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Also from the mid-eighteenth century the [[Crown]] began to despatch regiments of the regular [[British Army]] to India to reinforce the Company’s armies. These troops are often referred to as ‘[[H.M.’s Regiments]]’ or ‘Royal regiments’.
Following the [[Indian Mutiny]] of 1857-58 and the consequent abolition of the East India Company, its [[European regiments]] were amalgamated in 1860 with the British Army, but its ‘Native’ regiments were not. The three separate [[Presidency Armies]] therefore continued to exist, and their European officers continued to be listed as members of the Bengal, Madras or Bombay Army rather than the [[British Army]]. However, the Presidency Armies began to be described collectively as the Indian Army. Another change resulting from the [[Indian Mutiny ]] was that henceforward artillery was confined to the British Army.
In the 1890s, the separate Presidency Armies were at last abolished and a fully unified Indian Army came into being, but as before its British officers were not members of the British Army, though as young [[subalterns]] they did serve for a year with a British Army regiment as part of their training before taking up their permanent commissions with their [[Indian Army]] regiment.
