China Gun Lascars

Hong Kong Singapore Royal Artillery was one of the largest colonial forces raised by Great

Britain and during its hundred and five years of existence, it saw service in Hong Kong, the

Strait Settlements, Middle East, the Levant region, Aden and India. The Corps had a humble

beginning in 1841 when four companies of Gun Lascars were raised by the Madras

Presidency to be sent as part of the reinforcements to China. The exact date of the raising is

not known though it finds mention in a number of records and documents of that time. One of

the first mentions is found in the correspondence between The Duke of Wellington and Lord

Ellenborough, the Governor-General of India. In a memorandum dated 30 September 1841,

The Duke of Wellington advocated the despatch of 500 gun lascars from Madras Army.

Regarding their employment, the Duke suggested that “the Lascars, assisted by seamen from

the fleet and soldiers on fatigue, aided by any animals which the country could supply, would

draw the ammunition not carried on the limbers”. He also suggested that the gun lascars

selected from Horse Artillery should be trained as drivers and be so employed as it will add

to the overall effectiveness of the force being sent to China.1

Reinforcing the need for sending reinforcements to China, a select Committee formed to look

into the conduct of military operations wrote to the Governor General in India in October

1841 that as the existing force in China was not capable of delivering any decisive results, a

decisive result will remain elusive unless the expeditionary force in China was reinforced and

recommended that the expeditionary force be provided four British Regiments and an equal

number of Indian Regiments. Of these one Regiments of volunteers was recommended to be

provided by Bengal Army and three by Madras Army. A complement of artillery, sappers and

miners amounting to 750 men was also to form part of the expeditionary force, to be

accompanied by 500 gun lascars from Madras Army. The select Committee while laying
down the timeline for raising this force specified that it should be ready by April 1842 and

should reach Singapore by mid 1842.2

The Madras Army had over 5,000 Gun Lascars on its establishment but as they were all

committed, a decision was taken to raise four new companies of Gun Lascars, to be

designated as ‘China Gun Lascars’. An order published on 9 March 1842 notes:3

Under instructions from the Right Honourable the governor in Council, four

companies of gun lascars have been raised for service in China, each consisting of 1

subedar, 1 jemadar, 8 havildras, 115 lascars and 2 bheasties. The companies are to

be lettered from A to D, and will be under the orders of the officer commanding the

Madras Artillery in China for the general duties of the Corps. Officers in command of

these companies are authorized to draw an allowance of Rs 30 a month for stationer,

&c.

The troops earmarked for China were stationed all over India and had to be assembled before

setting sail for which 17 ships were taken up by the Governing Council from Calcutta and

Madras. The newly formed China Gun Lascars set sail with Bengal Volunteer Regiment, five

Regiments of Madras Native Infantry, a company of Sappers and Miners, a Troop of Horse

Artillery (European) and a Troop of Foot Artillery (European) but as the Infantry Regiments

sailed first, followed by the gunners, the lascars were amongst the last to reach China, in June

1842.4

The Companies were commanded by a Subedar, with no British officer on strength of the

company. The lascars were dressed alike to the garrison gunners of the time while the

Havildar-Major was given warrant officers' uniform. The dress was navy blue tunics unlined,
waistcoats with white trousers worn with ankle boots, for winters the Gun Lascars wore blue.

The gun lascars normally wore helmets but the China Gun Lascars of Madras army wore

turbans instead though the helmets were to be worn when in field. Navy blue in colour, a new

pattern turban was later introduced in 1843 by Madras Army Order No 768 of 5 June 1843

with the main objective being that it should be light and comfortable. The turban was to be

tied around a wooden kutora, made of moochie, with plain cotton stuffing and the lower part

being pliable so as to fit the lascar’s head. The turban was 6 ½ inches high from bottom to

the bulge and 1 ½ inches from bulge to bottom of kutora. The kutora itself was 2 inches with

crescent being ½ inch. To be able to fit properly and comfortable, the circumference of the

bulge to be 4 ½ inches more than the lascar’s head.5

The chevrons, made of gold material, were worn on the right arm only with Havildar Major

wearing a four bar chevron and a crown above the elbow with the point downwards while the

others wore the chevron below the elbow with point upwrads. The number of bars was the

same as for other arms except the Tinadl (same rank as Lance Corporal) did not wear any

chevron though Havildar wore three bar chevron and Senior Tindal (also called Naique) wore

two bar chevrons.6

The China Gun Lascars on reaching China joined the Third Brigade under Lord Saltoun that

included 98th Regiment, two regiments of Madras Native infantry, a battery of Royal

