Bengal Army List for 1855. Calcutta printed June 1855

LIST OF THE BENGAL ARMY. Corrected to the 25th of June 1855. Printed in the Office of the Adjutant General of the Army [Calcutta] 1855. large 8vo [10 x 7 ins]

viii, 300pp. Rebound in red half leather gilt, retaining an old marbled endpaper to which are tipped some contemporary newspaper cuttings of army analysis, the title page has a very bold ownership name at the head Colonel Sturt [Lt. Col William Milner Neville Sturt, commanding the 43rd Native Infantry – see footnote]. This annual Army List is very clean, printed on very stout paper and without any annotation.The list contains more information on the officers than can be found in the East  India Register or even in the Bengal Quarterly Lists. As well as additional information in the regimental lists a very helpful addition is the list of Officers on Political or Civil Employ. There is extra detail on the local regiments including their composition.  Students of the Indian Mutiny will find this list, produced less than two years before its outbreak, particularly useful. A copy of the April 1857 edition of this book sold in auction earlier this month for over £1,600.     may29/2

Lt. Colonel William Milner Neville Sturt joined the East India Company’s Army in 1819 serving much his career in the 10th Bengal NI but was near the seat of government serving as firstly Assistant and then Deputy Military Secretary. In this volume he is commanding the 43rd NI at Umritsar in the Punjab [ now known as Amritsar and the site of the Sikh holy place = the Golden Temple.