An unexpected gift

Our cleaner's husband died some time ago and since then she has been sorting through his vast collection of books. She has found several that she thought might be of interest to me, and yesterday she gave me the latest of her finds ... a cigarette card album entitled MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS.

The cigarette cards were originally given away with Player's Navy Cut cigarettes, and as far as I can make out, this series was issued in the late 1930s. The pictures and captions are of great interest to me, and supplements my own collection of reproduced uniform cigarette cards.

I can see me using this very useful album as a reference resource, and it is great that wasn't thrown away by someone who had not realised that it might be of interest.

The album includes images of the following uniforms:

• Union of South Africa
• Cape Town Highlanders
• Kimberley Regiment
• Witwatersrand Rifles
• Regiment Louw Werner
• Southern Rhodesia
• The Rhodesia Regiment
• The B.S.A. Police
• The B.S.A. Police (Native Askari)
• Australia and New Zealand
• Australian Light Horse
• Royal Australian Artillery
• Australian Infantry
• New Zealand Mounted Rifles
• Canada
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police
• India and Burma
• A.D.C. to the Viceroy of India
• The Scinde Horse
• The Poona Horse
• 19th (K.G.O.) Lancers
• Madras Sappers and Miners
• 5th Mahratta Light Infantry
• 6th Rajputana Rifles
• 7th Rajput Regiment
• 8th Punjab Regiment
• 13th Frontier Force Rifles
• 17th Dogra Regiment
• 10th Gurkha Rifles
• Mountain Artillery
• Alwar State Forces
• Bahawalpur State forces
• Baria State Forces
• Bikanir State Forces
• Dhrangadhra State Forces
• Gwalior State Forces
• Hyderabad State Forces
• Indore State Forces
• Jaipur State Forces
• Jodhpur State Forces
• Kashmir State Forces
• Mysore State Forces
• Nawanagar State forces
• The Tehri-Garhwal State Forces
• Udaipur State Forces
• The Burma Rifles
• Colonies, Protectorates, and Mandates Territories
• Nigeria Regiment
• Gold Coast Regiment
• King's African Rifles
• K.A.R. Somaliland Camel Corps
• Northern Rhodesia Regiment
• Trans-Jordan Frontier Force
• British Guiana Militia
• British Honduras Defence Force
• Singapore Volunteer Corps

Of particular interest to me are the Indian State Forces. These were auxiliary forces raised by the princely states of the British Indian Empire, and they could be deployed alongside troops of the British Indian Army if and when their service was required. They were inspected by officers of the British Indian Army and were generally equipped and trained along the same lines as the regular troops of the British Indian Army.