Reid - Armies of the East India Company 1750-1850

T he United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies, more familiarly known as the Honourable East India Company or even John Company was the first and arguably the greatest multi-national corporation the world has ever seen. It was originally engaged in the spice trade of South-East Asia and the East Indies, but by the beginning of the 18th century the main focus of its activities had shifted to the Indian subcontinent, where it maintained three rather precarious toe-holds: at Madras, at Bombay, and at the mouth of the Hugli river in Bengal. Each was governed more or less independently by a council or presidency of the leading merchants, and under the Companys royal charter each jealously maintained its own tiny military establishment, whose sole purpose was to defend the Companys factories fortified trading posts from casual brigandage, piracy, or equally weak European rivals.

However, in 1746 commercial rivalry between the East India Company and the French Compagnie des Indes turned into outright war, in a reflection of the two home nations participation in the War of the Austrian Succession on the European mainland and its extension to North America. Both organizations became ever more deeply involved in local politics as they enlisted, bribed and manipulated allies among the Indian rulers. In the end the Company not only emerged from the struggle victorious, but had consolidated and expanded its original modest landholdings to such an extent that it became a territorial and political power in its own right. In the process the unreliable rabble of mercenaries in its service had grown into a formidable army, which by the end of the 18th century was far bigger than that maintained by most European states.

Robert Clive (172574) was sent out to Madras as an 18-year-old Company writer or clerk, but was commissioned an ensign in the EIC forces in 1746 after escaping the French-led capture of Madras by Dupleix. While he was more of a diplomat than a soldier, his undoubted boldness and resolution were the key to his early victories and the EICs conquest of Bengal. If Stringer Lawrence was responsible for turning the Companys European units into proper soldiers, it was Clive who was the father of the sepoy army. As well as bringing him a peerage, his abilities were recognized by the rare grant of a regular British Army commission as well as his EIC commission, and this portrait by Dance depicts him in the uniform of a British lieutenant-general. (Unless otherwise credited, all illustrations are from the authors collection)

At Madras in 1721 the Company had just three military companies, mustering a total of only 545 men of all ranks, of whom only 245 were Europeans and the rest Eurasians. In addition there was also a rather dubious artillery company, ominously known as the gunroom crew, which, according to the garrison paymaster in 1724, was look on as a lodging workhouse to relieve poor sailors and at the same time be of use to the garrison. Predictably enough, he also noted that it then comprised 46 Europeans, 52 Eurasians and 30 lascars or Indian labourers. What he neglected to mention, as it presumably did not come within his remit, was that this crew were expected to man a total of some 200 guns.

War with France saw a hasty re-assessment of priorities and, thanks in large part to the extensive recruitment of Indian troops, by 1763 the Madras Army mustered some 9,000 men. Over the next 20 years it again increased eight-fold, to 48,000 men in 1782 and on paper at least no fewer than 64,000 by 1805. Although Madras had borne the brunt of the war against the French, and later against Mysore and the Mahrattas, this to some extent marked its peak; the wars of the 19th century were chiefly fought by the armies of Bengal and Bombay.