The Bengal Army was the army of the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

, one of the three presidencies of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. The

presidency armies The presidency armies were the armies of the three presidencies of the East India Company's rule in India, later the forces of the British Crown in India, composed primarily of Indian sepoys. The presidency armies were named after the presidenc ...

, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to 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 Southea ...

(EIC) until the

Government of India Act 1858 The Government of India Act 1858 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (21 & 22 Vict. c. 106) passed on 2 August 1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company (who had up to this point been ruling ...

(passed in the aftermath of 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 ...

) transferred all three presidencies to the direct authority of the

British Crown The Crown is the state (polity), state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, British Overseas Territories, overseas territories, Provinces and territorie ...

. In 1895 all three presidency armies were merged into the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

History

Origins

The Bengal Army originated with the establishment of a European Regiment in 1756. While the East India Company had previously maintained a small force of Dutch and Eurasian mercenaries in Bengal, this was destroyed when Calcutta was captured by the Nawab of Bengal on 30 June that year.

Under East India Company

Bengal Troops on the Line of March (6125141926)

Bengal Troops on the Line of March (6124600077)

In 1757 the first locally recruited unit of Bengal

sepoys ''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 ...

was created in the form of the ''Lal Paltan'' battalion. It was recruited from soldiers that had served in the Nawab's Army from Bihar and the Awadh (

Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

) who were collectively called

Purbiya Purbiya (or Purabia) was a common term used in medieval India for Rajput led mercenaries and soldiers from the eastern Gangetic Plain - areas corresponding to present-day western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Purbiyas played a significant r ...

s. Drilled and armed along British army lines this force served well at the

Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...

in 1757 and 20 more Indian battalions were raised by 1764. In 1766 the

Monghyr Mutiny The Monghyr Mutiny (also known as the White Mutiny) occurred among European officers of the East India Company stationed in Bengal in 1766. The mutiny arose after the East India Company's governor of Bengal, Robert Clive, implemented an order to ...

, quelled by

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

, affected many of the white officers of the Bengal Army. The EIC steadily expanded its Bengal Army and by 1796 the establishment was set at three battalions of European artillery, three regiments of European infantry, ten regiments of Indian cavalry and twelve regiments (each of two battalions) of Indian infantry. In 1824 the Bengal Army underwent reorganisation, with the regular infantry being grouped into 68 single battalion regiments numbered according to their date of establishment. Nine additional infantry regiments were subsequently raised, though several existing units were disbanded between 1826 and 1843. On the eve of the

First Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession di ...

(1839–42) the Bengal Army had achieved a dominant role in the forces of the HEIC. There were 74 battalions of Bengal regular infantry against only 52 from Madras, 26 from Bombay and 24 British (Queen's and Company). On average an inch and a half taller and a stone heavier than the southern Indian troops, the Bengal sepoy was highly regarded by a military establishment that tended to evaluate its soldiers by physical appearance. A new feature in the Bengal Army was the creation of irregular infantry and cavalry regiments during the 1840s. Originally designated as "Local Infantry" these were permanently established units but with less formal drill and fewer British officers than the regular Bengal line regiments. The main source of recruitment continued to be high caste Brahmins and Rajputs from Bengal, Bihar and Oudh, although the eight regular cavalry regiments consisted mainly of Muslim Pathan

sowars Sowar ( ur, سوار, also ''siwar'' meaning "the one who rides" or "rider", from Persian ) was originally a rank during the Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire. Later during the British Raj it was the name in Anglo-Indian usage for a horse-soldi ...

. During the 1840s and early 1850s numbers of Nepalese Gurkhas and Jatsikhs from the Punjab were however accepted in the Bengal Army. Both Gurkhas and Jatsikhs served in separate units but some of the latter were incorporated into existing Bengal infantry regiments. Another innovation introduced prior to 1845 was to designate specific regiments as "Volunteers" – that is recruited for general service, with sepoys who had accepted a commitment for possible overseas duty. Recruits for the Bengal Army who were prepared to travel by ship if required, received a special allowance or ''batta''. Two of these BNI regiments were serving in China in 1857 and so escaped any involvement in the great rebellion of that year. The East India Company's Bengal Army in 1857 (Bombay and Madras had their own armies) consisted of 151,361 men of all ranks, of whom the great majority - 128,663 - were Indians.

