15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry

The 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was a military cavalry regiment of the Bengal Army under the British Indian Army. The regiment remained in service from the year 1857 to 1922, after which it was merged with the battalion of 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry to form the 20th Lancers unit. The army of the province of Bengal was the armed forces of Bengal Presidency and was amongst the 3 main Presidency Armies in British India. The British Presidency Armies belonged to the British East India Company until the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. The Government of India Act 1858, which was authorized after the Sepoy Mutiny in the year 1857, transferred the authority of the 3 Presidency Armies to the British Empire in India. In the year 1903, the 3 separate presidency armies were united to form the combined British Indian Army. The 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was also known as the 15th (Cureton`s Multani) Regiment of Bengal Lancers or simply as the 15th Lancers.

History of 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry
The 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was raised by Captain C Cureton in the year 1858 at Lahore. The British Indian Army unit consisted of 6 risallahs of Multani Pathans, which was initially formed as the Multani Regiment of Cavalry by Ghulam Hasan Khan in 1857. Nawab Ghulam Hassan Khan acted as the first Commanding Officer and was later appointed as British Political Agent of the British East India Company to Afghanistan. The 15th Lancers battalion was a class regiment that entirely comprised of muslims of multani pathans. The regiment provided significant service during the Second Afghan War from the year 1878 to 1880. Later during the First World War, the 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was stationed at Persia and France.

The army unit was dissolved due to mutiny by the troops during the campaign at Mesopotamia. The muslim regiment resisted to oppose the muslim turks and put down their arms. As a result, the entire army unit was disbanded and the troops were imprisoned at Kalapani. Later in the year 1922, the regiment was re-raised as 15 Lancers by Nawab Ghulam Hassan Khan by the merger of the 37 Lancers regiment and 17 cavalry unit.

Moreover, the remnants of the 15th (Cureton`s Multani) Bengal Lancers was unified together with the 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry, also known as 14th Bengal Lancers (Murray`s Jat Horse) on 21 September 1920 at Sialkot in order to form the armoured regiment of the 20th Lancers under the British Indian Army. The 20th Lancers remained in service from the year 1922 to 1937 and contained one unit each of Hindu Jats, Sikhs and Punjabi Muslims.

Designations of 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry
The 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was renamed a number of times during the restructuring in the British Indian Army, like all other regiments. These designations are mentioned as follows-
* Multani Regiment of Cavalry - 1857
* Cureton`s Multani Regiment of Cavalry - 1860
* 15th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry - 1861
* 15th (Cureton`s Multani) Regiment of Bengal Cavalry - 1871
* 15th (Cureton`s Multani) Regiment of Bengal Lancers - 1890
* 15th (Cureton`s Multani) Bengal Lancers - 1901
* 15th Lancers (Cureton`s Multanis) - 1903
* 20th Lancers (with 14th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry) - 1922