Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ceylon Mounted Infantry - Ceylon Mounted Rifles
Ceylon Mounted Infantry - Ceylon Mounted Rifles
C.M.I. – C.M.R.
1892. 1906.
(By the officer Commanding Ceylon Mounted Rifles)
1892, we got a start, swore ourselves in some 60 strong and put in our first drill on the Barrack
Square, Kandy.
Zeal and Ignorance of the New Corps.
We were full up with zeal and ignorance; of which qualities we flatter ourselves we retain the
former in bulk, and the latter in no mean quantity.
Capt. S.G. , now Lt.- Col. Bird, D.S.O, of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, was then Adjutant.
No one, from the Adjutant down to instructor, knew anything about Mounted Infantry work:
but they all carried the latest and (I think it was the first) manual issued for Mounted Infantry.
The first Officers gazetted were ( besides myself as Captain): Prior Palmer and H.S. Sanford of
Hatton. The latter gave place soon after to Murray Menzies and J. P. Dove, John Rettie and G.
Alston received commissions on the formation of the Kelani Valley, Badulla and Nawalapitiya
detachments: thereafter followed our lamented comrade Arthur Thomas. Then Kenny of the
Colombo Section, the only one on the list above remaining with us, and going as strong as ever.
W.S. Murray, of the C.C.S., later relieved, John Rettie on his retirement as O.C. Badulla Section,
which became the Uva Section, now C. Troop, on the promotion of Sergeant A.I. Kirk to a
command which unfortunately he has lately considered it necessary to surrender.
Officers: 8
Non-commissioned officers and Men: 146
Capt. G.E. Bayley, Adjutant, 1
th
Instr. T. Bidgood, 4 Dragoon Guards
Sergt. Instructor 1
The change to Mounted Rifles (a very desirable and popular one) has necessitated a re-
establishment.
The District Sections have given place to Troops.
A. Troop, Kandy Commanded by Lieut. E.L. Thomas, Ir. Sergt. Major LeFeuvre, acting.
B. Troop, Hatton and adjoining districts: Capt. Cotesworth, Lieut. Shuttleworth, acting: Ir.
Sergt. Major Dew acting.
C. Troop, Uva and Nuwara Eliya : Lieut. Hon. J.N. Campbell Lieut W.B. Dickson, acting.
D. Troop Colombo, Kelani Valley, Kalutara: Lieut W. Kenny, Ir. Sergt. Major Dyer, acting.
The Corps is now armed with the new shortened Lee Enfield Rifle, and possesses a
Maxim, (pack) gun of the newest type.
Sergt. Instr. T. Bidgood, 4th Dragoon Guards, visits each Troop Head-Quarter once a
month for drill instruction and under his good offices a steady advance in efficiency and
smartness is noticeable.
Essentially a Planters’ Corps.
The Officers commanding the different Regiments stationed in the Colony have
invariably given much valuable aid and instruction at the Annual Camps, and the last
Annual Camp showed about 50 percent of the Mounted Rifles at work, and we intend to
make another record in 1907.
The C.M.R. is essentially a Planters’ Corps, in fact almost “Out Planters’ “ the planters’
Rifle Corps, for of the 660men passed through its ranks since 1892, not more than 5 oer
cent have been other than planters.
It is interesting to note that the gallant and popular C.O. of the Planters’ Rifle Corps, Col.
T.Y. Wright, was originally a Ceylon Mounted Infantry man: one of the first included;
served with both S.A. Contingents and almost, if possible a better commanding officer
than he is a cricket or football exponent.
Colombo a Laggard.
Colombo has supported us grudgingly from the first, but the quality which Colombo is now
giving us, however grudgingly is of the best.
With regard to the war service of the C.M.R. it is interesting to note that at least half of the men
returned with 3 bars on their decoration, and about 30 per cent with five bars; it is further of
interest to note that Lord Kitchner has recorded his appreciation of the then only existing
5
Corps, representative of the Ceylon Planters in a letter in which he states that the C.M.I. did
excellent service: were just the sort of men he wanted and only wished he had more of them.
This sir is the kind of record which a Commanding Officer appreciates. It has not been my good
fortune to see active service with the men who have so lavishly given their services to uphold
the best tradition of their race, but my heart and soul was with them, and my eldest son a boy
of 18 served in Cape Colony with the Somerset’s, had been engaged in the Orange Free State
in the Pursuit of De Wet, and lost his life while giving his men a lead over a swollen river:
Dulce et decorum et pro patria mori!
The Record of the C.M.R. is no mean one in the records of the Volunteer service throughout
the history of the empire.