Hong Kong, soldiers of the British Indian Army | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Hong Kong, soldiers of the British Indian Army

Hong Kong, soldiers of the British Indian Army
Submitted by Admin
Authors: 
uwm

View the original, larger copy of this image at the UWM website: http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/u?/agsphoto,4060

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Monday, January 1, 1940
Gallery: 
1940-41 Harrison Forman's photos
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Comments

Submitted by Unknown user (not verified) on Tue, 2009-12-22 08:09.

These are actually members of the Indian contingent of the Hong Kong Police, the "B" prefix is visible on zoom. This contingent was stood down after the war and eventually replaced by Pakistanis who served until the 1990s. Pre-war contingents:

Caucasian                           A  Prefix

Indian                                 B

Cantonese                          C

Shantung                            D

White Russian                     E

The badge on the NCO says Engish Speaker . He is the only one wearing it, and judging by the lanyard, the only one with a revolver. I suspect this might be a recruit squad.

Submitted by Admin on Tue, 2009-12-22 18:00.

Thanks, that's a good catch.

Interesting to see that there were Pakistani police hired after WW2. I thought that all Indian / Pakistani police were phased out immediately after the war, but I see I'm wrong. Here's a note on the subject from Wikipedia, saying it was specifically the Sikh contingent (some of whom are shown in the photo above) that were dropped from the police force:

Moreover, doubts about the willingness of Hong Kong people to accept Indian officers who had worked, and often abused their authority, under the Japanese administration (December 1941 until August 1945) forced authorities to wind down the Sikh contingent. Instead, Pakistani and Shandong Chinese were recruited as constables and this went on until the early 1960s.

Submitted by isdl on Mon, 2010-06-07 14:20.

you can also judge by the sam brown belt & shoulder tag.

In the army, shoulder tag tells regiments & corps.  And only officers wear sam brown belt.

They all wear sam brown belt without collar dog & the shoulder tag shows number, not regiments or corps.

It is less likely a large squad of indian army officers march on the street.

Submitted by moddsey on Mon, 2010-06-07 17:31.

As Anon correctly says, the Sikh contingent belonged to the Hong Kong Police Force.

1940s Hong Kong Police

Submitted by Unknown user (not verified) on Sun, 2011-03-27 02:06.

The Sam Browne belt and brace was used by all ranks in the HKP

The personnel in the photo are definitely HKP personnel. They are not military.