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The '''British Army''' is the land-based forces of the United Kingdom. The British Army was heavily involved in Imperial affairs in India and most regiments (both infantry and cavalry) served in India at some point. Throughout the nineteenth century, and into the twentieth century, a significant number of British troops were stationed at India at any one time. In 1847, for instance, around 20% of British Army regiments were on the sub-continent, while at the outbreak of the First World War, around 30% of the British Army was based in India.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/worldwarshortacc00fieb#page/2/mode/2up Page 3] ''The world war; a short account of the principal land operations on the Belgian, French, Russian, Italian, Greek and Turkish fronts'' by Colonel G J Fiebeger 1921 Archive.org.</ref> The General staff were supported by the Staff Corps and the Office of the [[Quarter Master General]].
Up until the early 1860s, a British man, or man of British descent could also be a soldier/officer in one of the [[Presidency Armies]]in India. These were separate from the British Army, instead consisting of regiments formed by the [[East India Company]] and under their control. Many men from those Armies then transferred to the British Army, so if you have a reference to a man in the British Army in India in the 1860s, he may well be one of those who transferred. You may be able to locate him in the records of either the [[Bengal Army]], [[Madras Army]], or [[Bombay Army]].
==Regiments==
There are also reference books from the Military Department Library relating to the British Army '''IOR/L/MIL/17/1''' ([http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=059-iorlmil_8-2_1&cid=1-1-1#1-1-1 catalogue entry]), including Army Lists for the British Army, apart from publications specifically relating to the British Army in India.
Up until the early 1860s, a British man, or man of British descent could be a soldier/officer in one of the [[Presidency Armies]] in India. These were separate from the British Army, instead consisting of regiments formed by the [[East India Company]] and under their control. Many men from those Armies then transferred to the British Army, so if you have a reference to a man in the British Army in India in the 1860s, he may well be one of those who transferred. You may be able to locate him in the records of one of the Presidency Armies, which are to be found at the British Library, see [[Presidency Armies]] for an overview, and [[Bengal Army]], [[Madras Army]], or [[Bombay Army]] for details.
===Ecclesiastical returns===
