Madras Sappers and Miners

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The Madras Sappers and Miners were part of the Indian Army Engineer Soldier Corps comprised the three armies of the Presidencies [1]:-


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 [2]


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 [1]. 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

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

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’.