Madras Native Infantry

The Madras Native Infantry was frequently reorganized and renumbered.
To find a particular unit in a particular year refer to the Madras Infantry Finder.
The Madras Regiment was the first unit raised by the East India Company.

Chronology

• 1748 Madras Levies raised by Major Stringer Lawrence for the defence of Cuddalore
• 1758 two Madras Battalions under British officers formed by Robert Clive to reorganise the 3,000 men with Indian officers in the Madras Presidency Army
• 1759 four more battalions formed
• 1767 total strength 19 battalions known as Coast Sepoys. Each battalion consisted of 10 companies with 15 non-commissioned officers and 100 rank and file each - about 22,000 fighting men.
• 1769 the battalions became 13 Carnatic Battalions in the north and 6 Circar Battalions in the south of the Presidency
• 1784 all became Madras Battalions with the Carnatic having precedence.
• 1796 Madras Infantry established consisting of 11 regiments of two battalions each.
• 1824 reversion to 50 single battalion regiments rising to 52 in 1826.
• 1857 no Madras regiments mutinied.
• 1882 downsizing in preceding years brought the number of regiments down to 32 each with 8 companies of 90 other ranks.
• 1890 from this year until 1903 17 Madras regiments were converted to Punjab or Gorkha regiments
• 1895 the Presidency armies were abolished and the official British Indian Army created.

External Links

Historical Books Online

• Military reminiscences: extracted from a journal of nearly forty years' active service in the East Indies Volume 1 by Colonel James Welsh of the Madras Establishment 1830. Google Books. See page 14.

Other

• Madras Infantry Regiments 1824-61 Google Books
• Madras Regiment - Wikipedia
• Regimental Website - madrasregiment.org
• Regiments War Museum - www.indianetzone.com