Bengal Artillery

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Bengal Artillery
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East India Company Army

For the volunteer force formed in 1925, see Bengal Artillery (AFI).

The Bengal Artillery, part of the Bengal Army, consisted of:

• Bengal Horse Artillery
• Bengal European Foot Artillery
• Bengal Native Foot Artillery
• Punjab Horse Artillery, Punjab Irregular Force

The Bengal Artillery were the first artillery in India to be tractor drawn.

FIBIS resources

• "Looking for Gunner Hurley in India" by Malcolm Hurley Mills and Lawrie Butler

Part 1 FIBIS Journal Number 17 (Spring 2007) Part 2 FIBIS Journal Number 22 (Autumn 2009)

• "The Walsh Family and the Cawnpore Massacre" by Paddy Walsh FIBIS Journal Number 31 (Spring 2014) pages 3-15.

William Walsh joined the Bengal Artillery in 1834, as a married man, and was a pensioned Sergeant of the Artillery , working for the East Indian Railway at the time of the massacre.

Refer FIBIS Journals for details of how to access these Journals.

Chronology

• 1749 first company raised
• 1756 company perished in the Black Hole of Calcutta
• 1765 re-formed with four companies
• 1770 fifth company raised and the five companies formed into a battalion of total complement 548 Europeans plus 2912 Lascars employed hauling the guns
• 1778 re-formed into one European Regiment (7 field and 1 mounted or garrison company) and three Native battalions (8 companies each)
• 1779 re-formed into 2 European battalions of 5 companies with 6 companies of Lascars to each company
• 1787 Artillery constituted as one of the brigades of the Army
• 1801 draught horses used for the first time instead of bullocks for field artillery; formation of the Horse Artillery

All sepoy artillery units were abolished after the Indian Mutiny and the European battalions became part of the Royal Artillery. In 1862 the Bengal Artillery was absorbed into the Royal Artillery as the 16th, 19th, 24th and 25th Brigades.

British Library

• Explore the British Library indicates many catalogued resources on the subject of the Bengal Artillery.

Uniform

• Uniform - Blue
• Facings - Scarlet
• Badge - Same as Royal Artillery

Related Articles

• Courts-martial

External links

• "The History of 9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery" Royal Artillery Historical Society Spring Meeting 19th April 2007. Now an archived webpage (Word version), (a download to your computer, to a downloads folder, which must then be opened). This regiment was originally part of the Bengal Artillery. army.mod.uk/documents/general
• Images from Brown University Library Digital Repository.
  • Gunner, Bengal Artillery 1820. 4th in collection of 5 unsigned original gouache paintings on mica, "Bengal Native Army".
  • Gunner, Bengal Artillery 1820. 5th in collection of 5 unsigned original gouache paintings on mica, "Bengal Native Army".
  • Segt. Saml. Shaw B.H.A. 1840 pen and ink sketch.
  • Cabul Monument and Mass House, Head Quarters, Bengal Artillery, Dum Dum. 1845. Edmund Walker, artist. With memorial wording at the foot of the image. Possibly title should read Mess House.
  • Bengal Horse Artillery, H.E.I.C.S., 1845 Original gouache drawing signed and dated 1889 by J. C(harlton).
  • Bengal Horse Artillery officer and troops, c. 1845 watercolour.
  • Bengal Foot Artillery 1846 One of a collection of 4 original watercolour sketches and 1 final watercolour signed by H. M(artens), for Ackermann's Costumes of the Indian Army.
  • 1846. Bengal Foot Artillery Officer. Undress 1903, artist Charles Lyall (CL).
  • 1846. Bengal Foot Artillery. Officer. Undress 1903, artist Charles Lyall (CL).
  • 1846. Bengal Foot Artillery Officer 1903, artist Charles Lyall (CL).
  • 1846. Bengal Horse Artillery. Trooper 1903, artist Charles Lyall (CL).
  • 1846. Bengal Horse Artillery officer 1903, artist Charles Lyall (CL).
  • Bengal Horse Artillery 1850 One of a collection of 4 watercolours signed by L.E.G.

