laststandonzombieisland

Found this image on the interwebs and was kind of fond of it, so I thought I would share.

(click to embiggen) and for the record, I am upset that there are no monocles visible..but their are swagger sticks aplenty.

The officer bottom left front, sports the badge of the 21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers (1901 – 1922) in his pith helmet. However this photo is of the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales own) Pistol Team in Cairo, Egypt, with the Duke of Connaught’s Cup in the 1930s. Revolvers of course are .455 caliber Webley MKVI’s. The cup was for a series of revolver matches run by the British army in Egypt and India from 1920 to 1939.

Founded in 1715, the 12th RL has an impressive lineage. The  Duke of Wellington served with the regiment as a young subaltern before his rendezvous with Napoleon. In 1928, the 12th Lancers gave up their horses and were equipped with armoured cars (as the Brits say, rather than “armored cars”), taking over vehicles left in Egypt by two Royal Tank Corps armoured car units, so these very dashing cavalrymen pictured above were mounted on tin horses. They went on to fight in Europe in 1940 from inside hopelessly outgunned Morris CS9 armored cars, shielding the withdrawal at Dunkirk. They later fought at El Alamein with Montgomery and were amalgamated with the  9th Queen’s Royal Lancers to form the 9th/12th Royal Lancers in 1960. This unit still exists attached to the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats.

As far as the Cup itself goes, Connaught was fond of promoting pistolcraft. As the Governor General of Canada in the 1912 he started an earlier revolver competition there, with the passing of a cup to the winner each year. This event remains today.