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{{Template:Bengal Army}}

After the recapture of [[Calcutta]] in 1757, the Council of Madras ordered [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clive,_1st_Baron_Clive Robert Clive] to raise fighting units of [[sepoy|sepoys]] with officers from the [[Madras (Presidency)|Madras]] establishment. These units were called battalions, named after their commanding captains, and each comprised 42 Indian non-commissioned officers and 820 rank & file. They were originally numbered (as the [[British Army]]) with the 1st being the oldest and the highest number being the youngest. In 1764 the battalions were numbered according to the seniority of their captains and totalled 18 battalions. In 1765 the Bengal Army was divided into three brigades each with with one troop of cavalry, one company of artillery, one regiment of European infantry and seven battalions of native infantry.

In 1775 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Clavering_(British_Army_officer) General John Clavering], commander-in-chief, gave the units in the three brigades sequential numbers which changed the number of every battalion except the 21st. In 1778 six battalions from the 1st Brigade were sent to Bombay for the 1st Maratha War and six new battalions raised to replace them. Six battalions which had been raised under British officers for the Vizier of Oude were brought into HEIC service.

In 1781 every battalion was increased to 1,000 men and designated a regiment commanded by a major and consisting of two battalions under a captain. There was a further shuffling of numbers in 1783 and in 1786 the two battalions in each regiment were amalgamated and the strength reduced to 30 regiments. Contemporary accounts then tend to refer to the units again as battalions rather than regiments. Shortly thereafter the three brigades were changed to six each with one European battalion and six native battalions - total 36 native battalions.

The 36 battalions of the Native Infantry Establishment were condensed into 12 regiments of two battalions each. 12 units became 1st Battalion, 12 units became 2nd Battalion and twelve units were absorbed by both battalions of each regiment.

In 1824 the Native Infantry battalions were separated into 68 regiments. By the outbreak of the Mutiny these had increased to 74 regiments each composed of 10 companies of 100 privates, 2 native commissioned and 12 native non-commissioned officers. '''The numbering adopted in the lists found in the [[:Category:Bengal Infantry Regiments|Category page]] is generally that of 1824 with the addition of pages for those battalions which were disbanded before the 1824 reorganisation.'''

To find the chronology of any regiment in the Bengal Infantry between 1757 and 1861, refer to the [[Bengal Infantry Table]]. For simplicity the units are generally referred to as battalions before 1781 and regiments thereafter.