Battle Honours of the British Army: From Tangier, 1662, to the Commencement of the Reign of King Edward VIINorman, Charles Boswell
History
Battle Honours of the British Army: From Tangier, 1662, to the Commencement of the Reign of King Edward VII
Norman, Charles Boswell
Great Britain -- History, Military; Great Britain. Army -- History
With but few exceptions, the cavalry was undisciplined and
unorganized, but well mounted, and the men as a rule admirable
swordsmen. To combat this possible alliance, the Marquess
of Hastings determined to utilize the troops of all three
Presidencies, and to take the field in person, and so assume the
direction of the operations. The Bengal army would deal with
Scindia, and then push to the south and west to assist the troops
of the other Presidencies. The Madras troops, with Secunderabad
as their base, after assuring the neutrality of the Nizam, would
operate from the south, whilst the Bombay army was left to deal
with the Peishwa, whose disaffection was beyond doubt.
The Bengal army was composed of four divisions, under the personal
command of the Marquess of Hastings. These were commanded
respectively by Major-Generals Browne, Donkin, Marshal, and Sir
David Ochterlony. Each division comprised one cavalry and two
infantry brigades. Of the troops which composed that army, few
regiments are left. The 24th Light Dragoons were disbanded shortly
after the campaign, and the majority of the native regiments fell
away from their allegiance in the unfortunate rebellion of 1857. Of
the regiments which went to make up the First Division, the 87th
(Royal Irish Fusiliers) still survive; of the Second Division,
the 8th (Royal Irish) Hussars, the 14th (West Yorkshires), and
Gardner's Horse are yet on the rolls of the army. The 67th
(Hampshires) and the 2nd Gurkhas, with Skinner's Horse, also
survive.
The Madras army was under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir
Thomas Hislop. Of its cavalry brigade no representatives remain;
of its four infantry brigades we have many survivors--first and
foremost, the Royal Scots and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers; then the
1st Madras Europeans, which, with the 17th Madras Infantry (now
the 93rd Burmah Infantry), composed the First Brigade. The Second
Brigade was made up of three light infantry regiments (native), of
which the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry and the 74th Punjabis are
with us. There were, all told, two regiments of British and six of
native infantry.
The Hyderabad Division, commanded by Major-General Doveton,
comprised a battalion of the Royal Scots and ten regiments of
Madras infantry; whilst the Hyderabad Subsidiary Brigade was made
up of a wing of the 1st Madras Europeans (now the Royal Dublins)
and three native regiments. Sir John Malcolm commanded the Third
Division of the Madras army. It comprised a regiment of Madras
cavalry, four battalions of Madras infantry, 4,000 Mysorean horse,
and three regiments of what were so long known as the Hyderabad
Contingent.
In the neighbourhood of Poonah was Sir Lionel Smith, with the 65th
(York and Lancasters), the 1st Bombay Europeans (now the 2nd Royal
Dublins), and four regiments of Bombay infantry.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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