| COLONELS OF THE REGIEMENT | | | Lieutenant General RA Savory, KCIE, CB, DSO, MC
| |  Lieutenant General Reginald Arthur Savory, KCIE, CB, DSO, MC was the last British Adjutant General in India from 1946 to 1947 and issued the last Army Order before independence. He became the Colonel of the newly formed Regiment on its raising. In fact he suggested the name of the regiment -THE SIKH LIGHT INFANTRY.
Lieutenant General RA Savory had a distinguished military career. During the First World War he served in Egypt, Gallipoli, Persia and Mesopotamia. Thereafter, he saw service in Siberia and was in Kurdistan in 1923. After two years at the Staff College, Camberley, he was posted to the erstwhile North West Frontier Province, in 1930, before serving as a Senior Instructor at the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.
He commanded the 1st Battalion, 11th Sikh regiment and then became the Assistant Quarter Master General of 5 Indian Division. He later commanded 11 Indian Brigade in the Western Desert in 1940-41 before being posted as General Officer Commanding, Eritrea. From there he moved to Burma to command 23 Indian Division. He was Director of Infantry in India from 1943 till 1945 before he moved as General Officer Commanding Persia and Iraq in 1945-46. He was promoted as Lieutenant General in 1947 and retired the following year. He was awarded the DSO in 1941, was made a CB in 1944 and KCIE in 1947.
| | Lieutenant General Savory settled down in the village of Seale in Surrey (England) after retirement. His close friends described him as 'not only a very eminent soldier in his day but also a very fine man'. He was the President of the British Officers of the Sikh Pioneers and Sikh Light Infantry Association and devoted all his zeal towards getting much of the Sikh Pioneer silver returned to the Regiment. | Lieutenant General Savory played an important part in the raising of the first three battalions of the Regiment and in the selection of their Commanding Officers. It was his far-sightedness that made him select officers who had ties with the Sikh Pioneers and bring them into the newly formed regiment.
| Lieutenant General Savory last came to India in 1969 when he visited the Regimental Centre at Meerut as well as the 1st, 3rd and 5th battalions. He died on 14 June 1980 at the age of 86. The regiment can be considered his legacy.
Previous
|
|
|
