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*''The East India Company's Arsenals & Manufactories'' by Brig-Gen Henry A. Young, Director of Ordnance Factories in India 1917-1920, first published in 1937 and re-published by [http://www.naval-military-press.com/east-india-company-s-arsenals-and-manufactories.html Naval & Military Press] in 2005 gives historical background of munitions factories etc. Available through Amazon.co.uk from the [http://astore.amazon.co.uk/faminbriindso-21/detail/1845740203 FIBIS Shop]. The original edition is available at the [[British Library]]
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This is what Ian A Baxter says in his ''A Brief Guide to Biographical Sources'' under the heading "Departmental and Warrant Officers of The East India Company's Armies 1708-1861, and the Indian Army 1861-1947"
"Warrant officers in the Company's armies held the ranks of [[Sub-Conductor|Sub Conductor]] and Conductor, serving mainly in the [[Ordnance]], [[Commissariat]] and [[Public Works Department|Public Works Departments]]. They were recruited from the [[Town Major's List]] (called [[Effective Supernumerary|Effective Supernumeraries]] in Madras) which in turn was largely recruited from the NCOs of the Company's European regiments (see p 9) although occasionally NCOs of British regiments stationed in India were appointed to it.
In 1859 the [[Town Major's List]] became the [[Unattached List]], and when the Company's European regiments were amalgamated with the [[British Army]] in 1860 new recruits to the [[Unattached List]] were appointed solely from NCOs of British regiments stationed in India.
Conductors were eligible for promotion to Departmental Officer, ie Deputy Assistant Commissary, Assistant Commissary etc, and these grades were eventually given complementary honorary officer ranks ranging from Honorary Lieutenant to Honorary Major."
{{Origin|text=This article was contributed to India list by [http://www.tnet.com.au/~quincon/ Michael Quin-Conroy], 11 Nov 2003}}
Even in the [[British Army]] in the Field Train Department (1792-1859) the Departmental Ranks were the same. There was nothing 'Honorary' about them!
For history links see [https://web.archive.org/web/20130106183704/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/05.htm "Significant landmarks in the Corps History"], [https://web.archive.org/web/20151005104924/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mike.comerford/ORDNANCE/ ''History and Insignia of the British Army Ordnance Services''], now archived.
*Conductor (acting in the role of Subaltern)
The appointments were still in use when Acting Assistant Commissary James Langley DALTON VC, of the Commissariat and Transport Department, was awarded the VC for action on 22 January 1879 at Rorke's Drift during the Zulu War. As he was a Commissary of Supplies, his VC should also have come over to the RAOC in 1965!
{{Origin|text=This article was contributed by Jim Parker from and added with permission from Mike Comerford}}
==Also see==
*[[Unattached List]]
*Lawrie Butler , "The Army Rank of Conductor, and the History of an HEIC Conductor VC," ''FIBIS Journal'', No 18 (Autumn 2007). For details of how to access this article online, see [[FIBIS Journals]].
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Army_Service_Corps British Army-Royal Army Service Corps] Wikipedia
===Historical books online===
*This [http://books.google.com/books?id=n1ABAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA164 Google Books link] gives details of the Ordnance Department factories etc c 1864. , pages 164-167 from ''Strength, Organisation and Composition of the Army of Great Britain'' by Martin Petrie, 2nd edition 1864. It indicates that in Bengal, the Stud Department was part of the Ordnance Department.*[http://books.google.com.au/books?id=26sEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA60 "Misconduct of a Conductor and Sub Conductor punished"] ''The Calcutta Annual Register'' 1821(page 60 of Chapter III Public Documents, which are separately numbered) Google Books.
