Hunting trophies in the Officers’ Mess of the 14th Bengal Lancers ( Murray’s Jat Lancers ) )

A small vintage photograph taken by or for Lt Col Peter Bairnsfather, the Commandant of the 14th Bengal Lancers, a regiment based at Sialkot. The 5¾ x 4¼ ins photograph shows a corner of the mess dining room with several sets of horns and taxidermy heads on the walls around a door and probably dates form the 1890s. Bairnsfather was the author of Sport and Nature in the Himalayas [1914] and contributed to other books on hunting and fishing in the region.            sep15/2     Reserved

Peter Robert Bairnsfather was Commandant of the 14th Bengal Lancers at the end of the Victorian era and had fought with the regiment in the Jowaki expedition of 1877 and the 2nd Afghan War where he was involved in the battles of Charasia and those around Kabul. Other items connected with Bairnsfather and a few photographs of the 14th Lancers can be found elsewhere on the website by using the SEARCH button and entering Bairnsfather.

Provenance: Family descent until a small archive of his writings and photographs was acquired privately by Bates and Hindmarch from a family member over ten years ago.