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[[Robert Clive|Lord Robert Clive]], Governor-General of India, commenced his third tour of duty in [[Bengal]] in April 1765. It will be recalled that, at the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757, Clive had assisted Mir Jaffar to displace the usurper, Siraj-ud-Dowlah, as Nawab of Bengal. In gratitude, Mir Jaffar had granted the [[East India Company]] – and Clive himself - many privileges. These included the payment of the costs and expenses of the Company’s [[Bengal Army]]. During the course of 1765, the two concluded a final agreement whereby the Company would control and receive revenues ([[diwani]]) from a very large area of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. In exchange, the Company would itself assume responsibility for paying its Bengal Army.
It was customary in India to pay soldiers, garrisoned or on field service away from the Presidency, an allowance, supposedly to cover their extra costs of living. Although this allowance, called ‘batta’ was originally meant to be a privilege, it was commonly considered a right and complaints and disputes about it were frequent in all three of the Company’s Armies. To curry favour with the officers of the Bengal Army, Mir Jaffar had been allowing them ‘double batta’. Now, from 1st January 1766, the Company paid for its own army and, despite protestation from many of its officers, double batta was withdrawn.
::b. IOR Mss Euro E231, K16. ''Letters to Harry Verelst, President of the Bengal Council''. <br></ref> However, nowhere seems there to be a list of those officers involved and one must conclude that the omission or removal was deliberate.
The Council in Madras received Clive’s letter of 1st May on 28th May. They immediately set about the difficult task of complying with his request. The Commander-in-Chief of the [[Madras Army]], [[John Caillaud|General John Caillaud]], himself at some four days from Madras, eventually proposed a reduction of the number of Companies of European soldiers and increasing the size of each. This would release, for loan to Bengal, a total of 65 officers, including three named non-commissioned officers who were given commissions: Quartermasters of Cavalry Nairn (Ensign) and Pattison (Cadet), plus Serjeant-Major Dunn (Cadet). McGowan receives no mention. Additionally, three un-named sergeants were sent to Calcutta in charge of 3 corporals, 2 drummers and 62 privates as a general support for Clive. It is possible that McGowan was one of these sergeants.
The total number of resignations offered has been variously calculated at just short of 200. Without losing face, Clive found reasons to permit many of his officers to be re-accepted into service. The names of the officers concerned do not appear to have been officially recorded at the time or, if they were, which was likely, they seem subsequently to have been expunged. In 1773 Henry Strachey, Secretary to Clive during the mutiny, was commissioned to report on it to the House of Commons Select Committee, and summoned to give evidence.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=iQ8NAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Henry+Strachey&lr=&as_brr=0#PPP7,M1 "Narrative of the Mutiny of the Officers of the Army of Bengal in the Year of 1766" written by Henry Strachey Esq., Secretary to Lord Clive during his last Expedition to India and lately given in Evidence to the Secret Committee of the House of Commons. London 1773]. IOR Mss. Euro F128/152 </ref> This document, of some 172 pages, includes several copies of correspondence relevant to the orders and activity of the Bengal Army in 1766. Again, apart from reference to the leading players such as Clive, Carnac and Fletcher, no single officer is named.
The recognized authority on the services of Officers of the Bengal Army, from its inception until 1834, was Major V.C.P. Hodson.<ref>'Officers of the Bengal Army, 1758-1834''” by Major V.C.P. Hodson, Published by Constable & Co. 4 Vols. between 1927 and 1947. </ref> His well-researched four-volume work gives a synopsis of the background, career and war services of almost every officer that served and is accepted as the cardinal reference on the subject. That his researches indicate no systematic list of the mutineers supports the hypothesis that such was probably destroyed. However, analysis of Hodson’s work provides the names of 82 officers, whom are recorded as ‘definitely’, ‘probably’ or ‘possibly’ having resigned during the Batta Mutiny. All but very few are reported as having been re-admitted, mostly within the six months before the end of 1766. Although the devious Sir Robert Fletcher was eventually exposed as the Mutiny’s chief instigator, and sent for Court Martial, even he was re-admitted!
==Recommended Reading==For those interested to read a detailed account of the Batta Mutiny, Strachey’s ‘Narrative’ is recommended. Further, a (See link to online edition in Historical Books section below) ==FIBIS Resources==*A detailed list of the 82 mutineers identified by Hodson, plus a list of officers sent to [[Bengal]] from [[Madras]], are both available on the [http://www.fibis.org/ web-site of the Families in British India Society, http://www.search.fibis.org:]**[httphttps://www.searchfibis.fibisourarchives.org/frontisonline/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=394&s_id=0 1303 Officers of the Bengal Army Serving at the time of serving in May 1766 during the 'Batta Mutiny in May 1766]**[httphttps://wwwfibis.searchourarchives.fibis.org/frontisonline/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=395&s_id=0 1304 Officers of the Madras Army Sent to Bengal from Madras during the 'to Supprort Lord Clive - Batta Mutiny 1766]*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9IXpsX_qVo FIBIS Podcast -The Batta Mutiny of 1766']Lecture given by FIBIS Chairman, Peter Bailey, at a FIBIS open meeting describing The Batta Mutiny of 1766 and how Alistair MacGowan’s ancestor, John McGowan, was given his first Commission in the Bengal Army. (Fibis channel on youtube)
== Historical books on-line ==
