irregular miniatures

british artillery indian mutiny

blues miniatures

gurkhas in the indian mutiny

During the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the Gurkha regiments remained loyal to the British, and became part of the British Indian Army on its formation. The 2nd Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) defended Hindu Rao’s house for over three months, losing 327 out of 490 men. The 60th King’s Royal Rifle Corps (later part of the Royal Green Jackets) fought alongside the Sirmoor Rifles and were so impressed that following the mutiny they insisted 2nd GR be awarded the honours of adopting their distinctive rifle green uniforms with scarlet edgings and rifle regiment traditions and that they should hold the title of riflemen rather than sepoys. Twelve Gurkha regiments also took part in the relief of Lucknow.you can easily convert our rifleman to a gurkha . 5.95 unpainted.

part 2 lies are better than life

fixed bayonet 54mm rifle brigade figure in 54mm available at 5.95 unpainted. this one is available for price of unpainted. we also have british infantry at 5.95 unpainted
The structure of the Sepoy army was at times chaos.Because of the class/caste system an officer would kneel before a private.Going across seas was a great problem due to religous observation. The Sepoy was also alarmed at the idea that the British wanted to employ Sikhs in their place.
The Sikh infantry was regarded as the best in the world. Then came the idea that on the centenary of the battle of Plessey in 1857 European rule would be destroyed. A spark therefore was needed to explode the whole. It came at Dum Dum in Bengal near Calcutta in Jan 1857; the story of the greased cartridge. It spread like wildfire. At Berhampore and Barrackpore the 19th and 34th native infantry refused to accept cartridges. The official outbreak occured at MEERUT near Dehli .Tdum dum station
two Sepoy regiments, one native cavalry. Here they were quartered with the 60th rifles, a dragoon regiment, a troop of artillery, and a light field battery. The strongest British force at any station in Bengal.(Model soldiers are Blues Limited,William Hoeker and Britain's).
On April the 23rd Colonel Smyth ordered a parade of skirmishers; only four accepted the cartridges offered. The men were tried , ten years hard labour.But as they were led away a terrible silence invaded the fortress. Plans were brewing, vendetta was in the air.
 A month before the mutiny began at Barrackpore Mangal Pandey was executed before his sentence could be carried out and this further incensed the sepoys;Pandey had killed a British officer in Barrackpore during the argument over cartridges; the officer had been on his side as he wanted to replace the cartridges creaed with pig fat.

Many Indian websites unfairly and to be honest incorrectly point out that Meerut and people like Pandey(the colour photo above shows him in the supposed uniform of the 34th from an Indian film, the other is an old illustration) were the beginnings of a great liberation war; this is as much a falsity as those so called "facts" which sparked off the 1st civil war in America as regards "The Boston Massacre" and "Paul Revere's ride". They suit the university proffesors and would be liberationists in their reasons behind national pride.Read on in the post above this the first post is below this.the love interest in the film of pandey, not bad eh?

the unemployed soldier indian mutiny paRT 1

There are many indian revisionists who want to make the indian mutiny much more than what  it was, the kindian mutiny as it is  as it is known was a purely localised affakir blown up to huge proportions by the horrific massacre of women and children by fanatical mutineers and here we set out here to bring some sense to the conflict.It  it is February 1856= 233,000 native troops plus 40,000 European (East Indian and Crown) 3 Sepoy armies=Bengal,Bombay,Madras .
Keep in mind that the mutiny was one of the Bengal sepoy army only. It was not a national rising. It started after Lord Dalhousie annexed territory of Indian despots whose scandalous handling of law and order was manifest.
It was also not anything to do with indian solidarity or in any way a revolution.
 In OUDH in Bengal the ruler Nana Sahib was pensioned off. He was allowed to continue to take rents. This he resented and started to tamper with native soldiers, the SEPOYS. (NANA SAHIB.right)
Also a large number of soldiers had becomre redundant when Oudh was annexed.They were now penniless and became one of the causes of the Bengal mutiny.
Apart from this the victory at Gujerat had left a Sepoy army inflated with its own importance.It was idle and as you know that condition leads to many things.In the first image THE BATTLE OF GUJERAT
The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the war, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the empire and an army in rebellion against the Company's control of their lands represented by the child Maharaja  who was in British custody . The Sikh army was defeated by british and bengali troops After it capitulated a few days later, then the punjab was annexed to the East India Company's territories and Duleep Singh was deposed.

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