Artillery and a troop of Horse Artillery, and were used for sapper tasks. There are not many

accounts that mention their contributions during the campaign and one of the rare accounts

that acknowledges their contributions is the ‘Journal During the Chinese Expedition in 1841

and 1842’ by a Royal Artillery officer published in 1878.7

After the arrival of the relief force in July 1842, as the fleet moved upstream, the gun lascars

were employed to prepare the landing places for the guns and horses on the bank of river

Yangtze, and for manhandling the guns. The journal mentions that when the troops were

required to disembark, the gun lascars were hard at work to prepare a landing stage and

managed to finish the stage just in time at daybreak as the ships reached the designated

disembarkation place. Later, during the final assault on the Chinkiangfu (Zhenjiang), the

lascars helped the Battery of Royal Artillery move their guns, nearer to the town and were

‘devils to fight’ during the battle.8

The bloody engagement leading to the taking and virtual destruction of the town of

Chinkiangfu was the prelude to the final major assault on the Yangztze river port of Nanjing.

It was there that the treaty that finally ended the First Opium War was concluded on 29

August. The troops left Nanjing only after the emperor’s assent to the treaty was received on

15 September. In November the bulk of the British forces including the China Gun Lascars

reassembled at Hong Kong. Apart from the garrison left there, the rest of the troops left China

on 20 December 1842.9

The garrison staying back included part of the British Expeditionary Force under the

command of Lord Saltoun, consisting of part of 98 th, left wing 55th, right wing 41st Madras

Native Infantry, a company of Royal Artillery, one company of Madras Sappers and Miners

and ‘Bravo’ company of Gun Lascars. The remaining three Gun lascar companies set sail

from China on 20 December 1842 along with the remainder of the expeditionary force and

were disbanded on reaching India.10 The China Gun Lascar company was attached to the

company of Royal Artillery on the island.11

The China Gun Lascars had fared better as compared to other troops during the expedition of

1841-2 and were ‘exceedingly healthy’ with the casualties among the first batch of gun

lascars amounting to only 1 ¾ per cent as compared to about 9 per cent per annum among

the European troops. The medical authorities were of the view that the casualties were lower

among lascars as they were recruited from lower castes and they were they were more suited

for service in China as compared to the other sepoys of caste as they (the lascars) had no

inhibitions in eating ‘all sorts of animal food’.12

The good health enjoyed by the lascars did not last long with the initial stay at Hong Kong

being especially hard on them. While the European soldiers were permitted to stay on board

the relatively healthier environs of their transport ships, Indian sepoys and lascars were

compelled to stay on shore in mat-sheds made of bamboo leaves, which exposed them to the

rigours of both the hot sun and the torrential rains. The sickness and mortality rate of the gun

lascars deteriorated as a result. To fill the resultant shortfall in the number of gun lascars,

local recruitment was resorted to including enlisting from amongst the Chinese captured

during the expedition. The gun lascars continued to be used for fatigue and menial tasks with

an occasional employment for ceremonial duties, as during the celebrations on the occasion

of Her Majesty’s birthday:13

‘We had a grand parade on the evening of the 24 th instant, followed up by a ball and

supper, in honour of her Majesty's birthday; the troops in line ' the Royal Artillery on

the right, 18th Royal Irish Regiment, 42nd Regiment Madras N. I. and China Gun

Lascars, on the left; the shipping in the harbour were gaily decorated’

In 1845 the Board of Directors authorised the raising a company of Gun Lascars from

Asiatics to serve at Hong Kong with the strength of one Jemadar, two Havildars, four Naiks

and 81 lascars. The existing China Gun Lascars was a part of Madras Presidency Army on
the East India Company till date though they were attached to the Company of Royal

Artillery but the new company was now to be part of the regular British Army. 14 The

following year, the Board of Ordnance wrote to the Governor Bengal Presidency to instruct

the Governor of Prince of Wales island to provide all assistance to Lieutenant Colonel K.H.

