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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, [[Stringer Lawrence|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.
