The 6th Bengal European Regiment was an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

regiment of the British

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 Southea ...

, created in and disbanded in {{end date and age, 1867, p=y. The regiment was raised in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

by the East India Company in 1858, for service in the

Indian Mutiny 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 ...

; the "European" in the name indicated that it was composed of white soldiers, not Indian

sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

s. The regiment was composed of officers drawn from two Indian units which had mutinied, the

7th Bengal Native Infantry 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

and

8th Bengal Native Infantry The 8th Rajputs was an infantry battalion of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1798 when they were the 1st Battalion, 30th Bengal Native Infantry. Over the years the regiment became known by a number of different titles. ...

. As with all other "European" units of the Company, they were placed under the command of the Crown following the end of the Mutiny in 1858. The regiment was reduced to cadre strength in 1861, and disbanded in 1867.

References

6th Bengal European Regiment
regiments.org British Indian Army infantry regiments Honourable East India Company regiments Military units and formations established in 1858 Military units and formations disestablished in 1867 Bengal European Bengal Presidency Bengal European Infantry