The Main Procession - Page 2
Before and after the Procession of the Indian Princes
Preceding the Main Procession
There were many British authorities preceding the Indian Princes in the Main Procession. On horse, the Viceroy's escorts and body guards, Police chief, squadrons of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, the Heralds (1 drummer and 12 trumpeters) and the Imperial Cadets
(Click on the images to enlarge)
Last cavalry before the elephants: The Imperial Cadets
The elephants of the Aides-de Camp
Aides-de-camps to the Viceroy
Captain Baker-Carr
Captain Wigram
Aides-de-Camp to the Viceroy
Captain Yarde-Buller
Captain Lindsay
Aides-de-Camp to the Duke of Connaught
Colonel Leslie
Colonel Bingham
Aides-de-Camp to the Duke of Connaught
Sir M. FitzGerald
Colonel Herbert
Following the 6 elephants of the Aides-de-Camps, the elephants of Lord and Lady Curzon, and the elephant of the Duke and the Duchess of Connaught
Their elephant was named 'Maula Bakhsh', one of the finest elephants of the Maharaja of Jaipur
Following the 48 elephants of the Main Procession, carriages with authorities and more cavalry came.
Carriages with Grand Duke of Hesse, The Governors of Bombay, Madras and The Punjab, all of them with their bodyguards.
On horse, Lord Kitchener escorted by mounted volunteers.
Carriages again: Governors of Burna, Bengal and the United Provinces Burma Bengal united provinces of Agra y Oudh. The honbles.
Horseback: Authorities, The Baluch Chiefs, Chiefs of the NW Frontier
More authorities on carriages
The 11st Bengal Lancers
There’s no much about the Retainers elephants. They were all the elephants that each state brought to Delhi, except for the state elephants that carried the Maharajas and Rajas. The Retainer or Retinue elephants were ridden by Sardars and attendants of the Indian Chiefs. There are many pictures, but they don’t cover all the elephants at all.
If you go to the press releases, they barely covered the first few elephants of the Main Procession. They all describe the first 4 or 6, and then comment on any particular elephant that called their attention, but that’s it. Unfortunately they didn’t describe all the elephants as the first from the group. So no much expected comments about the Retinues.
The references say that they were 166 elephants marching after the Main Procession, but the listed ones don’t include a few states that were there indeed, nor the ones from the Shan States, so there were probably many more. The accounts mention about 250.
Here is a list of the quantity of elephants that each Indian state brought:
Rajputana (Major Michin leading)
Jaipur 4
Bundi 4
Kota1
Karauli 4
Bharatpur 2
Jaisalmer 1
Alwar 9
Tonk 3
Sirohi 1
Jhalawar 2
Shahpura 2
Central India (Capt. Barnes leading)
Gwalior 15
Indore 5
Bhopal 2
Rewa 11
Orchha 8
Datia 7
Dhar 1
Samthar 6
Charkhari 5
Rajgarh 1
Narsingarh 1
Kashmir 6
Hyderabad 16
Punjab
Patiala 6
Bahawalpur 2
Nabha 6
Jind 5
Sirmur 4
Kapurthala 1
Maler Kotla 2
Faridkot 2
Kalsia 2
United Provinces
Benares 6
Bulrampur 8
Rampur 5
Sardars and attendants
I have no idea to which states these elephants belong. This is my next project, to identify as many elephants as possible. For that, I need to study and research among all the photos I have from January 7, the Retainers Review at the Amphitheatre.