Beyond beasts and bullion: Economic considerations in Bombay's military logistics, 1803

Modern Asian Studies

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 159-183

  Cooper, Randolf G S ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 11244294869     PISSN: 0026749X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X99003169     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. Arthur Wellesley is remembered as the First Duke of Wellington, victor at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
2. See Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'New Light on Arthur Wellesley's Command-Apprenticeship in India: The Dhoondiah Waugh Campaign of 1800 Reconsidered', in The Road to Waterloo, edited by Alan J. Guy (London, 1990). For Wellesley's further education, in artillery at the hands of the Marathas, see Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'Wellington and the Marathas', The International History Review, vol. XI, no. 1, 1989, and Randolf G. S. Cooper and N. K. Wagle, 'Maratha Artillery: From Dabhoi to Assayc', Journal of the Ordnance Society, vol. 7, 1995.
3. See Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'New Light on Arthur Wellesley's Command-Apprenticeship in India: The Dhoondiah Waugh Campaign of 1800 Reconsidered', in The Road to Waterloo, edited by Alan J. Guy (London, 1990). For Wellesley's further education, in artillery at the hands of the Marathas, see Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'Wellington and the Marathas', The International History Review, vol. XI, no. 1, 1989, and Randolf G. S. Cooper and N. K. Wagle, 'Maratha Artillery: From Dabhoi to Assayc', Journal of the Ordnance Society, vol. 7, 1995.
4. See Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'New Light on Arthur Wellesley's Command-Apprenticeship in India: The Dhoondiah Waugh Campaign of 1800 Reconsidered', in The Road to Waterloo, edited by Alan J. Guy (London, 1990). For Wellesley's further education, in artillery at the hands of the Marathas, see Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'Wellington and the Marathas', The International History Review, vol. XI, no. 1, 1989, and Randolf G. S. Cooper and N. K. Wagle, 'Maratha Artillery: From Dabhoi to Assayc', Journal of the Ordnance Society, vol. 7, 1995.
5. See Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'Indian Army Logistics 1757-1857: Arthur Wellesley's Role Reconsidered', Chapter Six in Soldiers of the Raj: The Indian Army 1600-1947, edited by Alan J. Guy and Peter B. Boyden (National Army Museum, London, 1997).
6. Major Innes Munro, Narrative of the Military Operations on the Commandel Coast against the combined Forces of the French, Dutch and Hyder Ally Cawn from the year 1780 to the Peace of 1784, in a Series of Letters (London, 1789), p. 179.
7. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #61, pp. 1868-72, Edward Moor Garrison Stockeeper to Francis Warden Sec. to the Military Board, 23 May 1803.
8. Rupees are abbreviated as Rs. Transactions in Rupees are often listed in EIC documents as three figure citations, i.e. Rs 3 : 2 : 1, which in later years would correspond to the units 3 rupees, 2 annas and 1 pice. However, it is not safe to assume that all three figure expressions were equivalent in 1803-1805. The value of rupees is difficult to establish unless the specific type is stated, i.e. Bombay, Arcot, Sonaut. The complexity was exacerbated by the imposition of a standard known as the Sicca Rupee and the book-keeping of Bengal that relied on 'imaginary coins', called Current Rupees, Current Annas, and Current Pice. These Bengal 'Current' designations were the book-keeping standard, 'To this currency must all real specie be reduced, before any sum can be entered into books of accounts'. According to the East India Military Register and Directory for 1803, p. 286, 12 Current Pice make 1 Current Anna, 16 Current Annas make 1 Current Rupee. One Sicca Rupee (16 Annas) was 7 dwts 11 grains, or it can also be expressed as 179.55 grains of silver. One Anna (12 Pice) 11.12 grains, based on One Pice being equal to .93 grains. The official 1803 EIC exchange standard, p. 286, lists the Rate of Exchange for the Pound Sterling as 10 Sicca Rupees. While 100 Sicca Rupees (Calcutta) were equal to 116 Current Rupees and 100 Bombay Rupees equal to no Current Rupees, p. 290. In Bombay 'imaginary' terms 100 Reas = 1 quarter and 4 quarters = 1 rupee. Therefore, in a three-figure Bombay expression, of 1803, the first number is likely to be that of rupees, the second that of quarter rupees, and the third or light-hand figure, that of reas. This system can usually be confirmed in large-scale accounts by viewing the second and third-number range. For example, if a rea is 1/100th of a quarter (or in effect a 1/400th of a rupee), the numbers in the right-hand column will not exceed 99 before the increase in the second (middle) or center column. Similarly, since that second, or middle column, is an expression of 1/4 rupees, the number in the second column will always be a single digit less than 4 as anything over 3 would mean that another rupee had been completed (as in 4/4ths). So in the case of our original example of 3 : 2 : 1, Bengal and Bombay would read it in the following manner assuming the metal content and standard value were the same; both agree it is three rupees, but Bengal would read the remainder as 2 annas and 1 pice while Bombay would see it as 2 quarters and 1 rea. The terms crore and lakh were common, 1 crore = 10,000,000 and 1 lakh = 100,000.
9. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary 1803, #61, p. 1870, Edward Moor Garrison Stockeeper to Francis Warden Sec. to the Military Board, 23 May 1803.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid., p. 1871.
12. See Supplementary Despatches and Memoranda of Field Marshal Arthur Duke of Wellington, K.G., edited by The Second Duke of Wellington (John Murray, London, 1858-1872), vol. II, pp. 70-1, entry no. [501], Arthur Wellesley to the Secretary of Government, Camp at Luckmaisir, 24 July 1800. 'The bad weather, mentioned in my letter of the 20th, continued to the night of the 2 ist, and destroyed at that time nearly one-half of the public hired carriage cattle of the detachment . . .'.
13. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 19 Oct. 1803, p. 3932, Maj. Gen. Arthur Wellesley to James Augustus Grant Sec. to Govt, Camp,. 13 Oct. 1803.
14. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 19 Oct. 1803, p. 3935, Proceedings of the Bombay Military Board.
15. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 28 Oct. 1803, p. 4061, Maj. Gen. Arthur Wellesley to James Augustus Grant, Sec. to Govt, Camp, 17 Oct. 1803.
16. Heat casualties were common among the Europeans and Blakiston recorded temperatures inside the tents which reached 120°F, see Major John Blakiston, Twelve Years' Military Adventure in Three Quarters of the Globe: Or Memoirs of an Officer who served in the Armies of His Majesty and of the East India Company, between the Years 1802 and 1814, in which are contained the Campaigns of the Duke of Wellington in India, and his last in Spain and the South of France (London, 1829), vol. I, p. 97.
17. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 28 Oct. 1803, p. 4062, Maj. Gen. Arthur Wellesley to James Augustus Grant, Sec. to Govt, Camp, 17 Oct. 1803. In this letter 'private follower', is taken to mean privately contracted camp follower.
18. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 28 Oct. 1803, pp. 4063-5, Lt. Col. Henry Woodington to the Bombay Military Board, Bombay, 25 Oct. 1803.
19. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 28 Oct. 1803, p. 4065, Proceedings of the Bombay Military Board.
20. Ibid., p. 4066.
21. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1804, #68, 3 Jan. 1804, p. 21, Maj. Gen. Arthur Wellesley to James Augustus Grant, Sec. to Govt, Camp, 13 Dec. 1803.
22. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1804, #68, 3 Jan. 1804, p. 22, Simon Halliday Superintendent of Police to the Bombay Military Board, Police Office Bombay. The exact weight of the Pune Seer proved elusive but a Gujarat Seer was said to equal one English pound or 16 English ounces. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1804, #73, 5 July 1804, p. 879, Major Alexander Walker to James Augustus Grant, Sec. to Govt, Baroda, 1 July 1804.
23. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1804, #68, 13 Jan. 1804, p. 173, Tucker Surjee Dongur Sye to James Augustus Grant, Sec. to Govt, Bombay, 9 Jan. 1804.
24. Note the unexplained drop in prices of coolie labour in comparison to the Rs 3 : 2 : 50 paid by Captain Young at Panvel and cited earlier. This is even more dramatic when we consider (a) that Surjee quoted for a greater distance, Bombay to Pune, not Panvel to Pune, and that (b) he was a broker, which means his commission would come off the top of the Rs 2+ he quoted. Although speculative, it seems reasonable to suggest that supply and demand market forces had caught up with the wartime opportunity. He may have been recruiting from further outside the Bombay labour market and therefore had access to other peripheral people such as Kolis and Bhils who would sell their services more cheaply, knowingly or not. The dynamics of the labour market may have also been affected by the 1803 famine and the presence of country people displaced by the war who were willing to take the job for the surety of food as opposed to the rate of the wage.
25. For a complete discussion of the seriousness of Bonaparte's amphibious threat to England, see Richard Glover, Britain at Bay, Defence against Bonaparte, 1803-14 (George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, 1973).
