Wellington in India Prototypes (17 FEB)

Updated 17 FEB

The Maratha cavalry in the 1803 campaign was probably their weakest arm, yet by far the most numerous.

MADRASS NATIVE CAVALRY

India did not see many King’s cavalry regiments, with only the 19^th Light Dragoons serving in the country at this time. The effectiveness of the 19^th Light Dragoons was considerable, and as a result the EIC soon started to raise native cavalry regiments.

They were of course organized along the lines of a King’s regiment, in that they were made up of 3 squadrons , each of two troops and totaling 517 men.

A troop at full strength was made up of 3 British officers, 3 Indian officers, 8 Indian NCO’s, a trumpeter, a water carrier and 70 troopers.
The Commanding officer was always a European.
Like their infantry counterparts the native cavalry were well trained and capable of carrying out battlefield manoeuvres by troop or half troop as well as any European regiment.

The Kings and EIC cavalry were both issued with the British light cavalry sabre. This had a curved blade and was superior to comparable enemy weapons. A carbine and two pistols were also carried.The cavalry regiments in India were employed as, and had the effect of heavy cavalry on the battlefield. The charge delivered at a controlled speed and using their sabres, was executed by squadrons in a two rank line, with an interval of approximately 15 yards between the ranks.They were not particularly good at reconnaissance or screening, which was a complaint leveled at the British cavalry throughout the later campaigns against the French in Europe. In the campaigns against the Marathas, Wellesley employed his Silladar horse, or irregular native cavalry from Mysore for seeing off the Pindarries and carrying out the important tasks of reconnaissance and screening.

THE 74^th(HIGHLAND) REGIMENT OF FOOT

The regiment was raised in Glasgow by Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell for service in India in October 1787. In accordance with the Declaratory Act 1788 the cost of raising the regiment was recharged to the East India Company on the basis that the act required that expenses “should be defrayed out of the revenues” arising there.
The regiment embarked for India in February 1789 and took part in the Siege of Bangalore in February 1791 and the Siege of Seringapatam in February 1792 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War.
At the Battle of Assaye in 1803 casualties were so high, every officer in the regiment was killed or wounded and what was left of the unit had to be led out of action by its regimental sergeant major.

From an initial strength of about 500, the 74^th lost ten officers killed and seven wounded, and 124 other ranks killed and 270 wounded.

The predominant arm in India was the infantry. The King’s and EIC native battalions were organized on similar lines, with the only difference being that the EIC battalions had 2 Grenadier companies and no light company, as it was believed that the native Indian soldier was considered a poor skirmisher.

The 74^th (Highland) Regiment of Foot wore kilts and plaids of Government tartan from the time they were raised in 1787. However, they were soon ordered to India, where the regiment spent 18 years.
On arrival at Madras the kilt was discontinued as unsuitable. In 1803 the soldiers wore linen white trousers and black round hats.

Captain A. B. Campbell of the 74^th, who had on a former occasion lost an arm, was seen in the thickest of the action with his bridle in his teeth, and a sword in his right hand, “dealing destruction around him”. He was to survive the battle although “one of the enemy in the charge very nearly transfixed him with the bayonet, which actually pierced his saddle”.

Wellesley’s infantry formed up in two lines on the far bank, with the British regiments on the outside flanks, the 74^th opposite Assaye, the 10^th Madras Native Infantry in the centre of the first line and the 4^th and 12^th Madras Native Infantry in the second.
The 19^th Light Dragoons and the 3 Madras cavalry regiments formed the reserve. The Mysore cavalry remained on the near bank of the Kaitna.

During the Battle of Assaye in 1803, Wellesley’s right flank was in turmoil. The commander of the right flank, Lieutenant Colonel William Orrock, had mistaken his orders and continued on an oblique path directly towards Assaye. The 74^th under command of Major Samuel Swinton had moved so far north, it created a large gap in the centre of the British line, and brought the units on the flank under a barrage of cannonade from the artillery around the village and the Maratha left. The two battalions began to fall back in disarray, and Pohlmann ordered his infantry and cavalry forward to attack. The Maratha cavalry virtually annihilated the pickets, but the remnants of the 74^th were able to form a rough square.
Realizing the destruction of his right flank would leave his army exposed and outflanked, Wellesley ordered a detachment of British cavalry under Colonel Patrick Maxwell, consisting of the 19^th Light Dragoons and elements of the 4^th and 5^th Madras Native cavalry into action. The cavalry dashed directly towards the 74^th’s square, crashed into the swarming Maratha cavalry and routed them.

