Predecessor Units
Meena Battalion
(1857 – 1860)
Deoli Irregular Force
(1860 – 1903)
The 42nd Deoli Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment traced their origins to 1857, when the Meena Battalion was raised during the Indian Mutiny.
After this date the 42nd became an exclusively infantry regiment.(इस तारीख के बाद 42 वाँ विशेष रूप से पैदल सेना रेजिमेंट बन गया।)
After the Mutiny there were several 42nd regiments, the first being the Agra which lasted from May to October 1861, and the second, the 1st Assam Light Infantry who became the 42nd in October 1861, and continued as such until they became the 1/6th Gurkha Rifles. But in 1903 there was a third 42nd based on the old Deoli Irregular Force which had been raised in 1857 as the Meena Battalion under Capt. J D McDonald. This battalion was the nucleus for the infantry of the Deoli Irregular Force which in May 1861, numbered 8 companies. Cavalry was also added by 1865.
They raised a second battalion in1917 but as a whole failed to reach the amalgamations of 1922, all being disbanded on 10th December 1921.
From its foundation the regiment was recruited mainly from various Meena sub-sects. In the Indian Army List of January 1919 the recruitment basis was described broadly as “four companies of Rajputana Hindus and Musalmans”.
Meena battalion served in World War I
The regiment later served in the Second Afghan War and World War I in the 5th (Mhow) Division. During World War I a second battalion was raised in 1917.[2] Both battalions remained in India for internal security duties during the war but a single company of Meenas was posted to Mesopotamia. After World War I the Indian infantry was reorganized, moving from single battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. Nine regiments were disbanded as part of this restructuring. The 42nd Deoli Regiment was one of the regiments surplus to the new structure and it was disbanded on 10 December 1921.[3]
42nd Deoli Regiment in WWI
This article on the 42nd Deoli Regiment aims to help you research the Regiment and the soldiers who served with it during the First World War.
The 42nd Deoli Regiment in the First World War
Lineage: Raised at Deoli in 1857 as the Meena Battalion. In 1860 it became the Infantry of the Deoli Irregular Force and then the 42nd Deoli Regiment in 1903. The Regiment was disbanded on 10 December 1921.
Location in July 1914: The 42nd Deoli Regiment was stationed at Deoli (Rajasthan, India) with detachments at Jaipur (Rajasthan, India) and Kotah (Kota, Rajasthan, India).
The 42nd Deoli Regiment was stationed at Deoli when the First World War was declared in August 1914.
The Regiment was part of the Nasirabad Brigade, 5th (Mhow) Division which remained in India for the duration of the war. The Regiment was inspected by Major-General K. S. Davison, Commanding Nasirabad Brigade for its confidential review report for 1913-14 who reported:
Share food 
WW diary 
Religious: Sikh
War Diaries of the 42nd Deoli Regiment
You can find your family who served in World War I
There are give war diaries for the Battalion and all have been digitized by the National Archives. To download the war diaries for a small fee click on the blue links below.
Euphrates Defence and Communications, Nasiriyah, Mesopotamia
Date: 01 April 1917 – 28 February 1918
Reference:
WO 95/5031/9
Further Sources for the 42nd Deoli Regiment
These reports also contain the annual confidential reports of the British officers who served with the Regiment. However, when the Regiment was abroad only its Depot and the British officers serving with it are reported on. For information regarding British and Indian officers who served with the Regiment, the
The best resources for researching the 42nd Deoli Regiment are a series of confidential reports held at the British Library:
can be consulted. The Regiment’s Medal Index Cards for the General Service Medal can be viewed on Ancestry.
Source and reference click here
Or
https://www.researchingww1.co.uk/42nd-deoli-regiment-1st-battalion
And
https://astreetnearyou.org/regiment/764/42nd-Deoli-Regiment
Indianmeena.club 