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1 of 253523 objects
After Colesworthey Grant (1813-80)
Bengal Sepoys c.1857
Wood engraving | RCIN 760606
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A wood engraving showing four Indian soldiers of a Bengal Sepoy regiment, and an officer (British?); three-quarter length, standing to front; rifles held at 'present arms'. The officer at the front holds his sword, with one hand touching the tip. From the series of C. Grant's 'Oriental Heads'.
From 1757 the British East India company employed Indian infantrymen alongside the Bengal European Infantry, initially to protect their commercial interests in India. The soldiers of the Bengal Native Infantry were known as sepoys, after the Persian term sipahi, which had been translated into the Urdu and Hindi languages as a generic term for a soldier. In 1885 the word 'native' was dropped from the titles of all military units in the Bengal Army. -
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Medium and techniques
Wood engraving
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