1857

A total of 64 Bengal Army regular infantry and cavalry regiments rebelled during the

, or were disbanded after their continued loyalty was considered doubtful. From 1858 onwards the actual high-caste Awadhi, Bengali and Bihari Hindu presence in the Bengal Army was reduced because of their perceived primary role as "mutineers" in the 1857 rebellion.Bickers and Tiedemann, p. 231 The new and less homogeneous Bengal Army was essentially drawn from Punjabi Muslims, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Baluchis and Pathans, although twelve of the pre-mutiny Bengal line infantry regiments continued in service with the same basis of recruitment, traditions and uniform colours as before. A largely unspoken rationale was that an army of diverse origins was unlikely to unite in rebellion.

Post 1857

End of the separate Bengal Army

In 1895 the three separate Presidency Armies began a process of unification which was not to be concluded until the Kitchener reforms of eight years later. As an initial step the Army of India was divided into four commands, each commanded by a lieutenant-general. These comprised Bengal, Bombay (including Aden), Madras (including Burma) and Punjab (including the North West Frontier). In 1903 the separately numbered regiments of the Bombay, Madras and Bengal Armies were unified in a single organisational sequence and the presidency affiliations disappeared. The Bengal infantry units in existence at the end of the Presidency era continued as the senior regiments (

1st Brahmans The 1st Brahmans was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised at Oudh by Captain T Naylor in 1776 for service in the army of Nawab Wazir of Oudh, and was known as the Nawab Wazir's Regiment. It was transferred to the East Indi ...

to 48th Pioneers) of the newly unified Indian Army. 1stEuropeanBengalFusilierspre1862

Ethnic composition

The Bengal Army of the East India Company was mainly recruited from high castes living in Bengal, Bihar and the Awadh. Writing in The Indian Army (1834),

Sir John Malcolm Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. Early life Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of Geor ...

, who had a lifetime's experience of Indian soldiering, wrote: ''"They consist largely of Rajpoots (

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

), who are a distinguished race. We may judge of the size of these men when we are told that the height below which no recruit is taken is five feet six inches. The great proportion of the Grenadiers are six feet and upwards."'' Both prior to and following 1857, the Bengal Army included what were to become some of the most famous units in India:

Skinner's Horse The 1st Horse (Skinner's Horse) is a regiment of the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army. It traces its origins as a cavalry regiment from the times of the East India Company, followed by its service in the British Indian Army and finally, afte ...

from Bengal, the

Gurkhas The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recru ...

from the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

and the Corps of Guides on the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Structure

Cavalry

Regular regiments

Governor General's Bodyguard The Governor General's Bodyguard was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was, in effect, the Indian equivalent of the Household Cavalry of the British Army. History The regiment was first formed in 1773 as the Govern ...

*1st to 10th Bengal Light Cavalry Regiments (see

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and 5th Regiments). Eight of these regular regiments mutinied and two were disbanded during 1857–58. None were carried over into the post-Mutiny army. *1st to 4th Bengal European Light Cavalry Regiments. Recruited hastily in Britain in November 1857 to replace the eight regiments of Bengal Light Cavalry which had mutinied. The mention of "European" in the name indicated that it consisted of white soldiers rather than Indian

sowar Sowar ( ur, سوار, also ''siwar'' meaning "the one who rides" or "rider", from Persian ) was originally a rank during the Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire. Later during the British Raj it was the name in Anglo-Indian usage for a horse-soldi ...

s. In 1861, all four European regiments were transferred to the British Army as the 19th, 20th and 21st Hussars.