26. For some unexplained reason the Bombay Army's bill for Egyptian service in 1802 did not surface until the list of 'contingent bills' in Aug. 1804. This proved embarrassing as it worsened the EIC's indebtedness when the bill was added to those for the cost of operations in 1803 against the Marathas. See Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #73, pp. 1080-1, Alexander Hay Acting Military Auditor General, to the Bombay Military Board, recommended to be passed 30 Aug. 1804, Bombay. For a full accounting of the 'Estimated Expense incurred by the East India Company by the Expedition to Egypt' see Appendix No. 8, pp. 114-32, 'Account between the Public and the East India Company Report from the Select Committee with Appendix 1805 (197) Vol. IV', in British Parliamentary Papers, Reports from Select Committees on the Affairs of the East India Company with Appendices 1805-10, Colonies East India, vol. I.
27. In August of 1803, the month the war with the Marathas commenced, the French garrison at Pondicherry became prisoners of war and were taken into captivity by the EIC. Oriental and India Office Collections, Board's Collections, F/4/200, #4530, pp. 21-3, Instructions From Bengal Relative to Prisoners of War, F. Thompson Town Major Fort St George to the Chief Sec. of Govt, 6 June 1805.
28. Major Alexander Dirom, A Narrative of the Campaign in India which Terminated The War With Tippoo Sultan in 1792 (London, 1793), reprinted Asian Educational Services (Delhi, 1985), p. 183. Also worthy of note, A Review of the Origin, Progress and Result of the Late Decisive War in Mysore, in a Letter from an Officer in India: with Notes and an Appendix, comprising the Whole of the Secret State Papers found in the Cabinet of Tippoo Sullaun, at Seringapatam; taken from the Originals; Also, a Dedication to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, &c&c, By M. Wood, Esq., M.P. Colonel and Late Chief Engineer, Bengal, and a Map, Showing the Extent of the Dominions of Tippoo Sultaun, and their Partition between the Allied Powers-the English, the Mahrattas, and the Nizam; London, Printed by Luke Hansard, Great Turnstile, Lincoln's-Inn Fields, For T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, in the Strand, 1800. See, also, Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan To Various Public Functionaries: including his Principal Military Commanders; Governors of Forts and Provinces; Diplomatic and Commercial Agents. Arranged and Translated by William Kirkpatrick, Colonel in the Service of the Honourable East India Company, Printed for Black, Parry and Kingbury, Booksellers to the Honourable East-India Company, Ladenhall Street, and for John Booth, Duke Street, Portland Place, 1811.
29. Major Alexander Dirom, A Narrative of the Campaign in India which Terminated The War With Tippoo Sultan in 1792 (London, 1793), reprinted Asian Educational Services (Delhi, 1985), p. 183. Also worthy of note, A Review of the Origin, Progress and Result of the Late Decisive War in Mysore, in a Letter from an Officer in India: with Notes and an Appendix, comprising the Whole of the Secret State Papers found in the Cabinet of Tippoo Sullaun, at Seringapatam; taken from the Originals; Also, a Dedication to the Right Honourable Henry Dundas, &c&c, By M. Wood, Esq., M.P. Colonel and Late Chief Engineer, Bengal, and a Map, Showing the Extent of the Dominions of Tippoo Sultaun, and their Partition between the Allied Powers-the English, the Mahrattas, and the Nizam; London, Printed by Luke Hansard, Great Turnstile, Lincoln's-Inn Fields, For T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, in the Strand, 1800. See, also, Select Letters of Tippoo Sultan To Various Public Functionaries: including his Principal Military Commanders; Governors of Forts and Provinces; Diplomatic and Commercial Agents. Arranged and Translated by William Kirkpatrick, Colonel in the Service of the Honourable East India Company, Printed for Black, Parry and Kingbury, Booksellers to the Honourable East-India Company, Ladenhall Street, and for John Booth, Duke Street, Portland Place, 1811.
30. British Library Manuscript Collections, Wellesley Papers, Add. MS 13,876, ff. 11-20. In particular note ff. 13-18, 'Memorandum Respecting the Examination of the French Prisoners Courson, Durhone, and Dauble'. Lieutenant Dauble was particularly well suited for a role as a fifth columnist as he spoke the country language (ff. 11-12), and as a young man had been Martin's deputy serving as a super-intendent of the arsenal belonging to the Nawab of Lucknow.
31. Oriental and India Office Collections, Board's Collections, F/4/200, #4530, pp. 21-3, Instructions From Bengal Relative to Prisoners of War, F. Thompson Town Major Fort St George to the Chief Sec. of Govt, 6 June 1805.
32. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept., Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 14 Oct. 1803, p. 3831, Gov.-Gcn. Richard Wellesley in Council to Bombay Gov. Jonathan Duncan, Fort William, 15 Sept. 1803. One other interesting aspect of the quotation is that it refers to having the European militia 'disciplined'. This was included as a synonym for drill and should be used in developing a rebuttal to technological determinationists. European 'discipline' was obviously not something that European military forces were racially endowed with at birth. All troops had to be drilled to fight in accordance with the prevailing infantry doctrine of that age.
33. In addition to Richard Wellesley's signature, the letter was signed by George Udny and George Hilaro Barlow who became Gov.-Gen. on the death of Cornwallis.
34. For observations on the Marathas as accomplished practitioners of conventional warfare in 1803, see Cooper, 'Wellington and the Marathas'. For notes on the Marathas as having historically practised conventional warfare see Cooper and Wagle, Maratha Artillery: From Dabhoi to Assaye.
35. For observations on the Marathas as accomplished practitioners of conventional warfare in 1803, see Cooper, 'Wellington and the Marathas'. For notes on the Marathas as having historically practised conventional warfare see Cooper and Wagle, Maratha Artillery: From Dabhoi to Assaye.
36. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 14 Oct. 1803, pp. 3833-4, Gov. Jonathan Duncan and Thomas Lechmere to Gov.-Gen. Marquis Wellesley. The Armed Association was originally formed in 1799 during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War on instructions from the Court of Directors.
37. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 14 Oct. 1803, p. 3831, Direct Order of Gov.-Gen. Richard Wellesley, Fort William, 15 Sept. 1803.
38. For details on the Bombay Presidency's history of using Portuguese-officered Goan troops as well as the Fencibles, see National Army Museum, Ace. #6308/139, The Notebooks of Sir Patrick Cadell (Author of the History of the Bombay Army), Book III and Book VII including 'The Native Infantry of the Bombay Army 1801-1820'.
39. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 14 Oct. 1803, pp. 3833-4 Gov. Jonathan Duncan and Thomas Lechmere to Gov.-Gen. Marquis Wellesley.
40. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #64, 14 Oct. 1803, p. 3834, Petition from The Inhabitants Residing Within 800 Yards of the Fort of Bombay.
41. The abbreviation pdr. reflects the calibre designation by reference to the pound weight of shot. This means a 12pdr. is a gun with a bore which accepts a standard spherical military projectile established as 12 pounds, hence it is a 12 'pounder' or 12pdr. As a calibre designation there were accepted norms in diameter for those manufacturing projectiles or boring cannon barrels (aka tubes). But, as Adrian B. Caruana pointed out, there was often tremendous variation in the actual weight of a projectile in a given calibre description owing to different densities of metal achieved in casting. For example, a 3 pound shot or 3pdr. could weigh as little as 21bs. 140zs. or as much as 31bs. 90zs. See, Adrian B. Caruana, British Artillery Ammunition 1780, Museum Restoration Service (Bloomfield, Ontario, 1979), p. 2. Arthur Wellesley had extensive correspondence on artillery matters with Gen. Stuart. Arthur's earlier experiences in Mysore, during the Dhoondiah Waugh Campaign, were probably of the greatest influence on his preference for 6pdr. and 12pdr. guns. It was fortunate that he was not confronted by the fortresses of Hindustan such as Bharatpur, which proved capable of withstanding shot from 18pdrs. The British failure to take Bharatpur contributed to the tarnishing of Commander-in-Chief Lord Lake's reputation.
42. Garrison carriages and firing platforms were more mechanically sophisticated than field carriages, as the latter did not have provision for traversing fire. Some garrison models exhibited tracks on an inclined plane for the guided travel of the recoiling gun. This served better to dissipate recoil energy in a controlled fashion and facilitate the speedy 're-laying' of the gun; as it recoiled back and up only to peak and slide back down into position.
43. The order was composed of carriages for: 20x32pdr.s, 44x24pdr.s, 94x18pdr.s, Gox12pdr.s, 39x9pdr.s, 22x6pdr.s, equalling a total of 279 pieces of mounted defensive artillery.
44. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #63, 7 Oct. 1803, p. 3641, Government Advertisement.
45. Ibid.
46. This practice is still common in modern defence industries and can become a major sticking point in product liability cases since it tends to lessen the blame on the contractor if those critical components fail because of defectiveness.
