeks to do it in it has got a kink for languages so I think he ought to get through. The reward is Rs750/-, well worth having a shot at.

My eyes are giving me trouble again & I find the old spectacles are not much use. Reading Hindustani especially tires them & I can only read English for a short time & then a headache comes on. When I get away to Simla next month I must get my eyes seemed to as there is no oculist here. I can then start in for HS which I hope to take early next year.

I have heard from two or three sources that the regt will come back from Aleppo in November & that French Cavalry will take their place. Then I think we will shift down to Aurangabad - a station which I believe rather resembles Niemuch.

I hear that the C.O. Is on leave in Blighty & everybody hopes that he won't come back. I have never heard anybody say a good word for him & I hear that the men simply loathe him. For one thing his Hindustani is putrid & when he talks to his J.O's they can't understand more than two words he says. However his time is almost up so I don't think he will come back.

I finished fixing my Musketry Table the other day & finished up a Marksman with five points to spare. I was very pleased as having Musketry O. Is my 'iggat'to be a good shot. I fired at the same time as an old Jimadar, Nbai jar Khan, by the name who is the best shot in the regiment & has piles of medals & pots for it. He wanted me to bet on the various practices but I wasn't having any!

I think I sent you that translation from ??? ???. I hope you got it all right. I hope to get off to Simla & it will be goodbye to the [Hindustani script]

Your affectionate son

Teddy

September 1919

I enclose the LS papers to which I have appended my views on each question. There was also ??? test & reading out of the book with so ??? knocked off for each mistake in reading ??? was an awful sport - quite a junior captain - who let me turn up to the exam mufti. He told me that he passed me as far as the tests that he took were concerned, but that the other papers had to go to Bombay & Calcutta to be corrected.

In the colloquial part, he asked me to tell him how a ship was built & the various sorts of ship there were. I think I used purdah for the sail of a ship as I couldn't think of anything else. He said it was a good guess!

I also enclose the munshi's translation of that piece. As far as I can see he has only translated each word in its literal sense & it sounds an awful lot of gibberish! I suppose it has a deeper meaning which the 'Munsh' can't get at. He says "Fesu came up with great pomp" & you put " fork out your pennies with pomp" I should think your version is correct, but there are no stops it must be rather difficult to say.

I also enclose another copy of the he 'Vimacular Pink-un' which I have not been able to read.

Last night a conjurer gave a show in the lines for the men, the money being given out of there Profit & Loss Fund. He was really quite amusing & I could see that the men were enjoying it immensely. The old Risaldar-Major was very credulous of all his tricks & I think he believed that most of them were done by black magic! He was pretty good & he did summed card tricks which I have never seen done before.

The R-M is the sort of grand old man of the depot. He has done nearly 40 years service & was on pension before the war. They then dug him out & put him on to accounts here in the depot. He is a Sandar Bahadur & is very much respected all round. He is a Rajput named Hanuman Singh & he is a dear old bird to talk to!

I think my favourite among the J.O's here is a Deccani Mohammedan called Nabi Jar Khan, who was firing with me on the range a short time ago. He is an old Jemidar & has also done umpteen years service. He always has a twinkle in his eye & always enjoys any joke which I, in my limited knowledge of the language, can make. He is going out to Regt. soon so I shall not see much more of him here.

I must stop to write to Aunt Florrie

Your affectionate son

Teddy

I have given your chit to them munshi & enclose his answer. He says you write very nicely & is rather bucked at getting the letter. His name is Mohamed Ali, a very common name as you know. He is a big fat old man with a dyed beard & numerous progeny who seem to be always getting married & he is always asking for an advance of money to pay for their wedding expenses! He has got a great trick of coming half an hour late & trying to get away quarter of an hour early & if one is at all sleepy one is inclined to let him do it!

Last Saturday the OC station gave a picnic at a tank a couple of miles out. Almost everybody went & we had a very good time. He had three boats out - a small motor launch called the "Flapper" & small sailing boat & a dinghy not unlike the one at Bingfield. I bathed up there & thoroughly enjoyed my first bathe in India although the water was rather pea-soupey! Since Saturday I have had a roaring cold & a cough like our chowkidar's on a wet night! I think to become a chowkidar's one must first pass the qualifying test in coughs & the louder your cough the better chowkidar you are, because all chowkidar's I have met here have got the most fiendish coughs I have ever heard - add to this a loud hoarse voice & a dyed beard & you have a pretty accurate picture of a Niemuch chowkidar!

However I am digressing - the Colonel is giving another tamasha today & our Major is driving me up in his buggy. I shall not bathe however & shall thereby cause much disappointment to the ladies of the station! My kit last time was a pair of shorts & a polo vest & I think I looked rather fetching!

There is a pierrot show up at the club tomorrow night in aid of something or other - I hope it won't be a washout as I do hate sitting through these shows that drag! I think from what I've heard that it will go rather well.

