Courts-martial

Courts Martial could be General Courts Martial held for major offences or Regimental Courts Martial conducted by a commanding officer when offences were more minor. Commissioned officers were always subject to General Courts Martial.

Records

For Bengal, you can probably obtain a summary of the Court Martial proceedings in the General Orders by C-in-C Bengal in the L/MIL/17/2 series at the British Library, and similarly for the other Presidencies. (Unfortunately, these have not been microfilmed)

British Army Records of Courts Martial are held at The National Archives.

• For full details of Courts Martial and reports relating to General Courts Martial see the online research guide produced by the National Archives, British Army: Courts Martial, 17th-20th Centuries (Note there are separate references relating to Courts Martial held in India).
• (There are no similar records for minor offences handled by regimental courts martial – but mention of these may be found on a soldier’s record of service).

Details of Courts-Martial in India may also be found in annual directories such as The Asiatic Journal and Allen's Indian Mail. It is, therefore, recommended that a search also be made at Fibis Library or in any of the India related Newspapers and journals online

FIBIS resources

• General Orders by the Commander-in-Chief - transcriptions of 521 Court Martial proceedings in Madras (from L/MIL/17/3) that took place in the 1820s, 30s and 40s.
• FIBIS Journal 10, Autumn 2003 "Courts Martial in John Company's India and their help to the Genealogist".

See also

• Apothecaries
• 12th Regiment of Foot and 34th Regiment of Foot for examples of death as a result of a duel between fellow officers, which resulted in a court martial.

External links

• History of the British Courts Martial
• Court Martial Wikipedia, including info on the British and Indian armies.
• A hot night in Bengal. Circumstances leading to a court martial on the 1st of August 1840 of Gunner Shehan at Dinapore Wellcome Library Blog

Historical books online

• A collection of the charges, opinions, and sentences of general courts martial: as published by authority; from the year 1795 to the present time; intended to serve as an appendix to Tytler's Treatise on military law, and forming a book of cases and references; with a copious index by Charles James 1820. A search using the words Bengal, Madras, Bombay shows courts martial in India (The index was not accessible)
• The practice of courts-martial, also the legal exposition and military explanation of the Mutiny act, and articles of war by William Hough (1825), Google Books, Table of Contents, Index