Madras Presidency - Army

Army

The British East India Company was first permitted to set up its own garrison in 1665 to guard its settlements. Notable amongst the army's early operations were the defence of the city from Mughal and Maratha invaders and the forces of the Nawab of Carnatic. In 1713, the Madras forces under Lieutenant John de Morgan distinguished themselves in the siege of Fort St David and in putting down Richard Raworth's Rebellion.

When Joseph François Dupleix, the Governor of French India began to raise native battalions in 1748, the British of Madras followed suit and established the Madras Regiment. Though native regiments were subsequently established by the British in other parts of India, the distances that separated the three presidencies resulted in each force developing divergent principles and organizations. The first reorganization of the army took place in 1795 when the Madras army was reconstituted into the following units:

• European Infantry – Two battalions of ten companies.
• Artillery – Two European battalions of five companies each, with fifteen companies of lascars.
• Native Cavalry – Four regiments.
• Native Infantry – Eleven regiments of two battalions.

In 1824, a second reorganization took place whereupon the double battalions were abolished and the existing battalions renumbered. The Madras Army at the time consisted of one European and one native brigade of horse artillery, three battalions of foot artillery of four companies each, with four companies of lascars attached, three regiments of light cavalry, two corps of pioneers, two battalions of European infantry, 52 battalions of native infantry and three local battalions.

Between 1748 and 1895, as with the Bengal and Bombay armies, the Madras Army had its own Commander-in-Chief who was subordinate to the President, and later, the Governor of Madras. By default the Commander-in-chief of the Madras Army was a member of the Governor's Executive Council. The army's troops participated in the conquest of Manila in 1762, the 1795 expeditions against Ceylon and the Dutch as well as the conquest of the Spice Islands in the same year. They also took part in expeditions against Maurutius (1810), Java (1811), the wars against Tipu Sultan and the Carnatic Wars of the 18th century, the British attack on Cuttack dring the Second Anglo-Maratha War, the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian mutiny and the invasion of Upper Burma during the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

The 1857 mutiny, which caused drastic changes in the Bengal and Bombay armies, had no effect on the Madras Army. In 1895, the presidency armies were finally abolished and the Madras regiments brought under the direct control of the Commander-in-chief of British India.

The Madras Army relied heavily on the Moplahs of Malabar and soldiers from Kodagu, at that time known as Coorg.