This article looks at the Staff College Camberley Confidential Reports for British officers of the Indian Army between 1882-1909. This is one of a series of guides I have written to help you research soldiers who served in the British or Indian Armies. You can view the guides by clicking on the link below:
Indian Army Staff College Confidential Reports
There are four files held at the British Library in London which contain the confidential reports of British officers of the Indian Army who passed out of the Staff College Camberley between 1882 and 1909. Prior to the establishment of a Staff College in India in 1905, first at Deolali before it moved to Quetta in 1907, officers had to travel to Britain.
The reports are part of Collection 79 Staff College (Sandhurst): Confidential Reports on Indian Army Officers: IOR/L/MIL/7-3424-3427: 1882-1909:
- Confidential reports on officers who passed out of the college 1882-1889: IOR/L/MIL/7/3424
- Confidential reports on officers who passed out of the college 1890-1897: IOR/L/MIL/7/3425
- Confidential reports on officers who passed out of the college 1898-1905: IOR/L/MIL/7/3426
- Confidential reports on officers who passed out of the college 1905-1909: IOR/L/MIL/7/3427
The confidential reports in the first folder are handwritten with the rest of them being typed. They vary in length but Dyer’s example below is a typical example. I find confidential reports to be very useful documents when researching for clients as they usually provide an insight into an officer’s personality. In addition to the Staff College Confidential Reports, Regimental and Staff Confidential Reports should also be looked at.
Example of a Confidential Report
Below is a typical example of a confidential report to Captain Reginald Edward Dyer, 29th Punjab Infantry who passed December 1897. In 1919, Dyer was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre which earned epithet Butcher of Amritsar.
This officer has no more than average ability and he has got through this work at the Staff College by sheer plodding determination.
He entered it singularly ill-equipped as regarded his knowledge of the arms other than his own, and of military subjects generally.
In addition to this disadvantage, he suffered from liver, and he did not at first get on well with other officers.
But he overcame these difficulties by means of persistent effort, and during the second year of his course he made marked progress with his work.
His leading characteristic is perisitent determination and he has shown powers of perserverence and application.
By temperament he is shy and reserved and is lacking in influence on others; but he is trustworthy and to be depended on to do thoroughly to the extent of his powers, whatever he is entrusted with.
He went through the voluntary course of Surverying satisfactorily, and is an accurate mathmetician. He would make a useful Special Service Officer.
Officers who Appear in the Confidential Reports
The number after an officer’s name refers to the file in which he appears.
Balfe, Capt. Edmund 3424
Barrow, Capt. Arthur Frederick 3424
Barrow, Capt. George de Symons 3426
Battine, Capt. Reginald St. Clair 3426
Bayly, Capt. Alfred William Lambert 3425
Baynes, Capt. Douglas Dyneley 3426
Beley, Lieut. Charles Harold Hepworth 3424
Boddam, Capt. Ernest Berkeley Charles 3426
Bourne, Capt. Walter Kemp 3427
Brander, Capt. Herbert Ralph 3425
Brath, Capt. Ernest de. – 3425
Bridges Arthur Holroyd Brevet Major 3426
Bunbury, Capt. William Edwin 3425
Clay, Charles Herbert 3425
Cobbe, Capt. Alexander Stanhope VC 3427
Colomb, Capt. Francis Cracroft 3425
Cummins, Capt. Harry Ashley Vane 3427
Deane, Capt. Dennis 3427
Ducat, Capt. Charles Merewether 3425
Duff, Capt. Beauchamp 3424
Durand, Capt. Algernon George 3424
Dyer, Capt. Reginald Edward Harry 3425
Edwards, Capt. Fitzjames Maine 3425
Elsmie, Capt. Alexander Montagu Spears 3426
Jones, Capt. Alfred Edwin 3424
Geoghegan, Capt. Stannus 3426
Geoghegan, Capt. Thomas Patrick 3424
Grant, Capt. George Patrick 3427
Hay, Capt. Charles John Bruce 3427
Hay, Capt. Westwood Norman 3426
Hocken, Capt. Charles Augustus Frederick 3427
Hogge, Capt. John William 3424
Holloway, Capt. Benjamin 3425
Holman, Lieut. Herbert Campbell 3426
Home, Capt. Jasper Murray 3426
Jones, Bt. Major Leslie Cockburn 3427
Kenny, Capt. Henry Torrens 3425
Kettlewell, Capt. Archibald Middleton 3427
King, Capt. Stewart William 3426
Knight, Capt. Wyndham Knight 3426
Knox, Capt. Alfred William Fortescue 3427
Loch, Capt. Harry Frere 3425
Lloyd, Capt. Lloyd 3424
Loch, Capt. Harry Frere 3425
Maxwell, B-Maj. Maxwell, Francis Aylmer VC 3427
Maguire, Capt. Cecil Montgomery 3424
Moberly, Capt. Bertrand Richard 3427
Moberly, Bt. Maj. Frederick James 3426
Newham, Capt. Charles Cowan 3427
Norie, Bt. Maj. Charles Edward deManley 3426
Norman, Capt. Walter Henry 3427
Orton, Capt. Ernest Frederick 3427
Peach, Capt. Edmund 3425
Penton, Capt. Herbert Edward 3424
Philipps, Capt. Ivor 3425
Poynder, Capt. Charles Eliot 3424
Probyn, Lieut. Francis Hoel 3424
Rattray, Capt. Charles 3426
Rennick, Capt. Frank 3426
Renny, Capt. Alexander MacWhirter 3424
Rice, Capt. Gerard Beechey Howard 3426
Richardson, Capt. Charles William Grant 3426
Ricketts, Capt. Robert Lumsden 3427
Ridgeway, Capt. Richard Kirby VC 3424
Senior, Capt. Henry William Richard 3426
Shea, Bt. Maj – John Stuart Mackenzie 3427
Steel, Capt. Richard Alexander 3426
Stuart, Capt. Alexander George 3426
Swanston, Major Charles Oliver 3427
Taylor, Lieut. Reginald O’Bryan 3426
Tod, Capt. John Kelso 3425
Tweddell, Lieut. Francis 3425
Twiss, Capt. William Louis Oberkirch 3427
Watson, Capt. William Arthur 3425
Western, Capt. John Sutton Edward 3425
Willoughby, Capt. Michael Edward 3425
Young, Capt. Frederick DeBude 3425
Younghusband, Capt. George John 3425
Watson, Capt. Lionel Arthur 3426