British Army in India during the First World War

SRINAGAR, INDIA - 1917/01/01: A convoy of Rolls Royce armoured vehicles line a tree-lined road believed to be near Srinagar. Background to this image: With the threat of War looming in Europe, Edward Fitzgerald Charlesworth volunteered to join the Territorial Army that was being raised in Britain for coastal defense. These part-time soldiers trained at weekends and under an Act of Parliament no part of this force was to "be carried or ordered to go out of the United Kingdom." With the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914 Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War, asked for volunteers to serve abroad. The response from E.F. Charlesworth's Battalion, the 4th Queen's was reported to be "very satisfactory" and the volunteers were soon deployed to India to replace the regular British Army troops who were fast being transported to the battlefields of Europe. The 1st/4th Queen's arrived in Lucknow, via Bombay where they completed their "War Training". From published accounts there is no question that the soldiers posted to India during this period were craving for a call to the European front. The Times in 1916 was to write: "The men who have been sent to garrison the outposts of Empire would undoubtedly have chosen, if the choice had been theirs, to take their chances on the European battlefields with the Allies." E.F. Charlesworth recorded much of what he saw from the moment he boarded the ship in Southampton. His camera documented the life of British soldiers in India, their families, the local population, landscapes and landmarks. On his death these images were passed on to his Grandson Peter, who retains copyright to these rare historical images. Date of this image is estimated but lies within the period 1915 to 1919. (Photo by Edward Fitzgerald Charlesworth/Peter Charlesworth Collection/LightRocket via Getty Images)