The regiment remained on home service until 1810, when it was sent to the Peninsular War (1808-1814) for four years.
It fought at Busaco in 1810, Fuentes de Onoro in 1811, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca in 1812, Vitoria, Nivelle, Orthes and Toulouse.

The Regiment saw service in Ireland at the time of Waterloo in 1815, and spent most of the following three decades in Canada and the West Indies.

In 1851, it arrived in the Cape Colony (in what is now South Africa) for the Eighth Cape Frontier War(1850-1853)
The troopship “Birkenhead” foundered off the coast of Southern Africa, the largest draft of new troops on board was intended for the 74^th foot. Their discipline on deck as the vessel sank, later known as the “Birkenhead Drill”, allowed the women and children on board to be saved.The Regiment was to return to India in 1854, remaining there for ten years and fighting in the Indian Mutiny (1857-59).

THE BATTLE OF ASSAYE 1803
THE MARATHA EMPIRE
MARATHA CAVALRY

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23^rd September 1803 near Assaye in Western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar.
The battle was the Duke of Wellington’s first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his famous victories in the Peninsular War and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

The Maratha cavalry in the 1803 campaign was probably their weakest arm, yet by far the most numerous.
The Marathas employed three classes of cavalry.
The first were the BARGIRS, the cream of their cavalry, paid for and maintained by the state. At the death of Shivaji in 1680, they made up two thirds of the cavalry force, yet by the Battle of Panipat in 1761, their numbers had dropped to just 6,000 out of 38,000 cavalrymen.

This situation continued in the early years of the 19^th Century as the Marathas continued to put more emphasis on their regular infantry battalions.

The second type of cavalry were known as SILLIDARS, who were irregular cavalry and these men provided their own horses and weapons.

The third type were known as PINDARRIES, and these were from various ethnic and religious backgrounds, with many being Muslims from the north.

Pindarries were an irregular light horse formation who were paid a fee or provided their retainers with a percentage, normally one sixth of any booty taken for the right to plunder.
They were used in the military role for screening the movement of troops, reconnaissance, raiding and cutting supply lines. They were not good against formations of steady infantry or cavalry, but were perfectly capable of cutting down unwary troops.

The first of the Maratha Cavalry will not be available until April 2022.

THE MARATHA EMPIRE
ARAB MERCENARY INFANTRY

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23^rd September 1803 near Assaye in Western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Maratha army of Daulatrao Scindia and the Bhonsle Raja of Berar.
The battle was the Duke of Wellington’s first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his famous victories in the Peninsular War and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

Kings, nobles and warlords have always imported mercenaries. Distrusting their own subjects, they placed faith on forces answering only to their benefactor. Through the ages, skilled and well-knit mercenary units have held inordinate power. Sometimes such units become so powerful that they turn on their employers on perceiving any threat. Sometimes, they even captured power. In India also, well-knit bands of Afghan, Turk, and African mercenaries have made great fortunes and captured power.
Arab mercenaries entered quite late in the game in India, when British supremacy had already emerged. Before the Arabs could expand their power in India — like so many foreign groups before them — their own benefactors and the British cut them down to size. However, their power and influence completely ended only in 1948.

The Sultans of Gujarat and the Deccan began employing Arab mercenaries in the 16th century. However, it was the Maratha campaigns of the 18th century that led to a huge influx. Arab mercenaries mostly hailed from Yemen’s Hadhramaut region, a land known for bold and enterprising people.
In the service of the Marathas, the Arabs gained reputation as extremely skilled and reliable fighters.

Thousands of Arabs served Maratha chieftains such as Scindia, Bhonsle and Gaekwad. Arab agents opened recruitment agencies in Indian ports, and some of these agents became very wealthy. Indian financiers also established ties with the Arabs to expand influence in Indian kingdoms.
Tribe and clan conflicts from the homeland existed in the mercenary units, but this did not dent their efficacy or their lustre.

