A History of the Regular Mounted Infantry

The Mounted Infantry had a short life spanning from the mid 1880’s until disbanded in 1913. To continue the camaraderie of the corps, past surviving members formed the M.I Club and in 1936 decided to publish a short history based on Regimental records and personal reflections. An appeal elicited responses and work was begun by Major Tomlin. The manuscript was almost complete at the start of the Second World War when an enthusiastic cull of papers by Tomlin’s family during a “wastepaper salvage drive” included much of the work he had completed. This would have been the end of the project, but Brigadier Standish G Craufurd intervened and undertook to rewrite the work using what material remained and his own resources. When the draft was substantially completed Sir Ian Hamilton (then in his 91st year) was approached to write the foreword, he responded that he felt this was a “makeshift history” that would best be left until the end of the war when access to records would be easier, and the manuscript could be improved upon.

This archive including the unpublished manuscript, letters and reminiscences came up for sale on an online auction recently and provides a unique and interesting record of the Mounted Infantry. Considering that history of this corps is sparsely documented it would be, as Craufurd put it “a great pity to let slip an account of a side issue of the old Army, a very distinct phase, just before the great change brought by the Great War”.