The plaque displays a pair of symbolic khukuri – खुकुरी – a type of machete carried by Gurkhas and the Prince of Wales’s plume of three ostrich feathers by a royal coronet with the words, ich dien: ‘I serve’.
On display in the Hastings chapels
Stoke Poges Memorial Gardens
Major General Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills IV Gurkha by Bassano Ltd 1961 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license. © National Portrait Gallery, London
The inspiration for the Memorials in the Hastings chapel, St Giles’ church and in the Memorial Gardens in Stoke Poges was the Colonel of the Regiment: Major General Mills. The work was completed in 1949. In 1947, after India’s independence, the IV Gurkha Rifles became part of the Indian Army as the Fourth Gorkha Rifles.
Major-General Sir Arthur Mordaunt Mills, C.B., D.S.O (1879-1964)
He was the son of an army Colonel: Arthur McLeod Mills of Hythe, Kent. He joined the army in 1900 and was steadily promoted as an Officer. He saw action in the South African War, then in the Indian Army followed by World War 1. His work with the Gurkha Rifles came about in 1925 when he was promoted to take Command of the 2nd Battalion, IV PWO Gurkha Rifles. The rest of his military service was as Assistant Adjutant General, Northern Command, India 1929-1930; Cdr, Razmak Brigade, Waziristan, North West Frontier, India 1930-1934; Aide-de-camp to the King 1933-1935; Military Adviser-in-Chief, Indian State Forces 1935-1939; Colonel of the IV Prince of Wales’ Own Gurkha Rifles 1935-1950. He retired in 1939.