An Arab trooper was paid three times as much as a Deccani/Maratha trooper, and even more than a European mercenary.
However, their service depended entirely upon the regularity and size of the pay. When arrears mounted, the Arabs turned on their employers till they received their dues. In one instance, the Arab mercenaries even intervened in a political crisis in Baroda state. They imprisoned Maharaja Anandrao Gaekwad and his faction had to invite the East India Company’s army to retake control.
The British were aware of the threat posed by the Arab forces — and the Anglo-Maratha wars soon demonstrated how deadly Arab units could be.

When Britain finally concluded the Anglo-Maratha wars in 1818, she ensured that the Arab mercenaries were disbanded.
The British even paid the arrears so that the Arabs could leave immediately.

The Arab mercenaries will be available early in 2022.

Maratha Regular Infantry, artillery and cavalry will also be previewed soon.

Updated 16 July 21.

Wellington prototype.

The 1/8 Madras Native Infantry were originally raised as the 9^th Battalion Coast Sepoys in 1760, becoming the 1/8^th Madras Native Infantry in 1796.
They retained this title until 1902 when they became the 8^th Gurkhas until they were disbanded.
During the years that Wellesley was in India, they took to calling themselves “Wellesley’s Own”.

The 2/12^th Madras Native Infantry were to become the 10^th Battlaion 1^st Punjab Regiment.

The first Sepoy sets will be available in September 2021.

A Sepoy was originally the designation given to a professional Indian infantryman, usually armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the Eighteenth Century, the French East India Company and its other European counterparts employed locally recruited soldiers within India, mainly consisting of infantry designated as “Sepoys”.
The largest of these Indian forces, trained along European lines, were those that belonged to the British East India Company.

The term “Sepoy” is still used in the modern Nepalese, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh armies, where it denotes the rank of private soldier.
In its most common application, sepoy was the term used in the British Indian Army and earlier in the army of the British East India Company, for an infantry private.
A cavalry trooper was known as a “Sowar”.

The term Sepoy came into common use in the forces of the British East India Company in the eighteenth century, where it was one of a number of names, such as Peons, gentoos, mestees and topasses, used for various categories of soldier. Initially it referred to Hindu or Muslim soldiers without regular uniforms or discipline. It later generically referred to all native soldiers in the service of the European powers in India.
Close to ninety six percent of the British East India Company’s army of 300,000 men were native to India and these sepoys played a crucial role in securing the subcontinent for the company.

The East India Company initially recruited sepoys from the local communities in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies. The emphasis was for tall and soldierly recruits, broadly defined as being “of a proper caste and of sufficient size”. In the Bengal army however, recruitment was only amongst high caste Brahmin and Rajput communities, mainly from the present day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions. Recruitment was undertaken locally by battalions or regiments often from the same community, village and even family. The commanding officer of a battalion became a form of substitute for the village chief or “gaon bura.”
There were many family and community ties amongst the troops and numerous instances where family members enlisted in the same battalion or regiment.
The izzat (honour) of the unit was represented by the regimental colours, with the new sepoys having to swear an oath in front of them on enlistment.
These colours were stored in the quarter guard and frequently paraded before the men, and formed a rallying point in battle.

The salary of the sepoys employed by the East India Company, while not substantially greater than that paid by the rulers of Indian states, was usually paid regularly. Advances could be given and family allotments from pay due were permitted when the troops served abroad. There was a commisariat and regular rations were provided. Weapons, clothing and ammunition were provided centrally, in contrast to the soldiers of local kings whose pay was often in arrears. In addition local rulers usually expected their sepoys to arm themselves and to sustain themselves through plunder.
This combination of factors led to the development of a sense of shared honour and ethos amongst the well drilled and disciplined Indian soldiery who formed the key to the success of European feats of arms in India and abroad.

In the days of the East India Company, infantry companies in native regiments were commanded by British or Indian officers. The rank structure was the same for native officers as british counterparts, but with different names. A Subedar was a captain, and a Jemadar was a Lieutenant.

Wellington in India upcoming series. Drawings provided by John Updated 27 DEC

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Maratha army of Daulat Scindia and the Raja of Berar. The battle was the Duke of Wellington's first major victory and the one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield, even more so than his more famous victories in the Peninsular War, and his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

Wellington in India
Major General Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

74th Highland Regiment

19th Dragoons

Madras Sepoy, 1803

Wellington in India
Maratha Standard Bearer