Records of the Military Department

IOR/L/MIL

Records of the Military Department

1708-1957

This sub-fonds comprises records of the Military Department, East India House (1809-1858); several Court of Directors Committees concerned with military matters e.g. the Military Seminary Committee (1809-1834), the Political and Military Committee (1834-1858); the Military Department of the Board of Control (1807-1858) the India Office Military Department (1858-1947) and Addiscombe Military Seminary, responsible for the general and technical education of the Company's officer cadets. The Military Department records in London deal mainly with the business of the European element of the Company's armies in India - recruiting of private soldiers, appointment of officers, pay, leave, promotion, passages to India, pensions - which is reflected in the many series covering European personnel. The IOR/L/MIL records reflect the whole spectrum of military policy and administration, including the organisation, operations and equipment of the army, navy and airforce in India and related territories. They also document, often in considerable detail, the careers - appointments, pay, leave, promotions and pensions - of individual European officers and soldiers in the Indian Army, the Indian Medical Service and the Royal Indian Navy and its predecessors (from 1867). Less extensive information is available for the members of the British army units serving in India. The Military records include a large proportion of the Board's copies of correspondence, which were later chosen to be kept in preference to the Company's. They also reflect the process of merging of the surviving Company's and Board's military records with those of the India Office's military department into a single body of 'Military Department' records.

IOR/L/WS India Office War Staff Papers (1921-1951), IOR/K Records relating to Addiscombe Military Seminary; Pembroke House and Ealing Lunatic Asylumns and the Royal Engineering College at Cooper's Hill; IOR/L/AG/45 Accounts and related records of Haileybury, Addiscombe, Cooper's Hill and Warley Barracks. Records of military and naval furlough pay, allotments, gratuities and service pensions (also pensions paid to dependents) - series IOR/L/AG/20, 21, 23, 26. Military estate papers of European officers and other ranks of the EIC/Indian Army dying in India and related territories 1792-1953 - sub-series IOR/L/AG/29/1, IOR/L/AG/34/30, 33, 40.

Public Record(s)

English

• East India Company
• India Office

c. 44 968 volumes/1935 boxes

Available for research unless otherwise stated

Administrative responsibility for the military function of the East India Company in India rested initially with the Public Departments of Bengal, Madras and Bombay. A purely Military Department emerged in Madras from 1752 and in 1772 the Governor-General in Bengal assumed supreme control of the military administration in Bengal and Bombay. Military Departments emerged in Bengal and Bombay in the 1780s. These departments reported back to the Court of Directors in London, through the Committee of Correspondence. In London, matters concerning the East India Company's armies in India and in other settlements, were originally handled by the Committee of Correspondence and until 1804 the conduct of military correspondence with India was mainly in the hands of the Examiner of Indian Correspondence. It was briefly the responsibility of the Auditor to 1809. In 1809 a separate Military Department was established, headed by a Military Secretary, who was normally a high-ranking Indian Army officer. The Department was also responsible for conducting the military correspondence with government departments and individuals in Britain. As a result of the reorganisation of the Company in 1834, the Political and Military Committee was appointed to control its military business. The Board of Control's Military department was formed in 1807 to supervise the Company's military correspondence with India. In 1858, the India Office was established as a Department of State. It assumed the executive functions of the Company's affairs and those of the Board of Control. The India Office's Military Secretary reported to the Military Committee of the advisory Council of India which discussed business before placing questions before the Secretary of State for India in Council. The Company's European regiments in India were abolished and the Company's Military seminary at Addiscombe was closed. In 1867 the Military Department took on the additional responsibility for marine business from India. The Company's Army had consisted of both European and native corps. Following the end of the Company's rule the European regiments were amalgamated with the British Army (1860/61) but the native army continued (after reductions and extensive reorganisation) as the Indian Army, officered as before by Europeans.