Frederick Gwatkin was born at Murree, Bengal, on 12 April 1885. He served in the 18th Bengal Lancers from 1905 to 1921 reaching the rank of captain on 19 Aug 1912, and major on 19 Aug 1918. He served in France and Flanders from 31 Nov 1914 to 26 July 1916, from 22 Dec 1916 to 31 March 1917, and from 11 April 1917 to 9 June 1917. He did not accompany the regiment to the Middle East in 1918. He was awarded the MC on 3 June 1918 and the DSO on 3 June 1919.
From Oct 1918 he was a staff officer, then attended Staff College at Quetta. He was an instructor at the Staff College from Jan 1927. On 14 Jan 1930 he was appointed CO of the Royal Deccan Horse, until 4 Aug 1934 when he was promoted to Colonel. He was then given command of the 2nd (Sialkot) Indian Cavalry Brigade. In 1938 he was promoted to major-general and attended the Imperial Defence College. He was appointed Military Advisor to the Indian State Forces, such as Gwalior and Hyderabad. On 2 Aug 1939 he was appointed Colonel of the Royal Deccan Horse (until Sep 1950) and knighted at the Viceroy’s House in New Delhi on 21 Feb 1942.
He retired from the Indian Army on 12 April 1943 with the local rank of Lieutenant General. He was married and had two sons killed in Burma on the same day in WW2 (14 Mar 1945). Major-General Sir Frederick Gwatkin died in 1969. The photo shows Lieutenant Gwatkin at Saugor in 1910 wearing the dress uniform of the 18th King George’s Own Lancers. In front of him is Captain C H Howell of the same regiment.
His medals include the Knight Bachelor’s Badge. The Order of the Bath, the DSO, MC, 1814-15 Star, British War & Victory medals with MID oak-leaf, General Service 1918-62 with a bar for KURDISTAN, Africa Star, WW2 War Medal, India Service Medal, Delhi Durbar 1911, Jubilee 1935, Coronation 1937, Belgian Croix de Guerre.
