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British Ceremonial Soldiers of the Queen

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Tipu Sultan's Mechanical Tiger

British Ceremonial Trophy Toy Soldiers

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Gurkhas - The Kukri.
- History of the Gurkhas

The Gurkha Rifles

This limited edition soldier depicts the legendary Gurkha Rifles c.1914 dressed in White Mufti (plain clothes) holding the famed Gurkha Kukri knive.

The Gurkha Kukri is a famed weapon and legend has it said once a kukri is drawn in a battle field, it has to taste blood. The Kukri is primarily a Gurkha close combat weapon and it is still used by the modern Royal Gurkha Rifle regiments. A Nepali boy is likely to have his own kukri at the age of five or so and necessarily becomes skilful in its use long before his manhood. By the time a Gurkha joins the army, the kukri has become a chopping extension of his dominant arm. This is important, because it is not the weight and edge of the weapon that make it so terrible at close quarters so much as the skilled technique of the stroke; it can claim to be almost impossible to parry. The oldest known Kukri appears to be one in the arsenal museum in Kathmandu, which belonged to Raja Drabya Shah, King of Gorkha, in 1627.

There are currently two Gurkha Royal Rifle battalions serving with the British Army The 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles was formed in Hong Kong on 1st July 1994 on the amalgamation of the 6th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles and the 2nd King Edward’s VII Own Goorkhas (The Sirmoor Rifles). The First Battalion is made up mainly by soldiers from the west of Nepal, from the Gurung, Thapa, Magar and Pun castes. The Regiment is commanded both by British Officers, who are trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Queens Gurkha Officers who commission from the ranks. The 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles formed from the merger of 7th and 10th Gurkha Rifles and consists mainly of Gurkhas recruited from East Nepal.

British Raj Colonial Soldier Collection

Click here for details of the hand carved wooden Gurkha Rifles Soldiers.

Wooden Soldier Regimental Histories

All of our wooden soldiers are made in strictly limited editions, click here for a regimental history of each soldier.