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British Ceremonial Soldiers of the Queen

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Kings African Rifles.
- British East Africa

Kings African Rifles

This limited edition soldier depicts an Askari from the legendary Kings African Rifles c.1901 the year the regiment was raised.This the most famous of British African Regiments and is a true collectors piece.

The Kings African Rifles were formed in 1901 by an amalgamation of the various military units then existing in the British East African Protectorates. The Uganda Rifles, the East African Rifles and various Somaliland units, several Indian Contingents and the remnants of Emin Pasha’s Sudanese in Uganda.

The original Kings African Rifles was comprised of six battalions maintained by the British East African territories of Tanganyika, Nyasaland, Kenya and Uganda in addition to the Somaliland Camel Corps stationed in Somaliland. The King was the Colonel-in-Chief of this force, which took a large and distinguished part in the East African campaign of the Great War and expanded to twenty- two battalions.

The Kings African Rifles was active service in the First World War. In 1915 the German East Africans attacked British East Africa, Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). In 1916 an Allied force of almost 20,000 Kings African Rifles, Indian and white South African soldiers invaded German East Africa in search of Colonel Paul von Lettow Vorbeck the brilliant German strategist. But a combination of difficult roadless country, rains, mud and sickness neutralised their effectiveness and killed many of them. For four years a hit-and-run campaign conducted by Colonel (later General) Paul von Lettow Vorbeck ended in his surrender to the Allies on 25 November 1918.

In the Second World War The King’s African Rifles were composed of units from Kenya, Uganda, Nyasaland (now Malawi), Somaliland (now Somalia) and Tanganyika (now Tanzania). The Kings African Rifles fought in Somalia and Abyssinia against the Italians, in Madagascar against the Vichy French, and in Burma against the Japanese.

British Colonial Africana Soldier Collection

Click here for details of the hand carved wooden Kings African Rifles Soldiers and Colonial Africana 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.