Catalogue description Madras 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 warrant officers also provide information on their other rank service. After c1882 with the exception of a few warrant officers the information is confined to details of an officer's 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 Madras Army after 1860 the term 'Madras Staff Corps' is virtually synonymous with 'Madras Officer Corps' and is not to be thought of as referring only to officers holding staff appointments. For a continuation of the 'Madras Services' see the 'Indian Army Service Statements' 1892-1916 [L/MIL/14/1-49, indexed at Z/L/MIL/14/1-2]. For services of regular officers of the Madras Army before 1860 see the 'Madras Service Army Lists', 1771-1859 [L/MIL/11/38-66, indexed at Z/L/MIL/11/1].

1) Furlough payment books, Madras Army (UK and Europe) 1860-1892 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, departmental and warrant officers of the Madras Army appear intermittently in the published Madras Army Lists, c1855-1889 [L/MIL/17/3]

3) The series L/MIL/14 contains personal service files for some departmental/warrant officers whose names also appear in Madras Services - for example, Conductor William Stephen Dunk of the Madras Commissariat Department has a service file at L/MIL/14/10333, as well as two entries in Madras Services, L/MIL/11/90 ff 82 & 89, 92 f 94. An index to the L/MIL/14 service files is available in the OIOC Reading Room.

Personal name index

For index to Madras Services 1860-1892 see Z/L/MIL/11/2

No restrictions

The 'Madras Services' comprise statements of service and/or leave forwarded to London by the Government of Madras whenever an officer of the Madras Army took leave out of India to the UK or elsewhere - the term 'officer' in this context includes not only regular officers of the Madras Army but also departmental and warrant officers, and officers of the Madras Medical Service, the Subordinate Medical Department, and the Madras Veterinary Department. Also included are some British officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers serving on a long-term basis with the Madras Army, and in the period 1860-65 a few officers of HM 102nd, 105th and 108th

Foot (formerly the East India Company's 1st, 2nd and 3rd Madras Europeans). Departmental officers of the Madras Army served in the Ordnance, Commissariat and Public Works Departments and held the ranks of Deputy Assistant 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 Madras Army they held the ranks of Sub-Conductor and Conductor and (after 1860) were recruited from European NCOs on the Madras Army Unattached List. In the Subordinate Medical Department departmental officers held Honorary Surgeon ranks, warrant officers the ranks of Assistant Apothecary and Apothecary.