Troops in the East India Company's service, a Sergeant and a Grenadier Sepoy of the Bengal Army, 1812

Aquatint by J C Stadler after Charles Hamilton Smith, 1812.

The armies of the three East India Company 'Presidencies' were composed largely of sepoy battalions, that is, units of Indian troops commanded by European officers. Many of the sepoys were recruited from peoples that had their own long traditions of soldiering on the sub-continent. They combined their own military skills with western weapons and the military training provided by the Company.

From Charles Hamilton Smith's 'Costumes of the Army of the British Empire, according to the last regulations 1812', published by Colnaghi and Company, 1812-1815.