Brereton of Royal Artillery in raising of a company of Gun Lascars for service in Hong

Kong.15

The newly raised company of gun lascars that had an average strength of 80 and was in the

real sense the beginning of Hong Kong Singapore Royal Artillery. It was stationed at Hong

Kong with a detachment at Canton. The lascars were housed in mat sheds and the poorly

constructed accommodation coupled with the inclement weather started taking a heavy toll of

the lascars. Though the Gun Lascars had a lower mortality rate as compared to the white

troops, they fared worse than other Asian troops. On 1 st January, 1857, the strength of Gun

Lascars serving in Hong Kong was 1 officer, 3 Sergeants, 1 Trumpeter/Drummer and 77

lascars at Victoria. The Troop was commanded by Captain Twiss and of the total strength of

82, 77 were fit for duty as on that date. There were another troop split in two detachments;

one of 1 Sergeant and 45 Lascars at Canton under Colonel Crawford and another of 2

Sergeants, 1 Drummer and 33 Lascars under Captain Rotton at Hong Kong. The detachment

at Canton was worse off as 13 of the 34 lascars were not ‘fit for duty’. The higher mortality

and ‘sick rate’ of Gun Lascars was attributed to the lascars having ‘forsaken the temperate

habits of their countrymen, and have so far acquired the habits of European soldiers as to

indulge from time to time in spirituous and other strong liquors’. The hot and moist climate

‘no doubt conduces to excite the disease in men accustomed to a warm dry atmosphere’.16
The high mortality rate notwithstanding, one major factor in favour of maintaining the Gun

Lascars of Indian sepoys was that it were far more economical than employing British troops

in the same role. With the pay of one Havildar Major at 2s 3d, two Havildars at 1s 4d, one

bugler at 11d, four Naicks at 1s and 80 privates at 11d per day, the total regimental pay was

£ 3,036. A sum of £ 10 was set as additional pay, and of £ 120 as Contingency allowance for

officer of Artillery in charge making the cost of maintaining the lascars was £ 3,136 per

annum.17 Due to the economics, no change was made in the existing arrangements except

resorting to recruiting of locals to maintain the company to the required strength. This

additionally saved the cost of transportation to and fro from India of the recruiting parties and

the recruits. As a result, the Gun lascars company soon had a mix of Madrassee Christians,

Madrassee Muslims, Sayyad Muslims, Malays, Portuguese half-castes, Eurasians, Jews and

locally settled Indians.18

The period between 1860 and 1880 was one of major organisational changes in Royal

Artillery to bring it in line with other fighting arms of the British Army. The old Artillery

brigades were abolished and new formed with their headquarters at home ( Great Britain)

only. Each brigade had 18 to 20 batteries of which some were aboard, at garrisons spread all

over the globe. This was done to better organise relief within the batteries but these changes

did not last long and Royal Artillery underwent another change in 1881 when the garrison

artillery was organised into eleven brigades: each allotted a territorial district from which to

draw its recruits. The same year saw an increase in the armament of Hong Kong and with

this, the War Office, sanctioned the formation of another company of gun lascars on a

similar footing to the existing one.19

To recruit the men for the second company, the British looked at Punjab as recruitment in

Madras had almost ended after 1857 with the British now preferring men from the so-called
martial races of India. One major factor favouring the decision to enlist Sikhs was the

recommendation of Colonel Hall, Honk Kong’s senior Artillery officer while Hong Kong’s

experience with Sikh policemen was another.20 The responsibility of recruiting Sikhs for the

Gun Lascar company was given to a local Sikh police officer, Sirdar Surmut Singh of

Philoki, Gujranwala District, India.

The new recruits reached Hong Kong in July 1881 and formed the ‘B’ Company, China Gun

Lascars. The strength of both companies was one Havildar-Major, two Havildars, 1 Bugler, 4

Naiks and 80 Privates, only that ‘A’ Company had three Buglers instead on one. With the

Sikhs joining the Gun Lascars, due changes were made in the regulations for clothing and

accessories. The Sikhs of 'B' company wore the same dress as the privates of 'A' company

with the exception of the Head-dress, the Sikhs wearing the red turban in place of the

helmet.21

The arrival of Sikhs as Gun Lascars resulted in a unwarranted comparison between the earlier

‘Madrassi’ troops with the British looking down on the latter as being ‘unsoldierly’. It was a

prejudiced and bigoted world view as the same Madrassi lascars had performed creditably

during the Opium Wars. The following is just one example of the views held by the English

officers about the Madrassi lascars:22

“As a supplement to the British force, two companies of gun-lascars have been

brought from India, and they form most useful adjuncts for duties such as orderly and

fatigue, involving exposure to the sun, which they can face with impunity, but which

would entail sickness on Europeans. Both companies are dressed like gunners, except

that the Sikhs wear turbans. The Madras company is, however, in most respects
 inferior to the Sikhs. Undersized, feebly built, contemptible in cast of features, they

approximate to the usual type of the cringing eastern. Those splendid Punjaubees, on

the other hand, of powerful physique, handsome features, grave and dignified, are

fine specimens of Orientals.”

