Madras Sappers and Miners

The Madras Sappers and Miners were part of the Indian Army Engineer Soldier Corps comprised the three armies of the Presidencies :-

• The Bombay Sappers and Miners (1777;
• The Madras Sappers and Miners (1780)
• The Bengal Sappers and Miners (1803)

Not to be confused with The Madras Engineers being Engineers of one of the Honourable East India Company Armies. By the 1740’s each military administration of each presidency had its own cadre of British engineer officers, they were titled:-the Bombay Engineers, the Madras Engineers and the Bengal Engineers

The Madras Sappers and Miners originated from two companies of Pioneers raised in 1780 called the 'Madras Pioneers', which were expanded and titled 'Corps of Madras Pioneers' but was renamed the 'Corps of Madras Sappers and Miners' in 1831 . The senior Officers were British and the loosely organised military units were later combined into battalions with Indian officers commanding local troops. Officers were in the early years very conscious of the soldiers' local customs, caste rituals, dress, and social hierarchy.

Chronology

• 1780 raised as Madras Pioneers
• 1792 renamed Corps of Madras Pioneers
• 1831 renamed as Madras Sappers and Miners
• 1876 renamed Corps of Queen's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
• 1903 became 2nd Queen's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
• 1911 became 2nd Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
• 1923 became Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners
• 1932 merged with Bengal and Bombay Sappers to form the Corps of Indian Engineers
• 1941 became Queen Victoria's Own Sappers and Miners Group, Indian Engineers
• 1946 became Queen Victoria's Own Madras Group, Royal Indian Engineers
• 1832 merged with Bengal and Bombay Sappers to form the Corps of Indian Engineers
• 1947 half allocated to India on Partition and half to Pakistan
• 1950 Madras Centre, Corps of Engineers

Regimental history

• The Indian Sappers and Miners by E. W. C Sandes [Edward Warren Caulfeild] 1948. (726p). Covers the period from the pioneers in 1759 to the prelude to the Second World War. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011278725.

Now available online, refer below.

• A Short History of Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners during World War II, 1939-1945 by R A Lindsell, published 1947 at Bangalore. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01011833621 , and also at Imperial War Museums LBY 27278.

External links

• Pioneer Regiments in the Indian Army from Pioneer(military) Wikipedia
• Indian Sappers 1740-1947 - Royal Engineers Museum, previous website, now archived. Details of the Madras Engineers are included.
• Madras Engineer Group - Wikipedia
• Queen Victoria's Own Madras Sappers and Miners - www.regiments.org, an archived website.
• Madras Sappers - indiapicks.com
• Military Engineers in India in the 20th Century from Royal Engineers and Engineers of the British Empire and Commonwealth
• "Colin Mackenzie: Collector Extraordinary" by David M.Blake British Library Journal 1991 pages 128-150. Mackenzie was an officer in the Madras Engineers and had arrived in Madras in 1783. At the time of his death in 1821, he was Surveyor-General of India.
• From the Main Index of "A Newman Family Tree", select H E M Newman. He was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers on 19 December 1919 and posted to India in 1924 as an officer of the Madras Sappers and Miners. He was in India until 1929 and again in India and Burma 1936-1943. The site includes his Memoirs (152 pages pdf), the article Waziristan 1937-1939 ( 9 page pdf) by Lieut Colonel H E M Newman The Royal Engineer Journal Volume 95, number 2, 1984 and this html extract which covers parts of the period 1918-1946. The two latter links are included in the Memoirs.

Historical books online

• Historical Record 1877 by Lieutenant Colonel W.J.Wilson. 1877. Archive.org version, mirror from Digital Library of India. Full title Historical Record of the “Queen's Own” Sappers and Miners. Madras 1877

Historical Record Of The 2nd "Queens Own" Sappers and Miners from 1780 to 1909 by Lieut.-Colonel C H Roe, R E. c 1909. Archive.org, Digital Library of India Collection.

• The Military History of the Madras Engineers and Pioneers, from 1743 up to the present time by Major H M Vibart. Volume 1 1881. Volume 2 1883 Archive.org.
• The Indian Sappers and Miners by E. W. C Sandes [Edward Warren Caulfeild] 1948. (726p). nzsappers.org.nz. Covers the period from the pioneers in 1759 to the prelude to the Second World War.
• Twelve years' military adventure in three quarters of the globe: or, Memoirs of an officer who served in the armies of His Majesty and of the East India Company, between the years 1802 and 1814 Volume 1 by John Blakiston 1829 Volume 2. Google Books. He joined the Madras Engineers page 37 in 1802 and served until February 1812, including the 2nd Maratha War and the Expedition to Java in 1811.
• Journals of the Sieges of the Madras Army, in the years 1817, 1818, and 1819 by Edward Lake of the Madras Engineers 1825. Google Books

Plans and Views illustrating the Journals of the Sieges of the Madras Army, etc by Edward Lake, 1825. British Library Digital Collection.

• Reports, correspondence and original papers on various professional subjects connected with the duties of the Corps of Engineers, Madras Presidency, Volume 1 by John Thomas Smith 1839 Google Books
• Fifty years' reminiscences of India : a retrospect of travel, adventure and shikar by Colonel Pollok, [FitzWilliam Thomas Pollok] Madras Staff Corps 1896 Southeast Asia Visions Cornell University. Archive.org version. The author arrived in Madras in early 1849, and was posted to a Native Infantry Regiment. In 1853 he was appointed to the Sappers and Miners in Burma.
• Addiscombe, its heroes and men of note by Colonel H. M. Vibart 1894 Archive.org. Addiscombe was the East India Company Military Academy in England for the training of cadets for the Engineers, Artillery and Infantry.
• History of the Corps of Royal Engineers by Whitworth Porter 1889 Volume 1, Volume 2 Archive.org
• The Madras Soldier 1746-1946 by Lt.-Col. E G Phythian-Adams. Revised and enlarged edition 1947 Archive.org. Includes Chapter VI
  • Sappers and Miners page 148

References

Our grateful thanks to The Royal Engineers Museum and Library, Prince Arthur Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME4 4UG, England for permission to cite directly from their website. Some records on websites do not give clear distinctions between the ‘Sappers and Miners’ and the ‘Engineers’.