Madras Regiment

The Madras Regiment is the oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army, originating in the 1750s as a unit of the British East India Company. The regiment took part in numerous campaigns with the British Indian Army and the post-independence Indian Army. The Madras Regiment primarily recruits from the erstwhile Madras state (present-day Tamil Nadu, southern Karnataka, parts of Andhra Pradesh, and northern Kerala) and the Kingdom of Mysore (present-day Karnataka). However, the 9th and 16th battalions (Nair Battalions) were later formed from troops from the kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin in present day Kerala.

History

As an East India Company unit

The Madras Regiment was initially formed as the Madras European Regiment in the 1660s by the East India Company, and would see its first action during the First Carnatic war. The first of the sepoy levies were mostly irregulars, consisting of Indo-Portuguese guards, Europeans, and some natives, with no standard issue uniforms or equipment. Unlike the English East India Company, the French Indies Company had begun to recruit and train local Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam speaking recruits, and would have two regiments of sepoys fully drilled and equipped in the French Manner. In 1746, the newly trained French sepoy regiments under Admiral La Bourdonnais would capture Madras after quickly overwhelming the underequipped garrison.

In 1748, Major Stringer Lawrence, a veteran of action in Spain, Flanders and the Highlands, was hired by the East India Company to take charge of the defence of Cuddalore. Training the levies to become a militia, he formed the Madras Levies into companies, and trained them to become a disciplined fighting force.