Irregular units

*1st Irregular Cavalry (

) *2nd to 18th Irregular Cavalry Regiments *Bundelkhand Legion Cavalry *Gwalior Contingent Cavalry *Kotah Contingent Cavalry *Bhopal Contingent Cavalry *United Malwa Contingent Cavalry *Ramgarh Irregular Cavalry *Nagpore Irregular Cavalry *1st to 3rd Oudh Irregular Cavalry Regiments *1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments of Hodson's Horse *1st to 4th Sikh Irregular Cavalry Regiments *The Jat Horse Yeomanry *Rohilkhand Horse *The Muttra Horse *Alexander's Horse *Barrow's Volunteers *Behar Irregular Cavalry *Belooch Horse *Benares Horse *Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry *Calcutta Volunteer Guards *De Kantzow's Irregular Cavalry *Graham's Horse *2nd Gwalior Cavalry *2nd Gwalior Mahratta Horse *H.H. The Guicowar's Horse *Jackson's Volunteer Horse *Jellandhar Cavalry *Lahore Light Horse *1st Mahratta Horse *Meerut Light Horse *Peshawar Light Horse *Rajghazi Volunteer Cavalry *The Volunteer Cavalry *Lind's and Cureton's Risalahs of Pathan Horse *2nd Mahratta Horse *Fane's Horse *The Corps of Guides, Punjab Irregular Force *1st to 5th Regiments of Cavalry of the Punjab Irregular Force

Artillery

The Bengal Artillery was divided into three 'sections', the Bengal Horse Artillery (affiliated with the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

), Bengal European Foot Artillery (European/white members), and the Bengal Native Foot Artillery (native Indians). Below is the list of those that were formed/active before their disbandment/absorption into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and RHA. Units below will have their formation designation and then designation after joining the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

.Frederick, pp. 453–6.

Bengal Horse Artillery

* Bengal Horse Artillery: ** 1st Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery (formed in 1824) *** 1st Troop (formed 1800, transferred to

1864), formed as Experimental Brigade, HA then The Troop, then 1st Troop, BenHA *** 2nd Troop (formed 1824, transferred to

1864) *** 3rd Troop (formed 1824, transferred to

1864) *** (1st) 4th (Native) Troop (formed in 1817, left to 3rd Bde 1827) *** (2nd) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1827, mutinied in

Neemuch Neemuch or Nimach is a town in the malwa region. Neemuch crowns the north western part of MP. It has been also referred to city of Nature and Peace. The town shares its northwestern border with the state of Rajasthan and is the administrati ...

, then reformed as European troop, disbanded in 1862) *** 5th (Shah Soojah's) Troop (Native, formed 1838, then reformed as European troop, transferred to

1864) ** 2nd Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery (formed in 1825) *** 1st Troop (formed 1809, transferred to

1864), formed as 2nd Trp, BenHA *** 2nd (Rocket) Troop (formed 1816, transferred to

1864), formed as The Rocket Troop, BenHA *** 3rd Troop (formed 1825, transferred to

1864) *** (1st) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1817, joined 1st Bde 1827), formed as 5th (Native) Trp, BenHA *** (2nd) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1827, joined 3rd Bde 1829) *** (3rd) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1829, reformed as European trp 1859, transferred to

1864) ** 3rd Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery (formed in 1825) *** 1st Troop (formed in 1809, transferred to

1864), formed as 3rd Trp, BenHA *** 2nd Troop (formed 1825, transferred to

1864) *** 3rd Troop (formed 1825, transferred to

1864) *** (1st) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1817, joined 2nd Bde 1829), formed as 6th Trop, BenHA *** (2nd) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1827, to 2nd Bde 1829) *** (3rd) 4th (Native) Troop (formed 1829, mutinied in

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...

, reformed 1859 as European troop, transferred to

1864)

Bengal European Foot Artillery

* 1st Company Bengal Artillery (raised in 1749, currently

9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery 9 (Plassey) Battery Royal Artillery is an air defence battery of the Royal Artillery that serves with the British Army's 12th Regiment Royal Artillery. It is stationed at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island, West Sussex. The battery was originally ...

