SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The first chapter of this thesis describes the origin and gradual growth of the Bengal native infantry forces in the period of almost continual war between 1757 and 1795, and the fashioning of a disciplined force, with elaborate codes of regulations, from the military adventurers of Mughal Bengal. The second chapter deals with the army regulations of 1796, the reasons behind the measure and its effect upon the European officers. The other Government orders relating to the service condition of the European officer cadre of the Bengal sepoy establishment during the period from 1796 to 1852 are therefore discussed, and their consequences considered. The third chapter describes the changes in the service conditions of the sepoys in the same period 1796 to 1852 and the reactions those changes provoked. The fourth chapter narrates the gradual extension of the Company's territory, the rapid increase in the number of the sepoy regiments, and the changes in the nature of their duties which followed from the absorption of all North India into the Bengal Presidency. The part played by the native regiments in the campaigns of conquest are described, and the mutinous incidents which occurred in the course of those campaigns. The occasion, cause, and outcome of the mutinies are discussed in detail, so as to establish that sepoy dissatisfaction was growing steadily in the last 25 years of the period under study. The fifth chapter seeks to answer the question why the Bengal native infantry found it necessary to mutiny, and to estimate the relative importance of the grievances to which vent was given in mutiny.