12th Frontier Force Regiment

12th Frontier Force Regiment
Active	1922–1956
Country	British India
Branch	Army
Type	Infantry
Regimental Centre	Mardan 1923 Sialkot 1946
Uniform	Drab; faced scarlet
Engagements	North West Frontier of India Second Sikh War 1848–49 Second Burmese War 1852–53 Indian Mutiny 1857–58 Sikkim 1861 Second Afghan War 1878–80 Boxer Rebellion 1900 Expedition to Somaliland 1902–03 First World War 1914–18 Third Afghan War 1919 Second World War 1939–45
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lt General Sir Harry Lumsden Field Marshal Sir Charles Egerton General Sir William Lockhart General Sir Rob Lockhart

The 12th Frontier Force Regiment was part of the British Indian Army. It was formed in 1922. It consisted of five regular battalions; numbered 1 to 5 and the 10th (Training) Battalion. During the Second World War a further ten battalions were raised. In 1945 the prenominal "12th" was dropped when the British Indian Army dispensed with prenominal numbering of its regiments. After the independence in 1947 it was formed into the Frontier Force Regiment, part of the army of Pakistan.

The 12th Frontier Force Regiment's origins lie in the four infantry regiments of the Frontier Brigade authorised in 1846 and raised by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lawrence, the agent (and brother) of the Governor-General of the Punjab frontier region (John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence), from veterans of disbanded opposition forces after the First Anglo-Sikh War. The 1st Sikhs were raised by Captain J. S. Hodgson at Hoshiarpur, the 2nd Sikhs by Captain J.W.V. Stephen at Kangra, the 3rd Sikhs by Captain F. Winter at Ferozpur and the 4th Sikhs by Captain C. MacKenzie at Ludhiana. Even at the start the Sikhs, although in the majority, were not in the preponderance, the unit names referring to their origins in the disbanded Sikh Army rather than their racial mix. The nuclei of the regiments consisted of a few men from the regular Native Infantry regiments of the line and police officers. The Governor-General issued a regulation in September 1847 which included the discontinuation of the term "Frontier Brigade" and renamed the four regiments the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Regiments of Sikh Local Infantry.

At the same time Lawrence also ordered irregular force of mixed cavalry and infantry: the Corps of Guides to be raised at Mardan by Lieutenant Harry D. Lumsden. In 1851 the four Sikh regiments and the Corps of Guides became part of the Punjab Irregular Force. Men of these regiments (or their successors) are to this day known as Piffers. The four Sikh regiments also went through a number of minor name changes over the next 45 or so years: in 1857 they became "Regiment of Sikh Infantry, Punjab Irregular Force" and in 1865 "Regiment of Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force" (reflecting the change in name of the PIF to Punjab Frontier Force). In 1901, they became "Sikh Infantry". In 1876, the Corps of Guides became one of the first regiments in the Indian Army to be conferred royal status as Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides.

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