This Day in History: 1877-10-17

Lieutenant Colonel Donald Macintyre, commanding the 2nd (Prince of Wales’s Own) Goorkhas, recommended in a letter to the Adjutant General the continuance of Staff Pay to Subadar Major Inderbeer Lamah, who had been wounded at Delhi and awarded the Order of British India 2nd Class. In 1877 he was pronounced unfit for further service after 52 years of duty as Drill Naick, Drill Havildar, Pay Havildar, Havildar Major, and finally Subadar Major for his last 9 years. He had filled every post ‘invariably with the greatest credit’.

Subedar Major Indrabeer Lama, Sardar Bahadur, OBI holding the Queen’s Truncheon. This picture, taken in 1865, is the earliest known photograph of the Queen’s Truncheon.