After the initial recruitment of Sikhs from India, the two companies were kept up to strength

both by local enlistment and from India, the passage money being authorized to the recruiter.

To enlist as Gun lascars, Sikhs travelled from Punjab to Hong Kong to take service, and some

help was also taken from the Jemadar of the Colonial Sikh Police in this regard. One major

drawback of this arrangement was that the system of verification of character of the recruits

by the district authorities was not adopted as a result a number of ‘undesirable’ men joined

the ranks of the lascars. With more Sikhs enlisting, the strength of Madrassis in the Corps

saw a steady decline as their enlistment was stopped.

In 1883, both the companies were identical and maintained a strength of 88 lascars, all

ranks.23

Ranks Hong Kong Total

A Company B Company

Havildar Major 1 1 2

Havildar 2 2 4

Total Non-Commissioned Officers 3 3 6

Bugler 1 1 2

Naicks 4 4 8

Privates 80 80 160

Total Rank and File 84 84 168

Total All Ranks 88 88 176

The recruitment of Sikhs as Gun Lascars was not without attendant challenges. Discipline of

the lascars was lax and a large number of lascars were embroiled in money lending frequently

ending up in fistfights and court cases. Brawls and fights with the police constabulary were

also common occurrences for the lascars. 24 If this was not enough, the lascars started a protest

against the rations that were issued to them and had a host of other grievances as well.

In November 1882 the lascars conveyed their discontentment over the quality of atta (flour)

issued to them. This discontentment continued for over three months and in January 1883, the

Sikh lascars ceased, of their own accord, to draw their rations. An act of mass insubordination

followed on 2 February 1883 with nine Lascars refusing to obey orders to draw rations.

Though all the nine were court-martialed, the discontent itself was allayed by the grant of a

money allowance of 5 ½ d. per diem in lieu of rations in kind. The permission granting

ration allowance was however was received in Hong-Kong from the Home authorities much

later, on about 16 March 1883.25

This was the first serious instance of mass insubordination by the Lascars and care was taken

not to term it as a mutiny even though there was never a doubt about the severity of the

offence.

Alarmed with the turn of events and to stem the brewing discontentment, Lieutenant Colonel

and Brevet Colonel A. G. Ross, Bengal Staff Corps, 2 nd in Command and Wing Commander,

1st Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force, was sent on special duty to Hong Kong to enquire

into the alleged grievances of the Sikhs. He reported to the General Officer Commanding in

China and the Straits Settlements on 4 February 1884. An enquiry had earlier been done

locally and the General Officer Commanding was “satisfied that the Sikh gun lascars were

now quite contented, and that their conduct and discipline were all that could be wished, and
that, under these circumstances, he was of opinion that an enquiry into the old grievances of

the Sikhs, made by an officer sent from India for the purpose, would do more harm than good

(emphasis added).26 The causes for the grievances identified by Colonel Ross included the

denial of pension after the first period of engagement of 12 years and the designation as

lascars, and not as gunners. The latter was specially an emotive issue as the Sikhs had been

recruited as gollundaaz (gunners). Ross recommended some remedial measures but they

remained unattended.27 One change that was affected was that the Sikh lascars of ‘B’

Company were allowed to carry out gun drill occasionally including practice at a standing

target with 64pdr R.M.L. and the old 7pdr R.M.L. guns. During annual practice, Sikhs were

allowed to act as gun numbers but the guns were laid and fired by British non-commissioned

officers and gunners only. Gradually the Sikhs were given added responsibilities including

being trained as No 1 but they were still not allowed to carry out actual firing of the guns.28

In 1883 a detachment consisting of three havildars, one naick and 12 privates was sent to

Singapore to form a nucleus of a new company to be raised there. 29 During this time, Indian

Army was finding it difficult to find Sikh recruits in the desired numbers for its own

regiments, and for the colonial forces that depended on recruitment in Punjab. 30 One of the

measures recommended to tide over this difficulty was to recruit Punjabi Muslims who were

considered to be of same stock and race as jat Sikhs; and being of martial race. The new

company at Singapore was thus composed of Punjabi Muslims, in a departure from having

Sikh lascars.

In 1891, the Gun Lascar companies at Hong Kong and Singapore were proposed to be

merged, as one unit and the strength increased to double-companies. With this came a change
in designation as the Gun Lascars were now part of the Asiatic Artillery, a corps of the

British army.

