Bengal Army

Bengal Army
Bengal Army
List of Bengal Army Regiments
Bengal Infantry Regiments
Bengal Infantry Finder tool
Bengal Artillery
Bengal Horse Artillery
Bengal Sappers and Miners
East India Company Army

The Bengal Army was one of the three Presidency Armies of the East India Company.

A list of Bengal Army regiments can either be found in the Bengal Army Category or alphabetically, by type, in Bengal Army Regiments.

Divisions

• Bengal Artillery
• Bengal Cavalry Regiments
• Bengal Infantry Regiments
• Bengal Sappers and Miners
• Bengal Staff Corps
• Commissariat

Records

Main article: East India Company Army

British Library

Records available in the British Library India Office holdings include:

• Bengal Army Records IOR/L/MIL/10 1716-1907 with subcategories
  • L/MIL/10/1-19 Bengal Army Lists, 1781-1849.
  • L/MIL/10/20-69 Bengal Service Army Lists, 1759-1858
  • L/MIL/10/70-74 Bengal Service Army Lists – Medical, c1765-1858
  • L/MIL/10/75-102 Bengal Services, 1860-1893
  • IOR/L/MIL/10/122-129 Registers of Bengal Army European Soldiers 1788-1860 Please note that these records were commenced in 1831 and only contain men still serving in the Army at that date. If a man left the Army prior to 1831 for any reason, including death, he will not appear in these records. The Muster records are an alternative source of information.
  • The Muster Rolls commence IOR/L/MIL/10/130-185

The LDS (Mormons) have filmed many of these records. Search the Microfilm catalogue by entering keywords such as Bengal Army. In particular, “Registers of Bengal Army European soldiers, 1788-1860” and “Bengal Army muster rolls and casualty returns, 1716-1860” are available.(Ordering microfilms)

• Military Department Library: Bengal Army IOR/L/MIL/17/2 1791-1903 includes
  • Bengal Army List IOR/L/MIL/17/2/1-267 1819-1889
  • Bengal Army: General and Regimental Histories, Biographical Compilations, Indian Mutiny IOR/L/MIL/17/2/474-505 1845-1927
• Soldiers’ and Officers’ Wills IOR/L/AG/34/30 1825-1881 (varies according to Presidency and whether a soldier or an officer). These records are available on findmypast

Individuals

• Catalogue entry IOR/F/4/1454/57020 Apr 1831-Dec 1832 Trial, in the Calcutta Supreme Court, of Anne Louisa Ramsay, for the attempted murder, at Delhi Cantonments on 9 Apr 1831, of Lieutenant George Richard Talbot of the 8th Bengal Native Infantry - her husband, Allan Ramsay, formerly a Lieutenant in the 8th Bengal Native Infantry is charged with aiding and abetting the attempted murder - both parties are acquitted (includes a transcript of the proceedings of the original Court of Enquiry, depositions of witnesses, etc).

Books

• Lives of the Officers of the Bengal Army, 1758-1834 by V. C .P. Hodson, 4 vols. (London, 1927-47) Note that the dates refer to the date of joining the Army. Alphabetically arranged and annotated with biographical and genealogical notices, giving details of: (1) rank and brief career history (2) family information (3) service records: regiments or battalions in which the officer served (4) references to wills if they exist, to monumental inscriptions, or to mentions in publications. The British Library shelfmark is OIR.355.332.

A description of the fascinating information contained in the appendices is explained in Bengal army officers names nationalities fatalities and a phantomUntold Lives blog of the British Library.

FIBIS has transcribed the indexes of these books, which are available on the FIBIS database.

The LDS (Mormon) Family History Library has filmed the above books (Library Catalogue entry). This India List thread recommends that all three LDS films be ordered, as there is a lot of cross referencing.

• Savannah Publications, London has reprinted Ubique: War Services of Officers of the Bengal Army by T.C. Anderson, originally published 1863. Index data from this book is available on the FIBIS database, refer above
• Savannah Publications, London has published Officer Casualties of the Indian Armies 1803-1946 by Anthony J. Farrington. The author was Director of the India Office Records collection at the British Library

FIBIS resources

• FIBIS database: Soldiers’ and Widows’ Pension details -1896 IOR/ L/MIL/14/214 & 215. Includes previous members of the Bengal,Madras and Bombay Armies, including men from the Unattached List. May also include a few members of the Indian Army which officially was formed in 1895. These records are available on LDS microfilm 2029979 Items 1-2 with catalogue entry, however the FIBIS database record contains all the information available in the microfilm.
• FIBIS database:Applications for Cadetships in EIC Armies 1789-1860 includes Bengal Army. These are records for officers.
• FIBIS database: War Services of Officers of the Bengal Army 1863. Transcriptions from the book Ubique : War Services of all the Officers of HM's Bengal Army by Thomas C Anderson 1863
• Also see Books above.
• "Edward Squibb-Letters from a Bengal Cadet" by Charles Gordon Clark FIBIS Journal Number 28 (Autumn 2012) pages 15-24. Edward Squibb arrived in 1820. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article
• "The Clark Brothers - Life in the Bengal Army" by Charles Gordon Clark FIBIS Journal Number 29 (Spring 2013) pages 3-14. Gordon Wyatt Clark arrived in 1842 age 20. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article
• "Captain Hunter: researching a memorial in Durham Cathedral" by Geoffrey Fox FIBIS Journal Number 31 (Spring 2014) pages 36-48. For access, see FIBIS Journals. Captain Hunter of the 73rd Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry was killed in action 21 December 1845 at the Battle of Ferozeshah

