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 held at The National Archives.

• WO71, = Records relating to Individual Trials of Officers.
• WO91 & W092 Records relating to General Court Martial Reports. (1806-1960)
• WO93/1A = Index to WO91 & WO92. (1806-1833)
• WO93/1B= Index to Trials of Officers (1830-1904)
• WO88 = Registers of General courts martial in India 1878-1945.

(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).

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.

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