Notes

1. As the later accounts do not mention the utilisation of gun lascars as drivers, it seems that
the suggestion was never followed up and the gun lascars were not employed in any other
role than the one they were initially enrolled for.
Colchester, Reginald Charles Abbot (ed.), History of the Indian Administration of Lord
Ellenborough; In His Correspondence with the Duke of Wellington (London, Richard
Bentley & Son, 1874), pp 139-164

2. “Copies or Extracts of further Correspondence and Returns relative to the Supply of

Troops, Vessels and munitions of War for carrying on the Military Operations in China”,
Printed by the orders of House of Commons, Colonial Office, Downing Street, London, 1843,
pp 16-17

3. The Asiatic Journal and Monthly register for British and Foreign India, China and
Australasia, Volume XXXVIII, May-August 1842, (London, 1842), pp 48-49

4. “Military Operations in China”, Extract of a despatch from Lord Stanley to the Lord
Commissioners of Admiralty, dated 4 February, 1842, from Accounts and Papers of the
House of Commons, Volume 35, House of Commons, Parliament, London, 1843, p 37

5. Abbott, P. E. “Further Notes on the Dress of the Madras Artillery”, Journal of the Society
for Army Historical Research, vol. 86, no. 348, 2008, pp. 310–314

6. Regulations for the Supply of Clothing and Necessaries to the Regular Forces, War Office,
Printed under the Supervision of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London, 1881, pp 157,
208, 216, 319

7. Journal during the Chinese Expedition in 1841 and 1842 by a Royal Artillery Officer ,
The United Service Magazine, Volume 147, May-April 1878, pp 503-505

8. ibid.

9. Renfrew, Barry, Forgotten Regiments: Regular and Volunteer Units of the British Far
East, (Bucks, Terrier Press, 2009), p 107

10. Vibart, Major H. M., The Military History of the Madras Engineers and Pioneers, from
1743 Up to the Present Time: Volume 2, W.H. Allen & Company, London, 1887, p181

11. Maurice-Jones, Colonel K. W., The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army,
(Uckfield, Naval and Military Press Ltd, 2005), p 135

12. Rogers, Samuel and Lorimer, Alexander (Ed.), The Madras Quarterly Medical Journal,
Volume 5, April- September 1843, (Madras, The Union Press, 1843), pp 376-8
13. Saint James’s Chronicle 18 September 1845

14. Maurice-Jones, The History of Coast Artillery in the British Army , p 135

15. Letter From The Court Of Directors To Governor of Bengal Presidency dated 17th June
1846,No.43,Para -1 held with National Archives of India, New Delhi

16. Report from Committees on ‘Mortality in China’ 1 February to 10 August 1866, Vol XV,
1866, Ordered by House of Commons, 1866

17. The London and China Telegraph, London, 6 March 1867, pp 130-31

18. Renfrew, Forgotten Regiments: Regular and Volunteer Units of the British Far East, p
108

19. Frederick, J. B. M., Lineage Book of British Land Forces, 1660-1978: Volume 2,
(Microform Academic, 1984), p 886

20. Thampi, Madhavi, Indian Soldiers, Policemen and Watchmen in China in the Nineteenth
and Early Twentieth Centuries, China Reports 35:4, (New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1999), p
406)

21. “ Army Circulars”, issued by the order of Secretary of State for War, War office, 1
January 1883, H.M. Stationery office, London, 1883

22. Knollys, Major Henry, English Life in China, (London, Smith, Elder & Co, 1885), p 57

23. Army Circulars, Issued by the Order of The Secretary of State for War, War Office,
London, 1883, p 34

24. The local Newspapers frequently reported on the instances of ill-discipline and the court
cases involving the lascars.

25. ‘Report on the alleged grievances of certain Sikh gun lascars in Hong Kong’ File No
s.580-581, May,1884 held at National Archives of India, New Delhi

26. ibid.

27. ibid.

28. As part of increasing duties being given to lascars, practice at a moving target was carried
out by them from 1885, but the laying and firing of the guns was still entrusted to Europeans.

29. They remained on the strength of ‘B’ company for a few years and were finally struck off
on the formation of the lascar company at Singapore.
30. “Difficulty in getting Jat Sikhs for Regiments of Punjab Frontier Force,” Military
Department, Pro A, September 1890, Nos. 177-81, Held by National Archives of India, New
Delhi