British Army

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The British Army is the land-based forces of the United Kingdom. The British Army was heavily involved in Imperial affairs in India and most regiments (both infantry and cavalry) served in India at some point. Throughout the nineteenth century, a significant number of British troops were stationed at India at any one time. In 1847, for instance, around 20% of British Army regiments were on the sub-continent. The General staff were supported by the Staff Corps and the Office of the Quarter Master General.

A British man, or man of British descent could also be a soldier/officer in one of the Presidency Armies. These were seperate from the British Army, instead consisting of regiments formed by the East India Company and under their control.

Regiments

Any regiment name prefaced by the initials H.M. (Her or His Majesty's) is a British Army regiment, although the term is not strictly applied, especially amongst the ecclesiastical records. These regiments may be referred to as "Royal Regiments".

Regiments are divided across several arms of the army, these being the Cavalry (who fought mounted on horseback), the Infantry (soldiers who fought on foot) and the support arms such as the Artillery (who used weaponry such as canons and large guns) and the Engineers construction, demolition, surveying etc.) Also see Regiment names terminology below.

The article History of British Army Infantry Regiments is a general history of the origin and development of the infantry regiments and explains some of the reforms that took place.

The cap badges of a few regiments can be found in Cap badge images.

When a regiment was to return to England, the men were given the opportunity to 'volunteer for' (join) another British Army regiment in India. As an example, when the 96th Regiment of Foot was ordered home in September 1854, a ‘great number of men’ volunteered for the 32nd foot, thirty volunteered for the 43rd, while twenty-two volunteered for the 74th Highlanders.[1] However, when transferring to another unit, the soldiers were treated as new recruits, and lost any rank they had, reverting to the rank of a private.[2]


Locating a regiment

There are many ways to find out locations at which a regiment was stationed. More labourious methods include tracking through the muster rolls, army lists or station lists published in newspapers. Many of our regiment articles include a timeline of major stations. Two online sources, providing incomplete but highly useful information, are:

Further details:

Regiment names terminology

Regiments, especially prior to the twentieth century, were not named in a uniform manner and the historical terminology used can be unfamiliar to a beginning researcher. Some common terms and the regiment types they apply to can be found below.

Term Regiment type
Dragoons Cavalry
Foot Infantry
Fusiliers Infantry
Grenadier Infantry
Hussars Cavalry
Lancers Cavalry
Life Guards Cavalry
Rifles Infantry

Wars and campaigns

The British Army were involved in numerous wars, campaigns and battles in India and the surrounding region. The Fibiwiki has a Chronological list of wars and campaigns.

Enlistment in India

It was possible for a man born in India to enlist in the British Army in India, a fact to be considered when researching. Enlistment was possible for men with European parents, or Eurasian men of fair complexion―those whose looks allowed them to ‘pass’ as white.[3]

Enlistment in British Empire countries

This Rootsweb Australia Message Board 2004 post is called “Chelsea Pensioners - soldiers with an Australian connection”. It includes details of two men who were born in Australia and served in the Madras Artillery. They probably joined British Army regiments in Australia, subsequently served in India and transferred to the Madras Artillery in India. It is an indication that men in the British Army may have been born in countries other than Britain and Ireland.

Records

See also - Military reading list and Occupation:Soldier

There are various sources of information for finding out about a man in the British Army. For a comprehensive description of sources available in the India Office Records, see Peter Bailey's article in FIBIS Journal 13.

Military records at the National Archives

Muster rolls

Unlike those of the presidency armies, muster rolls for British Army regiments stationed in India are not at the British Library but are instead at The National Archives at Kew in London. The majority of the Muster records up to 1878 are in WO 12. The catalogue describes the records as:

"...a comprehensive means of establishing dates of enlistment, movements throughout the world, and of discharge or death. The first entry may show age on enlistment. An entry on the form "Men becoming non-effective", sometimes to be found at the end of each quarter's musters, shows the birthplace, trade, and date of enlistment of any soldier discharged or dead during the quarter. From about 1868, at the end of each muster, may be found a Marriage Roll, which enumerates wives and children for whom married quarters were provided."

