The 61st Pioneers were an infantry regiment of the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...

. They trace their origins to, when they were raised as the 1st Battalion Coast Sepoys.

History

The regiment took part in the

Carnatic Wars The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved n ...

in 1746–1763 and then 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 Anglo- ...

. 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 ...

they took part in 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 ...

, 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 force ...

, the

Battle of Nagpore 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 force ...

, the

Battle of Ava 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 force ...

. They were next in action during the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

in the Central India Campaign. Their next campaigns were outside India when they took part in the

Second Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

, 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 ...

and the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

they were part of the

9th (Secunderabad) Division The 9th (Secunderabad) Division was an infantry division formation of the British Indian Army. It was part of the Southern Army and was formed in 1904 after Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909. He i ...

in the 27th Bangalore Brigade. This brigade served away from its parent division and served in

British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Britai ...

as part of the

Indian Expeditionary Force B The Indian Army during World War I was involved World War I. Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom 62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total at least 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war. In World War I the ...

. After returning to India they took part in the

Third Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...

Indian soldiers wait to embark for East Africa

After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.Sumner p.15 In , the 61st Pioneers now became the 1st Battalion 1st Madras Pioneers, which was disbanded in 1933. 2nd Bn 61st King Georges Own Pioneers British Indian Army - Khyber Pass - 1919 - NAM 1983-12-4-45

2nd Bn 61st King Georges Own Pioneers British Indian Army - Khyber Pass - 1919 - NAM 1983-12-4-45

Lineage

*1st Battalion Coast Sepoys - 1758 *1st Carnatic Battalion - 1769 *1st Madras Battalion - 1784 *1st Battalion, 1st Madras Native Infantry - 1796 *1st Madras Native Infantry - 1824 *1st Madras Native Infantry (Pioneers) - 1883 *1st Madras Infantry (Pioneers) - 1885 *1st Madras Pioneers - 1901 *61st Madras Pioneers - 1903 *61st Prince of Wales's Own Pioneers - 1906 *61st King George's Own Pioneers - 1910 File:Memorial to the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG, Memorial to the Siege of Seringapatam (1799),

Seringapatam Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated at around 984 CE. Later, under the British rule the city wa ...

File:Memorial the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) by the Mysore Government, Seringapatam.JPG, Memorial the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) by the Mysore Government,

File:European Office killed in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG, European Office killed in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799),

File:Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) Seringapatam.JPG, Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799),

File:Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG, Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799),

References

Sources

* * * *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 1758 Military units and formations disestablished in 1922 {{WWI-stub