Having entered the territory of Cutch, the army marched towards Booge-booge, the capital, and besieged the town and fort of Anjar, which surrendered at discretion. In this service Lieutenant Oliver de Lancey, of the Seventeenth, was severely wounded in the arm. The capture of Anjar was followed by the surrender of the hill-fort and fortified city of Booge-booge, and a treaty of alliance was afterwards concluded with the State of Cutch.
1816
The troops re-crossed the Runn at the Mattra-pass,—a headland between the gulfs of Cutch and Cambay, where the tide of the Indian ocean rushes in with a deafening noise, and a detachment from the army was employed in destroying the fastnesses of the banditti, whose depredations had been destructive to the neighbouring territories; also in reducing the power of a piratical tribe which infested the neighbouring seas. After the capture of the strong fort of Dwarka, and the capture and dispersion of a fleet of pirates, the field force broke up, and the Seventeenth Light Dragoons returned to their beautiful cantonments at Ruttapore in May, 1816.
1817
The predatory incursions of the Pindarees occasioned the regiment again to take the field in the year 1817[8], and these bands of robbers being formidable in numbers, and all horsemen, the troops employed against them had to perform many forced marches, to pass rivers and thickets, and to be constantly endeavouring to surprise these hordes of marauders. While several corps were pursuing the Pindarees, a number of the native princes were preparing to engage in hostilities against the British. The Seventeenth formed part of the force under Major-General Sir William Grant Keir, assembled at Baroda, which force subsequently marched into the Malwar, and joined the army commanded by Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Hislop.
On the second day's march from Baroda, the rear-guard and baggage of the army were attacked by a formidable body of Bheels,—robbers of a daring and desperate character. A squadron of the Seventeenth, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, proceeded to the support of the infantry engaged, and, on coming up, soon decided the affair, by cutting down a number of the robbers, and driving the remainder into the jungle. Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, Captain Adams, Cornets Smith and Marriott, evinced signal spirit and bravery on this occasion: Cornet Marriott and his horse were severely wounded. Serjeant-Major Hampson, a brave soldier, received an arrow in his mouth, which pierced the spine; he pulled the arrow from the wound, threw it down, then drew his pistol and shot the Bheel archer from whom the arrow came; but he immediately fell from his horse to rise no more, the flow of blood from his wound having suffocated him. The regiment had several men and horses wounded in this affair, which occurred on the 8th of December. On the following day Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, the officers, and soldiers of the squadron, were thanked in field orders; the spirit and steadiness they evinced were particularly commended, and the prompt and active exertions of the officers were especially noticed.
1818
Continuing to take an active part in the operations of the field, the Seventeenth were again engaged on the 19th of January, 1818, and on the 21st of that month the following division order was issued:—"The Major-General is happy to express his approbation of the conduct of Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, and His Majesty's Seventeenth Light Dragoons, in the affair of the 19th instant, and can only attribute the trifling loss they sustained to the gallantry and rapidity of the attack, which added to the complete surprise in incapacitating the enemy for preparing for resistance. The Major-General has not failed to bring to the notice of his Excellency, Lieut.-General Sir Thomas Hislop, and the Commander-in-Chief in Bombay, his sense of the spirit evinced by the regiment on that occasion."