An 1889 example of data from a Marriage Roll can be seen here on Cathy Day’s archived site.

These records are unfortunately NOT available on LDS microfilms.

Service and pension records

Discharge papers (WO 97), usually containing service/attestation information, and pension records (WO 22) may also be found at TNA. Records in WO 97 are usually only for men discharged with a pension (ie having served 12 years or having been invalided) as these were the papers sent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea and preserved, but from 1883, most causes of discharge, (apart from death) were included. Note however, the survival rate of discharge papers appears to be low for men discharged overseas[4] [ie not in Britain, and therefore low for India]. If a man went on to serve during World War 1 then his records would normally have been removed from WO97 and placed with his WW1 service records[5]. WO 97 records are also unlikely to include men who immediately went on active service with a Milita unit, (whose discharge papers may have been transferred to the Milita unit)[6]. The records do not include those men discharged through the Kilmainham Hospital in Ireland, (out-pensioners to 1822 and in-pensioners to 1929). The records often contain a wealth of genealogical information, including birth date and location, next of kin, physical description, service locations, medical history and medals. They may include information about marriages, births of children or deaths of family members.

The National Archives has worked with findmypast.co.uk to scan and place online WO 97 (Royal Hospital Chelsea: Soldiers' Service Documents 1760-1913) All WO 97 records, for the years 1760 to 1913 are currently available on findmypast.co.uk. Searching the records is free, but charges apply to view the records, although they can be viewed for free at TNA (and other institutions with a FMP subscription).

Another useful TNA source is the WO 22 subseries "Army and other pensions paid out locally in India, Ceylon and China" detailing names and payments made, including WO 22/228-230 Bengal, WO 22/237-238 Bombay and WO 22/266-270, mainly Madras.

If you cannot find any service or pension records, and your research interest left the army between 1884 and 1887, it is worth checking the WO 121 microfilms "Register of men discharged without pension". Although the catalogue does not mention this, the films contain many records of men leaving the army in India under the heading "Nominal list of men discharged by the Commander-in-Chief in India..." As the register provides name, regimental number, rank, corps, date and cause of discharge, attestation date (and a few other administration details) it is an invaluable resource for those not able to find these details elsewhere.

These records are included in the National Archives catalogue entry Records of the Royal Chelsea and Kilmainham Hospitals. The latter hospital was in Ireland.

This India List post mentions WO 120 and WO 121 records. Catalogue references are: WO 120 "From about 1812 dates of death have been noted and in the last series these dates extend to 1877". Browse WO 120; WO 121, Browse WO 121. Also refer the paragraph above. The WO 120 records are available on LDS microfilm with this catalogue entry

Research guides

National Archives Guides
Other publications
  • The Society of Genealogists has published the book My ancestor was in the British Army : how can I find out more about him? by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009. Available at the British Library on open access.
British Library Guides

India Office military records at the British Library

There is a small collection of India Office records at the British Library called British Army Records IOR/L/MIL/15 1806-1930 (catalogue entry which includes links to subgroups).

There are also reference books from the Military Department Library relating to the British Army IOR/L/MIL/17/1 (catalogue entry), including Army Lists for the British Army, apart from publications specifically relating to the British Army in India.

Ecclesiastical returns

If the man married, had children or died out on the Sub-continent then records of these occurences can often be found in the India Office Church records. However, some regimental chaplains only filed their BMDs with the General Register Office in London and certificates of these army returns can be obtained via them by ordering them online. The British Army Overseas Indexes can be found in genealogical libraries, the National Archives and searched on various websites including findmypast.com and familyrelatives.com. For more details refer Chaplains Returns.

Note that if a record is available both in the Church records and in the General Register Office records, the latter may contain more information, at least for some time periods. By way of example, in 1903 the additional information was the nationalities of the groom and bride, and the occupations of the fathers of the groom and bride.

