Lieut. Colonel Peter Bairnsfather’s account of a Visit to A Naawab in later Victorian times.

A manuscript article on life in northern India by a retired Indian cavalry commander, written in ink on the facing side only of 14 folio pages with separate title pages. Visit to an Indian Nawab by Lieut. Colonel P. R, Bairnsfather.  about 2,500 words was intended for publication but I am not sure whether it was ever published. It was written some time after Bairnsfather had left the 14th Lancers in 1904 and was living at Balfour House in St. Andrsews. . It describes events over a couple of days when he and a few colleagues were being emtertained by the Nawab, only identified as M. He writes in a rather disdainful style of the Nawab’s attempts to entertain them, scornful of the ruler’s small military force- he could only afford a very small one – about fifty infantry and twenty cavalry! and of course it was of no possible use excezpt as a play thing. There as a little shooting [black buck], a play by some of the staff, a visit to the Treasury and presention of gifts, etc. It is very much of its time and the Colonel’s time in India was mainly Victorian. Other items connezcted with the author can be found by entering Bairnsfather in the search box on the home page.   jul25/2

Peter Robert Bairnsfather was originally commissioned into the 6th Lancers but transferred to the 14th Murray’s Jat Lancers, regiment raised in 1857. He served in the Jowaki expedition of 1877 [medal with clasp] and in the 2nd Afghan War [Medal with two clasps] when he fought at the battle of Charasia and around Kabul. As the senior captain in 1888 he was officiating commandant of the regiment. He retired from the army in 1904. In 1914 he published the book Sport and Nature in the Himalayas.