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The '''Madras European Foot Artillery''' were a division of the [[Madras Artillery]]. ==History of the Madras European Foot Artillery==From the earliest days of the [[East India Company|Company]], its Court of Directors sanctioned expenditure on a small number of European soldiers for the defence of its factories and establishments in India & South Asia. Land based military activity was limited to reasonable defence against local marauders and military adventures would have been suppressed by the local rulers who reported to the Mughal. Before the onset of the War of Austrian Succession in 1744, the Company sent out Major Charles Knipe to re-organize and command its forces in all India. He was based in [[Madras (City)|Madras]] which was the major factory in India at that time. Unfortunately, he died shortly after arrival and the vacuum that this caused left the embryonic [[Madras Army]] with no proper control. It is claimed that [[Fort St George]] possessed some 200 pieces of cannon in the early 1740s but with no one trained to fire them. It was thus of little surprise that the [[French]] army captured the fort after a [[Loss of Fort St George|short siege in September 1746]]. Upon his arrival at the Company’s second fortification, [[Fort St David]], in January 1748, the new commander, Major Stringer Lawrence, set about fortifying the place and training such artillery men that he found there to resist the [[Fort St David 1746-48|attacks of the besieging French]]. Fortunately, a relieving ‘Task Force’ from England, commanded by Admiral Boscawen, arrived at Fort St. David in July 1748 and included a full company of the [[Royal Artillery|Royal Regiment of Artillery]]. Following an [[Siege of Pondicherry 1748|inglorious siege]] of the nearby French stronghold of [[Pondicherry]], news arrived that the war in Europe had ended. The soldiers of the Royal Artillery, facing discharge and an uncertain future back in England, were offered employment as Artillerymen with the now fledgling Madras Army. This is taken as the foundation of the Madras Artillery. A number of individual Artillerymen who transferred to the Madras Artillery are identified in this [http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=721&s_id=221 FIBIS Search dataset]. They were well-trained professional artillerymen and able to train both other soldiers volunteering from the Task Force and further recruits trickling in from England. Until the demise of the Company’s Army in 1861, the Madras Artillery always had European Officers and European soldiers, except for the ‘Golundauze’ Battalion which employed Indian soldiers. == Chronology ==*'''1748''' raisedBuilding of Corps into a discrete unit*'''1753''' Establishment fixed by Court of Directors*'''1755''' First recognized by the East India Company as a distinct body*'''1765''' EIC agrees to an increase to 3 companies*'''1768''' 4th Company authorized by EIC*'''1774''' Headquarters moved to [[St Thomas' Mount]]*'''1796''' Formation into two battalions of five companies each.*'''1800''' Expansion to two battalions of seven companies each.*'''1805''' Addition of a European officered Native battalion (called ‘Golundauze’)*'''1824''' Increase to three battalions of five companies each plus a Golundauze battalion of seven companies*'''1844''' Increase to four battalions of five companies each plus a Golundauze battalion of seven companies*'''1857''' Increase of Golundauze battalion by two ‘supplementary companies.*'''181861''' Transfer of soldiers to Royal Artillery. ==Research sources==*FIBIS Guide No. 1 ''Researching Ancestors who Served in the East India Company Armies'' ([[Research guides reading list|further details]])*''"In Memoriam" - Officers of the Late Regiment of Madras Artillery from 1758 to 14th October, 1861, the Date of its Ceasing to Exist'' by Conductor EP Evans, Asylum Press, Madras 1867.*''A List of Officers who have Served in the Madras Artillery'' by Major J.H. Leslie, Leicester, 1900 (see FIBIS resources, below). ===Records===*Muster Lists for soldiers of the Madras Artillery exist in IOR/L/MIL/11- series exist from 1762 to 1861. ===FIBIS resources===*[http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=135&s_id=14 Transcription of Officers Service History, 1748 - 1861] from Leslie's ''List of Officers who have Served in the Madras Artillery''*[http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=721&s_id=221 Royal Regiment of Artillery 1747-1749], a list of Artillerymen from Major John Goodyere's Company who sailed to India in 1747 with Admiral Edward Boscawen's Fleet ==External links=====Historical books online===*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ikMIAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&client=firefox-a#v=onepage&q=&f=false ''History of the Services of the Madras Artillery' taken into British Army'] Vol 1, by Peter James Begbie, Madras 1852. There are three subsequent volumes.
[[Category:Madras Artillery Regiments]]
