NAM.2024-05-6-1-85

Photograph of the construction of the first bridge over the Bara river, Waziristan (Pakistan), near Bara Camp, 1930. Lots of soldiers and local men can be seen both in the river below and on the cliff walls as the Mk 1 Inglis Bridge nears completion where the two sides will meet in the middle. A caption on the back reads: ‘The Bridge being pushed across from each end’. Image by Bt Maj Cecil Wotton Toovey MC, 9th Battalion Middlesex Regiment attached to the 5/1st Punjab Regiment. Toovey was Brigade Major for the 2nd Rawalpindi Infantry Brigade, Northern Command between 1929 and 1931. The 'Inglis' pattern bridge - a prefabricated portable bridge - was named after its inventor, Lt later Professor Sir, Charles Inglis, (1875-1952) was constructed across the Bara River by No 4 Field Company King George's Own Bengal Sappers and Miners. The specifications required that it be capable of carrying infantry in fours or 10 ton steam rollers, one at a time. Work began on 29 October 1930 and the bridge was open for traffic on 23 November. It was dismantled in 1933 as it had been superseded by a permanent concrete design. From a photograph album of 139 images and one press cutting of India, Iraq, Waziristan, 1915-1939 (c), by Maj Gen C W Toovey MC, Middlesex Regiment and the 82nd Punjabis (later the 5/1st Punjab Regiment).

India, North West Frontier (1920-1937)