The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing into law of the Government of India Act 1858. At this latter point control of the East India Company's Bengal Presidency passed to the British Government. The first locally recruited battalion was raised by the East India Company in 1757 and by the start of 1857 there were 74 regiments of Bengal Native Infantry in the Bengal Army. Following the Mutiny the Presidency armies came under the direct control of the United Kingdom Government and there was a widespread reorganisation of the Bengal Army that saw the Bengal Native Infantry regiments reduced to 45.
Subadar of the 21st Bengal Native Infantry, 1819 (published in An Assemblage of Indian Army Soldiers & Uniforms from the original paintings by the late Chater Paul Chater)
A group photograph of 21st (Punjab) Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, 1866
British and native officers, 15th (Ludhiana) Regiment of Bengal Native infantry. Photograph taken by the Royal Engineers during the 1884 Suakin Expedition
Portrait of General William Martin Cafe VC, a veteran of the Indian Mutiny; Captain Cafe served with the 56th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859.
India in 1765 and 1805, showing East India Company-governed territories in pink
India in 1837 and 1857, showing East India Company-governed territories in pink
Two sepoy officers; a private sepoy, 1820s
Charles Canning, the Governor-General of India during the rebellion.