The British recruited courageous males from Punjab to function policemen and guards of their colonies to assist stamp out the key society feuds within the tin mining space of Perak.
Sikhs made their manner into the Straits Settlement and the Malay States of peninsula within the nineteenth century and shortly grew to become identified for his or her gallantry within the safety forces and their competence in sustaining legislation and order.
Within the early Eighteen Eighties, a small physique of cavalry troops was established to suppress freeway robberies, then of almost-daily prevalence within the go between Taiping, Kamunting and Kinta. They guarded the go at night time; as a result of their vigilance, the risks confronted by travellers quickly disappeared. The development of the Taiping Kinta cart highway and different roads in Kinta, telegraphs and railways, induced the troopers to be much less obligatory.
Following the formation of the Malay States Guides in 1896, the cavalry troop was separated and transferred from Taiping to Kuala Kangsar to kind a royal bodyguard to escort His Highness, the Sultan of Perak. The mounted bodyguard was quartered close to the palace in Bukit Chandan and at all times accompanied His Royal Highness Sultan Idris in his carriage and pair on ceremonial events.
The overall energy of the bodyguard comprised a local officer, two Duffadars (equal in rank to a Sergeant within the cavalry) and 12 Sowars (mounted orderlies) of the Perak Power stationed at Kuala Kangsar as of 1900 (F.M.S. Police report, 1900).
Sikh troopers of HRH Sultan of Perak in 1915. Photograph: Courtesy of Nationwide Archives Malaysia
His Royal Highness Sultan Idris Murshidul Azzam Shah, the Sultan of Perak then, was the one ruler within the federation who had a non-public mounted Sikh bodyguard. These swarthy veterans of fantastic previous Bengal Lancers entered into the service of His Highness and made up the one private bodyguard that has been maintained by a Malay ruler in fashionable instances and the one cavalry unit that has ever existed within the nation.
These small physique of stalwart mounted males fashioned the Sultan of Perak’s bodyguard and supplied escorts and took half in celebratory parades for state events not solely within the Federated Malay States but in addition in Singapore.
Apart from ceremonial use, sometimes the lancers had been being referred to as out to patrol and protect legislation and order within the mining cities of the Kinta district in the course of the durations of disturbance.
The Perak Lancers had been finely constructed males, effectively mounted and effectively educated for ceremonial obligation for they had been primarily Sikhs who had served within the Indian Cavalry. These Sowars had been armed with lances, swords and carbines (lengthy weapons), and pink and white pennants fluttered from the lances. Their engaging scarlet coats, in lots of cases coated with medals denoting a protracted and honourable service, made them intensely fascinating.
Many of those males served within the Anglo-Burmese Wars and within the North-West Frontier earlier than serving in Perak. Amongst them was Sowar Maggar Singh, who was born within the 1860s within the village of Bhakna Kalan, within the district of Amritsar, Punjab. He served in Burma from 1885-1887 and 1887-1889, earlier than he went to Perak in 1893. He was granted the Victoria service medal with two bars.
Sowar Maggar Singh on horseback. Photograph: Courtesy of the late Maggar Singh’s household
He joined the Perak Sikh mounted part as a Sowar and was later transferred to the Sikh Bodyguard unit of the late Sultan Idris Shah.
In 1902, he accompanied the late Sultan Idris to England with the entire bodyguard in the course of the coronation of the late HM King Edward VII. They launched into the P&O steamer Ceylon in Penang and arrived on Might 30, 1902, within the Royal Albert Docks.
Perak Lancers (left) and Malay States Guides at Hampton Court docket Palace, England, in the course of the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. Photograph: Courtesy of Hudson & Kearns
To rejoice the coronation of King Edward VII, troops from throughout the British Empire had been dropped at England to participate within the ceremony. The bodyguard of the Sultan of Perak, members from the Malay States Police and Malay States Guides from the Federated Malay States coronation contingent had been quartered on the Alexandra Palace.
Maggar Singh was promoted to the rank of Daffadar in 1912. He was discharged from the Federated Malay States Police Power on Nov 30, 1915, after he was concerned in an accident throughout a tent pegging train.
After leaving the police power Maggar Singh ventured into planting and was fairly profitable in his enterprise as a planter. He handed away on June 26,1940.
Perak was the one state which has ever maintained a mounted bodyguard for the state ruler. The FMS Police report of 1913 acknowledged that the mounted bodyguard of HRH the Sultan of Perak was maintained at Kuala Kangsar at a energy of 1 Duffadars, one Naik (equal in rank to a corporal) and 13 Sowars, with 13 horses and 7 syces (individuals who maintain horses).
This devoted bodyguard of picked horsemen remained true to their salt and was solely disbanded after His Royal Highness’s demise. This bodyguard of lancers was symbolic of the wealth and safety of the Perak throne. Their loyalty has been past questionable and remembered as an essential a part of the Perak Sultanate’s historical past.
Many of those stalwart mounted males obtained concerned in planting and different ventures after that.
The author has a ardour for researching historical past and writing, with a concentrate on the Sikh neighborhood. He might be contacted at: [email protected]
