The 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

. The regiment could trace its origins to 1759, when it was raised as the 4th Battalion Coast Sepoys.

History

One of the oldest regiments in the British Indian Army, the Palamcottah Light Infantry took part in the Carnatic Wars

Carnatic Wars

The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century on the Indian subcontinent...

, the Battle of Sholinghur

Battle of Sholinghur

The Battle of Sholinghur was fought on 27 September 1781 between forces of the Kingdom of Mysore led by Hyder Ali and British East India Company forces led by General Eyre Coote. The company forces were victorious.-References:*Vibart, H. M ....

 in the Second Anglo-Maratha War

Second Anglo-Maratha War

The Second Anglo-Maratha War was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.-Background:...

, the Battle of Mahidpur

Battle of Mahidpur

The Battle of Mahidpur was fought during the Third Anglo-Maratha War between the Marathas and the British led by Sir Thomas Hislop at Mahidpur, a town in the Malwa region, on 20 December 1817....

 in the Third Anglo-Mysore War

Third Anglo-Mysore War

The Third Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company and its allies, including the Mahratta Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad...

, and the Battle of Ava in the Second Anglo-Burmese War

Second Anglo-Burmese War

The Second Anglo-Burmese War was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese and the British Empire during the 19th century, with the outcome of the gradual extinction of Burmese sovereignty and independence....

. They were then sent to China as part of the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 forces that took part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

. In 1914 the Regimental Centre was located at Trichinopoly.

Recruitment basis

After 1902 the basis of recruitment for most of the Madras regiments of the Indian Army shifted to the "martial races" of the Punjab and other northern regions. The Palamcottah Light Infantry however continued to be recruited in southern India. In 1914 four of its eight companies were Madrasi Muslims, two were Tamils and the remainder Parayans and Christian Madrasis. The regiment had about 13 British officers and 17 Indian officers.

World War I

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the regiment initially remained in India on internal security duties as part of the 5th (Mhow) Division

5th (Mhow) Division

The 5th Division was a regular division of the British Indian Army and part of the Southern Army which was formed in 1903 after Lord Kitchener was appointed Commander-in-Chief, India between 1902 and 1909...

. In October 1914 the Palamcottah Light Infantry moved to British East Africa as part of the Indian Expeditionary Force B. It was part of the British landing force defeated by German colonial troops at the Battle of Tanga

Battle of Tanga

The Battle of Tanga, sometimes also known as the Battle of the Bees, was the unsuccessful attack by the British Indian Expeditionary Force “B” under Major General A.E. Aitken to capture German East Africa during World War I in concert with the invasion Force “C” near Longido on the slopes of...

. Of 762 officers and men present at Tanga, the regiment lost 85 killed, wounded and missing. It spent the remainder of the War on lines of communication service in East Africa before returning to India.

Disbandment

After World War I the Indian Army was restructured with the infantry moving from single battalion regiments to multi-battalion regiments. Following the allocation of individual battalions to the twenty new "large" regiments the nine remaining single battalion regiments were disbanded. These included the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry, which ceased to exist on 13 September 1922.

Predecessor names

• 4th Battalion Coast Sepoys - 1759
• 4th Carnatic Battalion - 1769
• 3rd Carnatic Battalion - 1779
• 3rd Madras Battalion - 1784
• 1st Battalion, 3rd Madras Native Infantry - 1796
• 3rd Madras Native Infantry (Palamcottah Light Infantry) - 1812
• 3rd Madras Native Light Infantry - 1885
• 63rd (Palamcottah) Madras Light Infantry - 1901
• 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry - 1903

Insignia and Uniform

The Palamcottah Light Infantry had the usual bugle horn badge of light infantry regiments, in brass with the number 63 in the curl of the bugle and a crown above. The full dress uniform in 1910 included a scarlet tunic with emerald green facings and dark blue breeches. Turban and puttees were khaki.