East India Company Army

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Overview

The East India Company maintained a formidable army in each of its three Presidencies. Although there was a military presence in each Presidency beforehand, the Company established formal armies following the French capture of Fort St George (Madras) during the War of Austrian Succession in 1746. These armies grew over the next hundred years until the renowned ‘Indian Mutiny’ (1857-59). After the Mutiny, the India Act of 1858 of the English parliament, decreed the dissolution of these armies. Its European soldiers were given the option either of transferring to the British Army or of discharge with a bounty and shipment back to Europe. About 50 percent selected each option. The mutinous native regiments were disbanded but those few, who remained loyal to the British, plus loyal native irregular units, formed the basis of the new ‘Indian Army’, which continued until Independence

The three Presidency armies were quite distinct from each other and operated independently. More information can be found on their respective articles:

Samuel Hickson who was in India 1777-1785 wrote in his Diary about the fact that very few soldiers of the East India Company Armies returned to Britain, and lists the reasons: disease, the good provisions made by the Company relating to age and incapacity, the bounty paid on renewal of service, and family ties.

"I know that in England an opinion prevails of this country being extremely unhealthy this takes foundation in a great measure from the very few of those that enter into the Company’s service that ever return to England, but this must not be attributed to the climate alone, many other reasons concern to prevent the return of the majority of soldiers. I shall name the principal. The climate must be acknowledged as one reason as most people after their arrival are attacked with the bloody flux, after their recovery from which, I don’t see but people who do not destroy their constitution by intemperance generally enjoy their health as well as in Europe. But intemperance in a variety of ways destroys thousands of its unhappy votaries; first Drinking is carried to such an excess as is hardly credible… The fatal effects of venereal disorders are only to be conceived by those who have been in hot climates and seen the many wretched spectacles it occasions;…

Another principle reason for the smallness of the numbers who return to their Native Country is the good provisions the Company makes for those who by age, sickness, wound or any other means are rendered incapable of service in the field; if they are not so disabled but can mount guard now and then, they are put into some garrison where they receive their full pay & generally get a little house of their own, with a yard and garden and keep Hogs, Fowls, Ducks etc. and pass the latter part of their lives in peace and ease…

These considerations (with the further inducement of 25 Pagodas bounty which the Company allows at the expiration of every 5 years to those who renew their time) induces most people to stay in the Country who have not some particular reasons for returning, for here they are sure of a provision in age sickness or any other situation which may render them incapable of procuring their own livelihood. Another reason which detains great numbers here is the engagement with the female (not the fair) sex. Many people who on their first coming here profess the strongest determination of returning home, before their 5 years is expired have a wife and children: and great numbers of those who do not marry keep women and have large families of children and very few of those who ever enter into any of these engagements ever think of going home afterwards." [1]

FIBIS resources

Part 1 FIBIS Journal Number 17 (Spring 2007) Part 2 FIBIS Journal Number 22 (Autumn 2009)
Refer FIBIS Journals for details of how to access these Journals

Records

FIBIS Research Guide

Researching ancestors in the East India Company's Armies by Peter Bailey Families in British India Society, 2006. (FIBIS research guide; 1)

This is the essential handbook for anyone researching ancestors who were connected to the HEIC Armies of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. It covers records from the armies' origins until their assimilation into the British Army in 1860. Laid out in a clear and accessible manner, the book directs searchers to records on all available stages of a man's career, whether officer or soldier, including sources which may provide details on his wife and children. For those researchers not fortunate enough to have access to the India Office Records at the British Library, the LDS film numbers are included. A full review by Richard Scott Morel, Archivist of Pre-1858 India Office Records, is available on pp. 45-46 of the FIBIS Journal 17 (Spring 2007)

Purchase a copy from the FIBIS Online Shop

India Office records at the British Library

Also see the individual pages for the three Presidency Armies, mentioned above

The British Library’s "Search our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts" Search by name.

British Library’s Help for Researchers: European Officers

Records include Cadet Papers IOR/L/MIL/9/107-253 1789-1860. Cadet Papers up to about c 1805, may comprise nothing more than a baptism certificate or father's declaration of date of birth.
See Application for Cadetships, in FIBIS resources above, available on the FIBIS database.

Embarkation records

Books and Articles

"Irishmen in the East-India Company Army" by Peter Bailey in Irish Family History-Journal of the Irish Family History Society Volume 17, 2001 page 84

Other

The National Army Museum, London has a card index, mainly in respect of East India Company Army Officers

Wives and children

Marriages between EIC soldiers and Anglo Indians or Native women, the allowances paid to wives and the army records kept regarding these wives are discussed in "Haemoglobin D (B Punjab) in an East Anglian Family", The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 95, No. 2 (Jul. - Dec., 1965), pp. 295-306. The article (including an extract) and its implications are the subject of this archived India List thread. The article may be read online on the subscription website JSTOR. Some card holders of participating libraries may have access, refer Miscellaneous tips. Also available at the British Library

See also

External Links

  • Presidency Armies Wikipedia
  • British East India Company Armies Wikipedia
  • Army and Civil Service Wikipedia. Gives strengths of the Presidency armies in 1796, 1806 and 1857.
  • This India List thread is about the difference between “Rank in Regiment” and “Rank in Army”
  • This India List thread is about the fact that commissions and ranks were not purchased within the East India Company Armies. However one possible exception is mentioned.
  • This India List post discusses some of the advantages of joining the East India Company’s Armies, rather than the British Army, as does this further India List post .It lists a number of the various types of Sergeants to be found on the Madras 'Effective Supernumeries' and advises these were positions of significant importance and standing.
  • The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle from the Combined Arms Research Library of the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth Kansas. Contain a PDF catalogue document for the 7000 PDF documents in the collection. The files relating to India are mainly in respect of location of regiments of the British Army, but there does appear to be some limited information in respect of the location of East India Company Army regiments. For hints about the Finding Aid, see British Army-Locating a regiment
  • A helpful website which has closed is regiments.org, here are pages from the archived site at January 2008 An overview of the South Asian Armies page, Alphabetic Index, South Asia page and Numeric index, South Asia page
  • The Cadet and Staff Registers of the Sandhurst Collection. The registers show the details for almost every officer cadet that attended the Royal Military Academy Woolwich and Royal Military College Sandhurst, England
  • Babes in Arms by Hedley Sutton 13 August 2013 British Library Untold lives blog. 'Minor cadets'. The term relates to a practice which flourished very briefly in India in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when young boys, including babies, were appointed as cadets.

Historical books on-line

References

  1. ↑ "Diary of Samuel Hickson 1777-1785" in Bengal Past and Present, Volume 49, Part 1 1935, pages 28-30 (computer pages 35-37) which is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.

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