Other sources

Additional sources include:

  • Medal Rolls
  • 1911 England and Wales Census - British Army personnel in India, together with their families appeared for the first time in an England and Wales Census in 1911. Search the 1911 census data, free to search, but a pay site to view data. This National Archives catalogue entry shows the regiments that were included in the 1911 Census. The items (17 in total) are RG 14/34978-34992, 34995, 34997. However, it is probable there were other regiments in India at this time. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April, 1911. Note however, there are is at least one known instance of a soldier and his family known to be in the British Army in India at the time of the census, whose names do not appeat in the census, another indication that the data may not be complete.
  • National Army Museum whose website includes the following Information Sheets which also refer to sources at other institutions
  • Regimental Journals
Some regiments published a regular regimental journal which can be a valuable source of information. Examples are St George’s Gazette, journal of the Northumberland Fusiliers,(previously 5th Regiment of Foot) published from 1883 to 1968, and The Highland Light Infantry Chronicle, journal of the Highland Light Infantry (previously 71st Regiment of Foot), published quarterly from 1893 to 1958. Whether a journal existed may be included in the regimental information available on the website Regiments.org (refer below). This link also lists the titles of some regimental journals.[7] The British Library and National Army Museum are possible sources of these journals, together with Regimental Museums and regional libraries, if the regiment had a strong regional connection. A few editions of the Highland Light Infantry Chronicle are available online.
Two Research guides by British Library Newspapers:
Note that Colindale and St Pancras hold differing Indian newspaper collections (with some overlap), however Colindale microfilms will be transferred to St Pancras by 2012.

Army personnel serving after 1921

The service records of Army personnel serving after 1921 remain closed to the public. To obtain details from such records you will often have to prove kinship. Charges may apply. Further information can be obtained from

Historical Disclosures, MP555
Army Personnel Centre, Kentigern House,
65 Brown Street, GLASGOW G2 8EX
Telephone 0845 600 9663
Email disc4@apc.army.mod.uk

Also see website Veterans:UK

FIBIS resources

  • Margaret Mulvihill, "'Peculiar Circumstances': Catholic Chaplains of the Victorian British Army in India" FIBIS Journal No 24 (Autumn 2010), pages 26-28. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.

See also

External links

Encyclopedia articles

Other

Historical books online

The following volumes are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website: Volume 5, 1803 to 1807, includes detailed treatment of the situation and operations in the East Indies and Ceylon. Volume 11,1815-1838, includes the War with Nepal, the Pindari War, the War in Ceylon and the War with Burma. Volume 12, 1839-52. This volume is mainly concerned with India, and covers operations in Afghanistan and on the Khyber Pass, together with internal security operations in India itself. Volume 13, 1852-1870, includes the Indian Mutiny

References

  1. ↑ From England to the Antipodes & India - 1846 to 1902, with startling revelations, or 56 years of my life in the Indian Mutiny, Police & Jails, page 36 by Isaac Tyrell (1904) Archive.org
  2. ↑ From England to the Antipodes & India - 1846 to 1902, with startling revelations or 56 years of my life in the Indian Mutiny, Police & Jails, page 38 by Isaac Tyrell (1904) Archive.org
  3. ↑ Loyalty, Parity, and Social Control-The Competing Visions on the Creation of an ‘Eurasian’ Military Regiment in late British India by Satoshi Mizutani The International Journal of Anglo-Indian Studies Volume 10, No. 1, 2010
  4. ↑ My Ancestor was in the British Army, page 63 by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009
  5. ↑ My Ancestor was in the British Army, page 64 by Michael Watts and Christopher Watts 2009 and Chelsea Pensioners dated 20 March 2010 from Rootsweb Devon List.
  6. ↑ India List post dated 20 June 2011
  7. ↑ Military Identities: the Regimental System, the British Army, and the British People, c.1870-2000, page 365 by David French 2005 Google Books
  8. ↑ Naval and Military Press
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