)

Bengal Native Foot Artillery

* Bengal Native Foot Artillery: (units listed in after precedence #) ** 1st Bengal Artillery Battalion *** 7th Company (raised in 1780, late 1st Battery, 16th Brigade Royal Artillery) *** 3rd Company (raised 1780, late 2nd Bty, 16th Bde RA) ***9th Company (raised 1780, late 3rd Bty, 16th Bde RA) ***Fort William Company (raised 1780, late 4th Bty, 16th Bde RA) ***Calcutta Garrison Company (raised 1770, late 1st Company, 6th Battalion) ***6th Company (raised 1802, late 3rd Co, 3rd Btn) ***7th Company (raised 1802, late 4th Co, 3rd Btn) ***8th Company (raised 1817, late 3rd Co, 1st Btn) **2nd Bengal Artillery Battalion ***8th Company (raised 1778, late 1st Bty, 19th Bde RA) ***4th Company (raised 1763, late 2nd Bty, 19th Bde RA) ***6th Company (raised 1778, late 3rd Bty, 19th Bde RA) ***2nd Company (raised 1780, late 4th Bty, 19th Bde RA) ***10th Company (raised 1780, late 2nd Co, 6th Btn) ***6th Company (raised 1802, late 3rd Co, 2nd Btn) ***7th Company (raised 1802, late 4th Co, 2nd Btn) ***8th Company (raised 1818, late 3rd Co, 5th Btn) **3rd Bengal Artillery Battalion ***1st Company (raised 1786, late 1st Bty, 22nd Bde RA) ***2nd Company (raised 1786, late 2nd Bty, 22nd Bde RA) ***3rd Company (raised 1786, late 3rd Bty, 22nd Bde RA) ***4th Company (raised 1786, late 4th Bty, 22nd Bde RA) ***5th Company (raised 1786, late 3rd Co, 6th Btn) ***6th Company (raised 1802, late 2nd Co, 5th Btn) ***7th Company (raised 1802, disbanded 1824) ***8th Company (raised 1818, late 4th Co, 5th Btn) **4th Bengal Artillery Battalion ***1st Company (raised 1824, late 1st Bty, 24th Bde RA) ***2nd Company (raised 1824, late 2nd Bty, 2nd Bde RA) ***3rd Company (raised 1824, late 3rd Bty, 24th Bde RA) ***4th Company (raised 1824, late 4th Bty, 24th Bde RA) ***5th Company (raised 1842, late 4th Bty, 6th Btn) **5th Bengal Artillery Battalion ***1st Company (raised 1824, late 1st Bty, 25th Bde RA) ***2nd Company (raised 1824, late 2nd Bty, 25th Bde RA) ***3rd Company (raised 1824, late 3rd Bty, 25th Bde RA) ***4th Company (raised 1824, late 4th Bty, 25th Bde RA) ***5th Company (Raised 1842, disbanded 1845) **6th Bengal Artillery Battalion ***1st Company (raised 1845, late 5th Bty, 16th Bde RA) ***2nd Company (raised 1845, late 5th Bty, 19th Bde RA) ***3rd Company (raised 1845, late 5th Bty, 22nd Bde RA) ***4th Company (raised 1845, late 5th Bty, 24th Bde RA)

Punjab Horse Artillery, Punjab Irregular Force

Engineers

*The Corps of

Bengal Sappers and Miners 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 ...

*The Sebundy Sappers and Miners

Infantry

Regular regiments

* 1st Bengal (European) Fusiliers * 2nd Bengal (European) Fusiliers * 3rd Bengal (European) Light Infantry * 4th, 5th and

6th Bengal European Regiment The 6th Bengal European Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British East India Company, created in and disbanded in {{end date and age, 1867, p=y. The regiment was raised in Bengal by the East India Company in 1858, for service in the India ...

s *1st to 74th Regiments of

Bengal Native Infantry The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing int ...