The Colonel has bought a new car & a very nice one too. He took Ryan & I rounds Niemuch after church last Sunday & we felt regular Rothschildes sitting in the back of it! They are starting a golf course here soon & I have got my eye on some secondhand clubs. I smote a ball round the maiden this morning & nearly killed a harmless goat-merchant! I also managed to plough up much of Niemuch in my attempts to smite the goli!

I'm off to Simla the day after tomorrow.
I enclose to more pink-uns.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

October 1919

Many thanks for your letter of Sept. 21st which arrived a short time ago. I also find the print of the Farai ha Akkbar very trying but I don't read much of it. I enclose another copy. I get them out of the office free & the postage is nothing extra. I was trying to make a small joke when I called it the 'Vermacul Pink ???' there is nothing Pink Umish about it.

I have been back a week now from sunny Simla & have started working for HS. There is an exam in January but I'm afraid I won't be ready for it as the textbook is very thick & there are numerous words & sentences to learn. I must say that the book is an improvement on the LS one as it is very interesting - it is called Shwab o Khayal & it is the autobiography of a subadas in pre-mutiny days when there were only a few sahiles out here. If you would care to read it I would send it to you when I have passed but that will be many months hence I'm afraid! Ryan is now dabbling in Persian until the result of his proficiency is out. If he has passed he's going up for LS Persian in January, if he is not passed he will take proficiency again. He is very interested in Persian & does it all day long but is very hard up for someone to ??? to & it is only with great difficulty that I can stop him trying to talk to me in it! At the moment HS is as much as I can manage.

The L.G. Cavalry, General Leader was supposed to have come here yesterday to inspect the depot & we had everything ready for him. At the last moment we got a wire saying that he had stopped at Jaipur & would be with us tomorrow (Thursday). So the Major gave us today as the weekly holiday. I suppose you remember the fate of the man in one of Kipling's books who wanted to inspect a British regiment on a Thursday!

I drew my gratuity the other day & raised Rs400/-out of it - this added to my house allowance will just pay for my charger. I have one on trial now in my stable & will probably buy him. He is a big strong bay about six years old & stands 16½ hands high. They have also increased our pay with affect from last June so now I am drawing Rs575/- a month less income tax which I suppose was a captain's pay in your time. At the present rate of exchange it works out about £680 a year - quite a nice income if I was at home! I also enclose for views of Simla which give you some idea of what the place looks like.

Your affectionate son

Teddy

I'm buying a revolver here before I go as that is a very necessary article of equipment & I meant to get one long ago. A British warm is also an essential in the cold weather up there & I shall get one in Delhi.

I hope you will get your increase of pension of all right - it will make a great difference. Please thank Mummy for her letter of Sept. 22nd about clothes & tell her that Gamages have sent patterns but I shall have to send them back now.
No more polo for a bit I'm afraid

Your affectionate son

Teddy

November 1919

I have been here nearly a week now but have had no time to go out anywhere to have a look at the country. I am on parade every morning & every evening beside a midday one & haven't even had time to exercise my horse, so have to let the orderly do it. I just ride him about 200 yards to the parade ground & then dismount & let Ajim Din take him. At present all our Stokes gun work is dismounted - drill, lectures etc. but later on we shall be doing it mounted which will be much more fun. The principle of the gun is very simple - just a small high explosive shell with a 12 bore blank cartridge which he shoved down a thing like a stovepipe with a nipple at the bottom which explodes your cartridge and out goes the shell. I think the extreme range is about 750 feet.

Some of my men on the course cannot read English figures & as they must know them for the clinometer, I have been trying to teach them. It is the deuce of a game as the Sikhs don't use the ordinary Urdu words for the numerals - they say 'chauka' for four etc. I also find some of them exceedingly stupid - you think he knows them up to 100 & when you give him 110, he cannot even recognise the 10 & you have to start all over again! Yesterday "Bo-peeps", otherwise the Bopal Lancers came in from Fank & I met several old friends among the B.O.s They are Imperial Service Troops like the Guraliors Patialas etc. & are a fearful ragtime crowd. They gave a dinner at the Club last night to which I went & we did not get back till very late. As a T-T they let me down with one dhota peg but the remainder had many more than one! There Colonel Sahile was also dining with us - he had just come back from the peace celebrations at home & he said that England was Heaven & India was the other place! He speaks vile English & is very proud of it. One fellow was burnt brick red right up to his forehead - he had been wearing a safa & he looked a most comical sight! I was at Cheltenham with his brother - he was there before my time.

I also met some fellows of the South Wagiristan Militia - the crowd who mutinied & joined the enemy - they have seen some very exciting times.

I'm afraid it if you ordered a drink in the way you put in your letter it would be drinks all round for you for conduct unbecoming to an officer & a gentleman! If I meet any policeman here Ishall see about a Raj namcha but I don't meets many people here as I seldom go to the Club.

You had better address letters in future - attd 16th Cavalry, Wagiristan Fl Fc, via Dera Ismail Khan, India - they will then come direct and not to Grindlays - I didn't know my address when I cabled you.

Your affectionate son

Teddy