Catalogue description Bengal Services

Until c1882 the following information is normally to be found for all officers, viz:- details of present furlough and of previous furlough and leave taken in or out of India, details of previous war service and of previous peace-time employment - the entries for military and medical warrant officers also provide information on their other rank service in the the British Army or in military hospitals. After c1882 this detailed level of information is continued only in respect of warrant officers - for all other categories of officer information after this date is confined to present and previous leave only.

For each officer the list below gives branch of the service, reference, date of furlough and rank at time of furlough. It should be noted that with respect to regular officers who joined the Bengal Army after 1860 the term 'Bengal Staff Corps' is virtually synonymous with 'Bengal Officer Corps' and is not to be thought of as referring only to officers holding staff appointments. For a continuation of the 'Bengal Services' see the 'Indian Army Service Statements', 1892-1916 [L/MIL/141-49, indexed at Z/L/MIL/14/1-2]. For the services of regular officers of the Bengal Army before 1860 see the 'Bengal Service Army Lists', 1770-1858 [L/MIL/10/20-67, indexed at Z/L/MIL/10/1].

1) Furlough payment books, Bengal Army (UK and Europe) 1860-1893 Regular Officers and Medical Officers in series L/AG/20/6; Departmental and Warrant Officers in series L/AG/20/9.

2) Statements of field service for regular officers of the Bengal Army appear intermittently in the published Quarterly Bengal Army Lists, c1855-1889 [in series L/MIL/17/2] - war services of departmental and warrant officers are recorded from 1884.

3) The series L/MIL/14 contains personal service files for many of the departmental/warrant officers whose names also appear in Bengal Services - for example, Conductor William Tosdevin, Bengal Ordnance Department, has both an entry in Bengal Services, 1889, L/MIL/10/99 f22, and a service file at L/MIL/14/6614. An index to the L/MIL/14 service files is available in the OIOC Reading Room.

Personal name index

For index to Bengal Services 1860-1893 see Z/L/MIL/10/2

No restrictions

The 'Bengal Services' comprise statements of service and/or leave forwarded to London by the Government of India whenever an officer of the Bengal Army took leave out of India to the UK or elsewhere - the term 'officer' in this context includes not only European regular officers of the Bengal Army but also departmental and warrant officers, Bengal Medical Service officers and officers of the Subordinate Medical Department. Also included are some British officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers serving on a long-term basis with the Bengal Army. Departmental officers of the Bengal Army served in the Ordnance, Commissariat and Public Works Departments and held the ranks of Deputy Asssistant Commissary, Assistant Commissary and Deputy Commissary - from 1867 these commissary grades were combined with honorary officer ranks ranging from Honorary Ensign to Honorary Captain. Warrant officers ranked below departmental officers and performed similar duties - in the Bengal Army they held the ranks of Sub-Conductor and Conductor and (after 1860) were recruited from European NCOs on the Bengal Army Unattached List. In the Subordinate Medical Department departmental officers held Honorary Surgeon ranks, warrant officers the ranks of Assistant Apothecary and Apothecary.