To officer each of these regiments, the officers of two of the ten mutinied or disbanded Bengal Native Cavalry regiments were utilized: but, instead of placing them upon a single list, they were kept on separate lists for promotion, which were styled Right and Left Wings, corresponding to their late regiments. All officers newly appointed, who had belonged to neither of the old Native regiments, were to be borne on the strength of the Right Wing, so that, in process of time, the Left Wing was destined to disappear; but the process would have been one of thirty years or more, according to the rate of promotion then existing in the Company’s service.
The Bengal 1st European Light Cavalry was officered by the surviving officers of the 1st and 3rd Bengal Native Cavalry, both of which regiments had mutinied. For remounts, the men were given a number of horses hastily purchased at the Cape of Good Hope and in Australia, most of them wild unbroken bush horses that had never been handled. An officer who served with the regiment at this time, writing of it forty years afterwards, says:—
“No regiments were ever raised under such absurd conditions, and, if the object had been to prove them a failure, no course better calculated to achieve that end could have been pursued. The only old soldiers sent to assist us were two or three infantry men from a Fusilier regiment, none higher in rank than Corporal. When the authorities were addressed on this subject, one or two cavalry soldiers, I think from the 7th Hussars, were sent; the highest in rank being a Lance Corporal who was promptly made a Troop Sergeant Major, and I don’t think turned out a success. The horses, like the men, were all untrained, and some of the horses from the Cape were perfect devils, very difficult to clean, and for some time impossible to ride or to shoe. I have a vivid recollection of one roan, who stood in his stall for days covered with mud, because no one could go near him. Out of the crowd of raw recruits, we had to find all our Non-Commissioned officers from Troop Sergeant Major downwards, so it may be imagined what little respect was paid to the highest grades.”
On the 1st November 1858, the Crown assumed the government of India, and the East India Company thenceforth ceased to exist. No attention was paid to the view that might be taken of the change, in the ranks of the Company’s army. The British soldier, though he yields to discipline, never forgets that he is a soldier by his own free will; he objects to be treated like a conscript. The late Company’s European soldiers quickly came to believe that their rights had been infringed. Had they been asked to volunteer for service under the Crown, they would have done so almost to a man; but they objected to be handed over “like bullocks,” as they expressed it. The Indian government consulted its legal advisers, who treated the objection as a purely technical one, prompted by a wish for the offer of a bounty. So long as the men were retained for the local service for which they had enlisted, it was considered that they had no grievance. It was decided that the men had no case, and a General Order to this effect was published in April 1859. The agitation quickly assumed a serious aspect, and, during May, there was a time when, in a few cantonments, a collision between the Royal and the late Company’s European troops appeared possible. The movement was not confined to the newly raised regiments, but was equally shared in by the old soldiers of the late Company, who had shown their fine qualities on many a hard fought field. The behaviour of the 1st Bengal European Light Cavalry was similar to that of the local European forces in most other places. All guards and barrack duties were performed without demur, but the men refused to turn out for parade. On one occasion the canteen was broken into, and an attempt was made to release prisoners. Mutinous language was used to officers in a few instances, and shots fired in defiance, but not with evil intent. Under the circumstances already related, it is surprising that nothing worse occurred. In one instance alone, in one of the newly raised infantry regiments, was there a dangerous attempt to act as an organized armed body hostile to the State. This was speedily repressed, and the ringleader shot.
The Calcutta government quickly recognized its mistake. In the end of June, orders were published allowing the men the option of discharge, but no bounty was offered to those who elected to remain, while those who took their discharge were not allowed the option of re-enlistment, as long as they remained in the country. Under the feeling of exasperation that had grown up, upwards of 10,000 men elected to take their discharge, of whom 2800 re-enlisted on reaching England.
The trouble with the Indian local European forces, in 1859, has been frequently cited as a cogent reason against the maintenance of a body of British troops in India, for local service only; a measure that would overcome many difficulties now felt in army administration. Those who study the events of 1859 must recognize that the trouble arose, not from the conditions of service, but from the mistakes of those in authority at Calcutta. The “White Mutiny” was no mere outbreak against discipline: it was the vindication of the men’s claim to be consulted in the disposal of their services.
While these events were in progress, orders were received for the regiment to march to Cawnpore, which it did in June.
Early in 1861, it was determined to cease the maintenance of any European force for local service in India, and, on 6th May, the officers, non-commissioned officers and men were called on to volunteer for General Service. They responded, almost to a man, and the regiment received the designation of the 19th Light Dragoons. In the same way, the Bengal 2nd and 3rd European Light Cavalry became the 20th and 21st Light Dragoons; the 4th and 5th being disbanded. At the same time, the establishment was assimilated to that of other British cavalry regiments in India, viz. nine troops (one at the depot in England) with 585 corporals and privates: 693 of all ranks. Three months later, under Horse Guards order of 17th August 1861, the designation of the regiment was changed to the 19th Hussars. The standard for recruits was assimilated to that of other Hussar regiments.
At the beginning of February 1862, the regiment was moved to Lucknow.
On the 30th July, in the same year, the complete roll of officers was gazetted.