The band of the 7th Hussars in India

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

36827

Title

The band of the 7th Hussars in India

Description

One sepia photograph of the band and several officers of the 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars in Secunderabad, India. The photograph has been stuck down to a card scrapbook page. Douglas Haig is the fourth man from the left on the bottom row. The Band Master is J. Harvey.

Date

1890

Type

Photograph

Location

Museum of Edinburgh

Accession number

HH4303/824/81/A

Douglas Haig was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 7th Hussars on the 7th February, 1885 at the age of 24. Haig would stay in India until 1892 when he returned to the UK in order to prepare for the entrance exams to attend the Staff College at Camberley.

While in India Haig served as the Regimental Adjutant and was later promoted to Captain. Haig also competed as part of the 7th Hussars Polo Team in Inter-Regimental competition.

Douglas Haig was born in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh on the 9th June, 1861 to John Haig, the whisky distiller and Rachel Veitch. The young Douglas would spend the majority of his youth at the main family home of Cameron House in Fife before being educated at Clifton College, Bristol and then Brasenose College, Oxford.

Douglas Haig was commissioned into the 7th Hussars following his attendance of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, thus beginning a military career which would see several tours of India, action in both the war in the Sudan and South Africa before rising up the ranks to be posted as the head of the Aldershot Command prior to the First World War.

Douglas Haig went to war with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in August, 1914 in command of the I Corps. In December of 1915 following Sir John French's departure Haig took up the post as Commander-in-Chief of the BEF.

After the war Douglas Haig retired from the army in 1920, was created the 1st Earl Haig and spent the rest of his life seeing to the well-being of ex-servicemen.

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