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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January 1766, the Company paid for its own army and, despite protestation from many of its officers, double batta was withdrawn.
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 ==