Historical books online

• "Memoir of Colonel Thomas Deane Pearse of the Bengal Artillery, containing numerous, and interesting extracts from his original correspondence, connected with some of the most important events in the Government of India" The British Indian Military Repository, Volume 1, 1822, and Volume 2, 1823 He was appointed Major in 1768

Part 1, Volume 1, page 1, Part 2, Volume 1, page 153, Part 3, Volume 2, page 1, Part 4, Volume 2, page 249 Google Books

• Letters from the Island of Teneriffe, Brazil, the Cape of Good Hope, and the East Indies by Mrs. Kindersley 1777 Archive.org. The letters from India commence with Letter 18 in Pondicherry June 1765 and conclude with letter 67 from Calcutta in 1768. Jemima Kindersley, (1741-1809). Wife of Lieutenant Nathaniel Kindersley (1732–1769) of the Royal Artillery and later, from 27 July 1764, Captain in the East India Company's Bengal Artillery.

The Travel Letters of Mrs. Kindersley, transcriptions from the book. travel-letters.org. Note: Only the first page of the letter is displayed, click on the image for a full transcription.

• "Obituary: The late Major-General Thomas Hardwicke, H E I C Service" died March 1835. Appointed Lieutenant Fire-Worker of Artillery, Bengal in 1778. Pages 529-530, ‪The United Service Journal‬, Part 1 1835. Google Books
• A narrative of the sufferings of James Bristow, ... during ten years captivity with Hyder Ally and Tippoo Saheb by James Bristow of the Bengal Artillery 1793 Google Books
• The murder of Staff- Serjeant Peter Malcolm by Serjeant Bryan Smith at Kurnal on 23rd December 1829. 3rd Company, 1st Battalion Artillery. Page 368 Precedents in Military Law by W Hough Lieut-Col EICS, 1855 Google Books
• Journal of a March from Delhi to Peshawur, and from thence to Cabul, with the Mission of Lieut-Col. Sir C. M. Wade, etc. [With plates] by William Barr, Lieutenant, Bengal Horse Artillery. 1844 Google Books. Covers the period December 1838 to December 1839.
• Standing Orders for the Regiment of Artillery [Bengal Artillery], 2nd edition corrected to August 1845, may be read online on the Digital Library of India website. Contents, book file page 8
• "The Bengal Artillery", article in the Calcutta Review Volume 9, January-June 1848.
• Memoir of the Services of the Bengal Artillery: from the Formation of the Corps to the Present Time, with Some Account of its Internal Organization by Captain E. Buckle (1852) www.archive.org
• Artillery Tables-Siege and Field, for service and practice, &c.; with laboratory course of instructions. Compiled and revised in the office of the Permanent Select Committee of Artillery Officers, Dum-Dum 1853 Google Books
• History of the Organization, Equipment, and War Services of the Regiment of Bengal Artillery by Francis W Stubbs, Major, Royal (late Bengal) Artillery [at 1877].

War Services: Volume I published 1877. Google Books version; HathiTrust Digital Library version where maps can be rotated.

War Services, Volume II, published 1877. Covers the period from 1814. Archive.org version; HathiTrust Digital Library version.

Volume III. published 1895, covers the period from the 1st Afghan War to the Indian Mutiny, with chapters on Organisation and Equipment. Panjab Digital Library version; Google Books version. Probably Public Domain in USA and similar areas.

• List of officers who have served in the regiment of the Bengal Artillery : with tables of successive establishments, roll of the Victoria Cross, and stations of troops and companies : from its first formation down to its absorption into the Imperial list Compiled by Major-General F W Stubbs, Retired List Royal, late Bengal Artillery. 1892 HathiTrust Digital Library
• See the page Henry Lawrence who was an officer in the Bengal Artillery during the early years of his career.
• Page 129 (digital page 161) Chapter VIII Annals of two extinct families of the eighteenth century (Von Lüders and Light) : with some account of their vicisitudes in Hamburg, Bath, the East Indies, British Guiana, and Canada by John Alexander Temple 1910. FamilySearch Digital Library. Note, you must be signed in to FamilySearch to view this book. This chapter is about Alfred Light, Bengal Artillery, from 11 June 1842, and his part in the Indian Mutiny, and subsequent career to 1878, retiring as Major-General. Light is also mentioned, with a photograph, Page 15 of Sir Evelyn Wood's 1908 book, The Revolt in Hindustan, 1857-59 Archive.org.