External Links

• Officers biographies - Bengal and Madras Armies from Macquarie University’s Seringapatam 1799
• The Bengal Army in The Victorians at war, 1815-1914: an encyclopedia of British military history by Harold E. Raugh, 2004
• General Distribution Return of Her Majesty's and the East India Company's Troops Serving in the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal) Showing the Number and Strength of Each Station, 1 April 1857 The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle (page 171 of the Finding Aid)

Historical books online

• The New Regulations for the Bengal Army ; According to the Minutes of the Council and General Orders Issued in Fort William During the Months of May and June 1796 Google Books
• Alphabetical List of the Officers of the Bengal Army from 1760 to 1834 compiled by Dodwell and Miles, 1838. Archive.org. Google Books edition
• An historical account of the rise and progress of the Bengal Native Infantry, from its first formation in 1757, to 1796 when the present regulations took place, together with a detail of the services on which the several battalions have been employed by the late Captain John Williams, Bengal Army, 1817 Google Books. The following coloured illustrations have been noted: Subadar, Grenadier Sepoy, Light Infantry Sepoy
• History of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Army, Volume 1 by Arthur Broome 1850 (www.archive.org)
• The Presidential Armies of India by Colonel S Rivett-Carnac 1890 Archive.org has chapters on the Bengal Army
• The Officer's Complete Guide by Lieut. Archibald Swiney Haig 55th Regiment Bengal Infantry (published 1856) - contains General Orders, pay regulations etc (Google Books)
• First Annual Report of the Sanitary Commission for Bengal, 1864-65 Google Books. Mainly in respect of the Army
• Medical And Sanitary Report of the Native Army of Bengal for the year 1875 Archive.org
• Memoir of the late Lieut.-Colonel Richard Scott (From his Private Journals) from The Naval and Military Magazine Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4 1827-1828 Google Books

Part 1– Appointed 1768, Part 2- Sir Eyre Coote's Campaigns of 1781, 1782, and 1783, Part 3- Campaigns in India –includes General Stuart's Operations; General Goddard's March; and the Proceedings of the Bombay Army and its Government, Part 4- includes Popham’s Capture of Gwalior; General Goddard’s Operations, Campaigns of Lord Cornwallis, Siege of Bangalore, Part 5 March to Seringapatum, Part 6, Part 7

"Lieutenant -Colonel Richard Scott" from The East India Military Calendar: Containing the Services of General and Field Officers of the Indian Army, Volume 1, page 315 by by John Philippart 1823 Google Books

• "Major General Littellus Burrell" c1753-1827 Naval and Military Magazine Volume 2 1827, page 540 Archive.org
• Memoirs and correspondence of Field-Marshal Viscount Combermere by the Right Hon Mary, Vicountess Combermere and Capt W W Knollys 1866 Archive.org Volume I, Volume II. Volume I includes a period in India from 1796 with the then 25th Light Dragoons. Volume II covers the period as Commander-in Chief in India 1825-1830.
• Pen and pencil sketches being the journal of a tour in India by Captain Mundy, late Aide-de-Camp to Lord Combermere 1832 Google Books Volume I, Volume II
• From Cadet to Colonel: the Record of a Life of Active Service by Sir Thomas Seaton 1866 Google Books Volume 1 He arrived in Calcutta on 1 January 1823 to join the Bengal Army Volume 2 includes the Indian Mutiny. The author retired 1 June 1859
• My service in the Indian Army – and after by General Sir John Luther Vaughan 1904 Archive.org. He joined the Bengal Army in 1841 and had to retire c 1870 as there was no position for him. At the start of the 2nd Afghan War he became special military correspondent for the war for The Times
• Narrative of the mutiny of the officers of the army in Bengal, in the year 1766 Sir Henry Strachey, 1773 Google Books
• "Baggage of the Indian Army" Calcutta Review, Volume 11 January-June 1849, page 445 Google Books
• Tom Raw, the Griffin: a burlesque poem, in twelve cantos: illustrated by twenty-five engravings, descriptive of the adventures of a cadet in the East India company's service, from the period of his quitting England to his obtaining a staff situtation in India by “a Civilian and an Officer on the Bengal Establishment” (Sir Charles D'Oyly) 1828 Archive.org
• Guide to the transliteration of Hindu and Muhammadan names in the Bengal Army by C J Lyall, Bengal Civil Service 3rd edition 1892 Archive.org