Ordnance Department

The Ordnance Department was the part of the military responsible for the supply of weapons and ammunition. It appears that, at least in Bengal, it was also responsible for the Stud Department.

In the days of the EIC, it was part of the Town Major's List (Bengal & Bombay) and Effective Supernumeraries (Madras). Initially part of the Unattached List (B) in the Indian Army, it became the Indian Army Ordnance Department in 1884 and was headed by the Commissariat General - Ordnance and then became the Indian Army Ordnance Corps in 1922.

History of the Ordnance Department

In 1775 the East India Company established the 'Board of Ordnance' at Fort William, in Calcutta. In 1787 a gunpowder factory was established at Ishapore which started production in 1791. In 1801 a 'Gun Carriage Agency' was set up at Cossipore that started production in 1802. In 1906 the administration of Indian Ordnance factories came under the 'Inspector General of Ordnance Factories'. This changed again in 1936 to the 'Director of Ordnance Factories .

The following Ordnance Factories have been identified as having railways (see separate pages for more information):-

• Cossipore, Gun and Shell Factory
• Calcutta, Dum Dum Gun Carriage Factory
• Cawnpore, Field Gun Factory
• Jubblepore, Gun Carriage Factory

Also the following Arsenals and Ordinance Depots:-

• Quetta Arsenal
• Chheoki, Central Ordinance Depot

FIBIS resources

• "John Braddock- Powder Master" by Sylvia Murphy FIBIS Journal Number 28 (Autumn 2012) pages 25-31. John Braddock arrived in Madras in 1813. See FIBIS Journals for details of how to access this article.

Also see

• Conductors
• Unattached List
• Cossipore, the location of a gun factory
• Dum Dum, the location of an ammunition factory
• Ishapore, the location of a gunpowder factory, and later a rifle factory

Occupations

Carnatic Ordnance Artificers

In June 1821, the Governor in Council authorised the formation of a corps of Carnatic Ordnance Artificers, to be recruited from the sons of Europeans born in India and to be enlisted as European soldiers. They were to come from the Orphan Asylum, the fort school, and from other charitable institutions. One of the reasons for the establishment was the desirability of providing suitable employment for a portion of the Eurasian (mixed race) population. The Corps was attached to the Gun Carriage Manufactory

An artificer, or artifier, has the general meaning of craftsman, and the meanings also include ‘A military mechanic, as a blacksmith, carpenter, etc.; also, one who prepares the shells, fuses, grenades, etc., in a military laboratory’ and 'A member of the military who specializes in manufacturing and repairing weapon systems' (Carnatic is a term for South India, and refers to Madras Presidency)

Civil Chief Master Armourer

They appear to be persons who went around inspecting weapons in places which held them, such as police stations and prisons. ‪

Articles about the stud farm at Pusa

• "The Origin of "the Pusa Experiment" : The East India Company and Horse-Breeding in Bengal, 1793-1808" by Garry John Adler. Bengal Past & Present, 98 (1979), 10-32. Publisher: Calcutta Historical Society.
• "A government stud farm [1798-1811] in the days of the company bahadur" by R A Addington Cavalry Journal Issue No 18, 1928.

External links

• Army Ordinance Corps indiapicks.com
• "Technology Transfer And The Evolution Of Ordnance Establishment In British-India: 1639-1856" by Kaushik Roy Indian Journal of History of Science, 44.3 (2009) 411-433.

Historical books online

• Strength, Organisation and Composition of the Army of Great Britain, Martin Petrie (1864) gives details of the Ordnance Department factories, pp164-167.
• The Ordnance Department Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume  4, page 362. Mentions the various factories.
• Page 187 ‪Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command‬, Volume 24, Part 2 East India (Education) II- Madras 1859, session 2. This report refers to the attempt made by Lieutenant Braddock in 1830 to improve Carnatic Ordnance Artificers by theoretical instruction.