Maj. Bazett Colvin GRAHAM ²

  General Notes:

Married Violet Mary, 2 ch. Ena & Violet Muriel

England Census 1881: Age 4, living in Cheltenham with his Grand father Geaorge Wyatt and br. & sist.
England Census 1891: Student at Haileybury College, Hertfordshire

Electoral Register Surrey: 1921 to 1932

Probate London 19 August 1933: of Pine Lodge, Station Avenue, Walton on Thames, Surrey. Probate to Violet Mary Graham, Widow.
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Cadet in Sandhurst (British Library)
London Gazette 3/08/1897 issue 26879/page/ 347 2nd Lieutenant (Honorary Queen's India Cadet)

Gurkha regimental history:
Joined the first Battalion on 22nd June 1900, and had previously served in the Tirah Campaign of 1897-98. After joining the Battalion served temporarily with the 42nd, now 1/6, Gurkha Rifles and 30th Punjab Infantry, now 1/16 Punjab Regiment.
Transferred to the 125th Napier's Rifles (now 5/6th Rajputana Rifles) 26th March 1912.
Promoted to Major, 125th Napier's Rifles: 4 August 1915; Retired 4th August 1920

Indian Army Quarterly list 1 January 1912.
Graham, Bazett Colvin, Birth date: 16 Feb. 77
First Comm. 4 Aug. 97
1897 - 1900, 2nd. Lt., attached to 16th (The Lucknow) Rajput Regiment of Bengal Infantry
Date Rank: 4 Aug 06 Rank: Captain
Company British Officers of the Indian Army
Remarks 1 G.R. (Gurkha Rifles)
Page#: 125
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Src. British Library: Captain 125th Rifles when he died in 1914, but according to the regimental history (Gurkha Museum) he retired as a Major in 1920! The record below is of his cousin ALAN MOIR GRAHAM, Capt. 5th Gurkha
Record details Name: Bazett Colvin GRAHAM Event type: Death Date: 21 Dec Year: 1914 Location: Age: Status: Cpt, 125th Rifles Will administration: Notes: Transcribed by: British Library India Office Records Reference: Source name: Unspecified Source year: Source edition: Presidency:
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125th Napier's Rifles, Wikipedia:
At the outbreak of the war, the regiment was an unbrigaded unit of the 5th (Mhow) Division of the Indian Army.[8] However, in 1914 it joined the Army's 3rd (Lahore) Division as part of its 9th (Sirhind) Indian Infantry Brigade, landing at Marseilles on 26 September 1914 and taking part in Winter Operations (1914'961915), the Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10'9613 March 1915), the Battle of Aubers, the Battle of Festubert (15'9625 May 1915), and the Battle of Loos subsidiary attack at the Moulin-du-Piètre on 25 September 1915. The 125th left the 3rd Division in 1915 to join the 7th (Meerut) Division.[9][10][11] As part of the 7th Division's 19th (Dehra Dun) Indian Infantry Brigade, the regiment sailed from Marseilles[12] to go to Mesopotamia, landing at Basra on 31 December 1915 and taking part in the attempt to relieve the besieged garrison of Kut al Amara. It proceeded under Allenby to Palestine, and arrived at Suez on 13 January 1918.[13]

The unit suffered some problems and criticism during the First World War. A Rajput officer of the Indian Army, Amar Singh, who kept a diary in English from 1905 to 1921, paid particular attention to the regiment's wartime role. This diary was published in 2005 as Between Two Worlds: A Rajput Officer in the Indian Army, 1905'9621.[14]

With the establishment of trench warfare all protagonists gave consideration to the classic siege technique of attacking enemy defences by mining. On 3 Dec 1914 Gen Sir Henry Rawlinson, then Commanding IV Corps, wrote to Army HQ suggesting the formation of a special Battalion of Sappers & Miners for such work. Simultaneously the Dehra Dun Brigade of the Indian Corps attempted, unsuccessfully, to attack a German trench using a 45lb charge of guncotton placed at the end of a shallow tunnel.

First honours on the British front went to the Germans. On 20 Dec 1914 they attacked the Sirhind Brigade of the Indian Corps on the Givenchy-Festurbert front with 10 small mines placed under their forward fire trenches. Though small the physical and morale effect was considerable and the shaken survivors fell back 500 yds to the reserve line.

Sirhind Brigade:10.1918 Hablehntbl
11.1918 Damascus
26.11.1919 Bir Salem (Palestine)
5.02.1920 Sarafand
03.1921 disbanded