Button, other ranks, 6th Bengal European Regiment, 1858-1861

Circular brass button by Smith, Kemp and Wright of Birmingham, with numeral '6' within a French circle and dot, surrounded by the regimental title, 'European Regiment' and a wreath.

The 6th Bengal European Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in Bengal in 1858 by the British East India Company, for service in the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). The 'European' in its title denotes that other ranks as well as officers were drawn from the European population in India.

The regiment composed of officers drawn from two Indian units, which had mutinied, the 7th Bengal Native Infantry and 8th Bengal Native Infantry. The 6th were initially based at Hazaribagh in Bihar, a state where some of the last rebel partisans of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859) were operating on the Nepal border.

Following the end of the Mutiny the regiment were placed under the command of the Crown. The regiment was reduced to cadre strength in 1861, losing most of its rank and file to other units, and it was finally disbanded in 1867.

From the Field Marshal Sir John Chapple Indian Army Collection.