(including Goorkha 66th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry). Of these regular regiments only twelve (the 21st, 31st, 32nd 33rd, 42nd, 43rd, 47th 59th, 63rd, 65th, 66th and 70th BNI) escaped mutiny or disbandment to survive into the post-Mutiny army.Carmen, p. 107 As such they retained a number of features and traditions of the "old" Bengal Army, such as the wearing of red coats. The remainder of the regiments making up the "new" Bengal Army were derived from a mixture of irregular units already in existence before the Mutiny, plus Punjabis, Sikhs and Gurkhas. Local corps, levies and even police battalions raised for the suppression of the Mutiny were in some cases transformed into new regular infantry regiments, which brought the total number up to 49.

Irregular units

* Alipore Regiment *The Ramgarh Light Infantry *3rd Local Battalion * The Sirmoor Rifle Regiment *The Kamaoon Battalion *1st Assam Light Infantry *11th Sylhet Local Light Infantry *

The Mhairwara Battalion The 44th Merwara Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1824, when the Sylhet Light Infantry was raised. This first 44th eventually became the 44th Gurkhas and later 8th Gurkha Rifles. The ...

*2nd Assam Light Infantry * Joudpore Legion (1836–1857) – a mixed unit of cavalry, infantry, and artillery (a two-gun battery) *

43rd Erinpura Regiment The 43rd Erinpura Regiment was a regiment of the British Indian Army. It originated in the three infantry companies of Meena, Bhil tribe of the Jodhpur Legion that stayed loyal to the British when the Legion revolted in 1857. (The Bhil companie ...

(1860–1921) – former Erinpura Irregular Force, itself a successor to the loyal companies of the Joudpore Legion *Oudh Irregular Force *Narbudda Sebundy Corps *Shekhawati Battalion *Harianna Light Infantry *Regiment of Khelat-i-Gilzie *Malwa Bheel Corps *Kotah Contingent *Mehidpore Contingent *Gwalior Contingent *Malwa Contingent *Bhopal Contingent * Ferozepore Regiment *Regiment of Ludhiana *Camel Corps *Nusseree Battalion *Nagpore Irregular Force * Deoli Irregular Force *Regiment of Lucknow *Mhair Regiment *Kamroop Regiment *Landhoor Rangers *Kuppurthala Contingent *1st and 2nd Gwalior Regiments *Allahabad Levy *Shahjehanpur Levy *Cawnpore Levy *Fatehgarh Levy *Moradabad Levy *Mynpoorie Levy *Sealkote Infantry Levy *Bareilly Levy *Goojramwallah Levy *Meerut Levy *Kumaon Levy *Agra Levy *Cole and Sonthal Levy *Rajpoot Levy *Loyal Purbeah Regiment * Corps of Guides, Punjab Irregular Force *1st to 4th Sikh Infantry Regiments of the

Punjab Irregular Force The Punjab Irregular Force (PIF) was created in 1851 to protect the NW frontier of British India. It was termed "Irregular" because it was outside the control of the Regular British East India Company Presidency armies of the three Presidencies o ...

*1st to 6th Punjab Infantry Regiments of the

*7th to 24th Regiments of Punjab Infantry, of which the 15th and 24th were pioneer regiments

Other

1st Bengal Military Police Battalion

Commanders

Because the Bengal Army was the largest of the three Presidency Armies, its Commander-in-Chief was, from 1853 to 1895, also

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

.Raugh, p. 45
Commander-in-Chief, Bengal Command * Lieutenant-General Sir William Elles (1895–1896) * Lieutenant-General Sir Baker Russell (1896–1898) * Lieutenant-General Sir George Luck (1898–1903) * Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee (1903–1907)

References

Sources

* * * * *

History

Origins

Under East India Company

1857

Post 1857

End of the separate Bengal Army

Ethnic composition

Structure

Cavalry

Regular regiments

Irregular units

Artillery

Bengal Horse Artillery

Bengal European Foot Artillery

Bengal Native Foot Artillery

Punjab Horse Artillery, Punjab Irregular Force

Engineers

Infantry

Regular regiments

Irregular units

Other

Commanders

See also

References

Sources

Further reading