The 107th Pioneers were an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. Their origin can be traced back to 1788, when they were raised as the 4th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys. The regiments first action was in the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Angl ...

. They also took part in the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the final conflict of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured ...

being at the two major battles the

Battle of Seedaseer The Battle of Seedaseer was a battle of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on 6 March 1799 at Seedaseer (near present-day Siddapura, Karnataka), a hill and pass on the border of the Coorg and Mysore country seven miles from Piriyapatna and with a view ...

and the

Battle of Seringapatam A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and for ...

. Their next action was at Beni Boo Ali against pirates in Eastern

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

region led the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

to carry out a

punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beh ...

in 1819 to

Ras al Khaimah Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain ...

which destroyed the pirate base and removed the threat from the Persian Gulf. They were also part of the forces involved in the annexation of Burma in the

Second Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Em ...

. In 1903 they were part of the British force in the Somaliland campaign. After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. In 1922, the 107th Pioneers became the 1st Battalion

2nd Bombay Pioneers The 2nd Bombay Pioneers was a regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was formed in 1922, when the infantry of the Indian Army moved from single battalion to multi battalion regiments. They were renamed The Corps of Bombay Pioneers in 19 ...

, which was disbanded for reasons of economy in 1933.Boris Mollo, page163 "The Indian Army", Blandford Press 1981,

Genealogy

*4th Battalion, Bombay Sepoys - 1788. *1st Battalion, 4th Bombay Native Infantry - 1796. *7th Bombay Native Infantry - 1824. *7th Bombay Infantry - 1885. *7th Bombay Infantry (Pioneers) - 1900. *107th Pioneers - 1903. *1st Battalion,

- 1922 until disbandment (1933).

References

Bibliography

* * * * *Moberly, F.J. (1923). ''Official History of the War: Mesopotamia Campaign'', Imperial War Museum. British Indian Army infantry regiments Military history of the Madras Presidency Military units and formations established in 1788 1788 establishments in British India {{BritishIndia-mil-stub