George V Calcutta Light Horse Jigger, 1920

Diameter: 8.5cm (3.4in) 

Silver. Double measure form, the larger bowl engraved with the badge of the Calcutta Light Horse in the form of an eight-pointed rayed star and CLH cypher betwixt the state imperial crown, and the unit motto ‘Defence not Defiance’, over the date 25-11-21. Maker’s mark of Garrard & Co, Haymarket, London. Hallmarked London 1920.

Between the wars the Calcutta Light Horse, was just as much a social hub for the British mercantile and administrative class as a part-time cavalry regiment poised for internal security should the need arise. During the First World War individual CLH members volunteered for overseas service in East Africa and in France and Flanders - some fifty of whom were killed in action. After the war, at a regimental dinner in India, all those who had not volunteered for active service were de-bagged!