Stations of British Army troops in India
Sources for locating the stations of British Army regiments, battalions or batteries in India.
See also:
Army stations are frequently listed in directories and publications such as The Army and Navy Gazette, the United Service Magazine and even some newspapers. These may be consulted online where available, refer Military periodicals online, or in national libraries. This article details some online sources that may provide significant shortcuts when it comes to finding regiments.
Nafziger Collection documents
The following table links to pdf documents from The Nafziger Collection of Orders of Battle which are derived from sources such as The Army and Navy Gazette.
Please note that some years do not contain information relating to the Royal Artillery.
Although there does not appear to be any information relating to British troops in India after 1904 on the Nafziger Collection website, there is information available prior to 1862. The Nafziger Collection website says "Download the collection's Finding Aid (pdf format) to assist in navigating the titles available for viewing".
It appears best to use the binoculars icon to search the Finding Aid. The search facility seems designed so that the words you enter only are found if they are next to each other, so you will need to use just one word such as India, or use phrases which are title headings such as Stations of British Troops in India, (not Stations India) (available 1836-1904), British Regiments Serving in India, (available 1816-1835), Distribution of the British Army (available 1836-1868, 1872, 1899-1903) Stations of the British Army (available 1869-1904). The latter two titles include British troops in India.
Afghanistan 1878-1882
- Regiments, Battalions, Batteries, &c Serving in Afghanistan, 1878 -1881
- Distribution of the South Afghanistan Field Force, 14 January 1879
- Strength and Distribution of the Southern Afghanistan Field Force 16 May 1879
- 2nd (Khyber) Division North Afghanistan Field Force, September 1879
- Troops Warned for Movement to Afghanistan, 14 December 1879
- Strength of the Kabul Field Force 31 December 1879
- British Troops in the Kurram District, Afghanistan, April 1880
- British Garrisons in Afghanistan, 30 June 1880
- Distribution of Troops on Line of Communication in Afghanistan 30 June 1880
- British Forces in Afghanistan, 10th August 1880
- British Forces in Southern Afghanistan Assigned to the Relief of Kandahar 17 August 1880
- British Forces in Southern Afghanistan, 24 August 1880
- Stations of 1st & 2nd Divisions of the Southern Afghanistan Field Force 30 October 1880
- British Garrisons in Afghanistan, 31 March 1882
- Distribution of Troops on Line of Communications in Afghanistan 31 March 1882
1867-1876
1867-1874
Pages from various Army Medical Department: Report for the Year.. See Military periodicals online - Army Medical Department Report. The tables include information for "Stations during the Year". Google Books, Archive.org, Hathi Trust Digital Library
| 1867 * | 1868 * | 1869
- |
1870 | 1871 | 1872 | 1873 | 1874 |
* Pages require rotation.
1871-1876
From the publication Vital statistics of India. Vol. IV, Annual returns from 1871 to 1876. British Army of India, Native Army and jails of Bengal from the National Library of Scotland’s online collection “Medical History of British India”.
Details of the number of soldiers are also included.
Information is provided at the end of June for each year, during the summer, so some regiments are at hill station cantonments.
Note: pdf links may be slow to open.
| 1871 (file page 72) | 1872 (file page 204) | 1873 (file page 336) | 1874 (file page 466) | 1875 (file page 592) | 1876 (file page 722) |
| 1871 (file page 73) | 1872 (file page 205) | 1873 (file page 337) | 1874 (file page 467) | 1875 (file page 593) | 1876 (file page 723) |
1911 England and Wales Census
This National Archives catalogue entry shows the regiments in India which were included in the 1911 Census. The items (17 in total) are RG 14/34978-34992, 34995, 34997. It appears that there were additional regiments in India at the time which are not included in the list, so the census is not complete for British Army regiments, or British Army personnel in India. Search the 1911 census data, free to search, but a pay site to view data.
Great War Forum thread by Black Sapper (Peter Holden) 1911 Census for Military – Overseas contains pdf links to 1911 Overseas Military Census data on Ancestry.com, including that for India, in post 13. Note the pdf images are only available to logged in members of GWF. To actually access the information in the pdf files, you must be logged in to Ancestry.com, a pay site.
Other sources
- Indian portion of In Search of Forlorn Hope by John M Kitzmiller - lists the location/year of all British regiments that served in India and related regions. Locations given can be quite general.
- "Her Majesty’s British Forces in the Bengal and North-Western Provinces, corrected to 1st July 1859" from The Quarterly Army List of Her Majesty's British and Indian Forces on the Bengal Establishment corrected to 5 July 1859 Google Books
- Location of British Army Infantry and Cavalry Regiments 1878-1891 Remembering The Past. There are references to Regiments in India
- The British Army 1902 by Graham E.Watson from Orbat.com html version, original pdf version Select pages 6 and 7 of the document for India.