General Sir Alexander Stanhope Cobbe was a senior British Indian Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Lieutenant General Sir Alexander Cobbe in Iraq, late 1917
The Grave of General Sir Alexander Cobbe VC in Sharnbrook
The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from Britain's East African colonies in 1902. It primarily carried out internal security duties within these colonies along with military service elsewhere during the world wars and other conflicts, such as the Malayan Emergency and the Mau Mau uprising. The regiment's enlisted soldiers were drawn from the native Africans, while most officers were seconded from the British Army. During the 1960s, as part of the decolonisation of Africa, more African officers were commissioned into the regiment before it was gradually disbanded. KAR battalions would go on to form the core of newly established armed forces throughout East Africa.
KAR troops training in Kenya, c. 1944
Contingent of KAR at the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902, photographed by John Benjamin Stone; the written notes indicate some are Sudanese
The original 3rd Bn KAR formed in 1902 in Kenya
King's African Rifles War Memorial, Zomba, Malawi
