​Harry’s Military Service in India

Harry Wells was a farrier sergeant, in E Battery 19 Brigade Royal Artillery.  As such he would make and fit horse shoes, to be able to attend to the majority of the veterinary and husbandry needs of a horse and would have daily inspected every horse in his charge. The Royal Artillery Museum have confirmed that Harry’s personnel records no longer exist so his specific experiences in India are unknown.

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E Battery, 19 Brigade RA was originally raised in India as 5 Company, 2 Battalion Bengal Artillery, Honourable East India Company (HEIC) Army.​

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After the ‘Indian Mutiny’ (1857-58) a more conciliatory approach was taken to Indian religion and culture with general housecleaning of the Indian administration. The East India Company (EIC), bankrupted by the mutiny, was dissolved and India was thereafter administered directly by the British Government.​

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The Indian army was also extensively reorganized. The EIC Army became the (British) Indian Army and the percentage of British soldiers in each company was increased. The EIC's three armies (Bengal, Bombay and Madras), which in 1857 had only 43,000 British to 228,000 native troops, were reorganized by 1867 to what was deemed a much “safer” mix of 65,000 British to 140,000 Indian soldiers.

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Most of the artillery, including the Bengal Artillery, was amalgamated within the Royal Artillery of the British Army in 1862.  Harry Wells’ unit was retitled at Jhansi, India as E Battery, 19 Brigade Royal Artillery.

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We can’t know when Harry became a soldier or was posted to India. It is possible that, as an 18- or 19-year-old, he served in the Bengal Artillery at the time of the Mutiny.  Alternatively, he may have transferred to E Battery after 1862 as part of the effort to bolster the number of British troops in India. The latter seems more likely as Harry is not listed in the Register of European Soldiers, Bengal Army 1790-1860.

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In 1874, E Battery 19 Brigade was stationed in Sitapur. The district was always politically active and played an important role in the 1857 uprising. Sitapur was a military centre under the British and contains a cantonment (military installation).

For most of the previous year Harry had been stationed in the city of Allahabad (now Prayagraj) - 300km to the south. That city was the scene of a great massacre of Indians by the British in mid-1857, during the Indian Mutiny against British rule (1857–58).

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