The 81st Pioneers were 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...

. They could trace their origins to 1786, when they were raised as the 28th Madras Battalion.

The regiment was first called into action for the campaigns 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...

. They then took part in the Battle of Seringapatam

Battle of Seringapatam

The Siege of Seringapatam was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's...

 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company under the Earl of Mornington....

. Next they were involved in the Third Anglo-Maratha War

Third Anglo-Maratha War

The Third Anglo-Maratha War was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by 110,400 British East India Company troops, the largest...

, where they fought at the Battle of Nagpore in 1817. In 1879 they were involved in their first campaigns outside of India, when they took part in the Second Afghan War. This was followed in 1885 by the Third Burmese War. They returned to India and took part in the Tirah Campaign

Tirah Campaign

The Tirah Campaign, often referred to in contemporary British accounts as the Tirah Expedition, was an Indian frontier war in 1897–98. Tirah is a mountainous tract of country.-Rebellion:...

 in 1897, attached to the Second Division, they did not see any serious fighting until late in the campaign, when they served as the divisional rearguard during a withdrawal 28 December 1897. 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...

 they took part in the Mesopotamia Campaign. They also raised a second battalion during the war which was only disbanded in 1921.
After World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments. In 1922, the 81st Pioneers became the 10th (Training) Battalion, 1st Madras Pioneers

1st Madras Pioneers

The 1st Madras Pioneers could refer to;*61st Pioneers Which had the title in 1901, they later became the 1st Battalion, 1st Madras Pioneers in 1922*64th Pioneers which became the 2nd Battalion, 1st Madras Pioneers in 1922....

. This regiment was disbanded in 1933.

Predecessor names

• 28th Madras Battalion - 1786
• 1st Battalion, 11th Madras Native Infantry - 1796
• 21st Madras Native Infantry - 1824
• 21st Madras Infantry (Pioneers) - 1885
• 21st Madras Pioneers - 1901
• 81st Pioneers - 1903