47. Oriental and India Office Collections, Board's Collections, F/4/200 #4515, pp. 1-42, Report on Gun Carriage Manufacturing at Seringapatam. The factory was not started until 1802 but it quickly established a lead in supplying military as well as civilian goods like carriages and fire engines. The pay scale and employment figures provided show relative wage parity, pp. 41-2. A European cooper received 8 pagodas per month whereas an Indian head carpenter or smith also received 8 pagodas per month. The gun carriages of Seringapatam were primarily field service carriages rather than those of a heavy garrison nature. The 'Manufactory' proved influential in the design and development of light, highly-mobile carriages for field guns. Other industrial centres, such as the Bombay Dockyard, shared in the proliferation of military contracts. However, manufacturing was not the only economic growth sector for those catering to the EIC's logistical needs. Goods and services for the EIC's military consumption also included animals. Increases in allowances for the rearing of horses at the EIC's stud farms in 1802-1803, were noted in F/4/ 173 #3047, pp. 1-31, and #3049. See also, F/4/166 #2833, pp. 1-168, Report of the Committee to Enquire into the State of the Company's Stud at Ganjam.
48. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, pp. 2638-45, Phinehas Hall, EIC Attorney to James Augustus Grant Sec. to Government with the enclosure of the One Year Contract for the Supply of Rice and Ghee to the Military Department (of Bombay), commencing 1 Jan. 1803, signed and sealed by the Parsi merchant contractor Cursetjee Manockjee of Bombay.
49. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p. 2638, Contract Provisions as executed by Bombay Governor Jonathan Duncan in Council on behalf of the United Company of Merchants of England, in November of 1802.
50. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p. 2639, Contract Stipulations specifying 'Bengal and Virgole Rice' and 'Carachey or Amdabaddy Ghee', 'Doll' (dahl, legumes or lentils), were later added. This Parsi broker came from a long and distinguished line of entrepreneurs who had made logistics more than a clan business. The Parsi broker Rustam Manock (aka Rustamji Manockji, aka Rustamjee Manockjee) was extensively covered in P. S. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji the Parsi Broker of Surat (Nova Goa, 1933), and the English translations of those documents found in S. B. D'Silva, Portuguese Records on Rustam Manock (Bombay, 1936). The Parsi brokers who had served as contractors to European forces since the 17th century, moved to Surat to flee the Maratha depredations (c. 1707). The Europeans offered a more stable business environment and larger exterior trade links. The Manocks served the Portuguese, Dutch, as well as British, colonial interests and proved so efficient that the Portuguese had made them attorneys as well as administrators of passports in Surat. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji, pp. XX-XXXIII.
51. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p. 2639, Contract Stipulations specifying 'Bengal and Virgole Rice' and 'Carachey or Amdabaddy Ghee', 'Doll' (dahl, legumes or lentils), were later added. This Parsi broker came from a long and distinguished line of entrepreneurs who had made logistics more than a clan business. The Parsi broker Rustam Manock (aka Rustamji Manockji, aka Rustamjee Manockjee) was extensively covered in P. S. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji the Parsi Broker of Surat (Nova Goa, 1933), and the English translations of those documents found in S. B. D'Silva, Portuguese Records on Rustam Manock (Bombay, 1936). The Parsi brokers who had served as contractors to European forces since the 17th century, moved to Surat to flee the Maratha depredations (c. 1707). The Europeans offered a more stable business environment and larger exterior trade links. The Manocks served the Portuguese, Dutch, as well as British, colonial interests and proved so efficient that the Portuguese had made them attorneys as well as administrators of passports in Surat. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji, pp. XX-XXXIII.
52. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p. 2639, Contract Stipulations specifying 'Bengal and Virgole Rice' and 'Carachey or Amdabaddy Ghee', 'Doll' (dahl, legumes or lentils), were later added. This Parsi broker came from a long and distinguished line of entrepreneurs who had made logistics more than a clan business. The Parsi broker Rustam Manock (aka Rustamji Manockji, aka Rustamjee Manockjee) was extensively covered in P. S. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji the Parsi Broker of Surat (Nova Goa, 1933), and the English translations of those documents found in S. B. D'Silva, Portuguese Records on Rustam Manock (Bombay, 1936). The Parsi brokers who had served as contractors to European forces since the 17th century, moved to Surat to flee the Maratha depredations (c. 1707). The Europeans offered a more stable business environment and larger exterior trade links. The Manocks served the Portuguese, Dutch, as well as British, colonial interests and proved so efficient that the Portuguese had made them attorneys as well as administrators of passports in Surat. Pissurlencar, Portuguese Records on Rustamji Manockji, pp. XX-XXXIII.
53. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p. 2639, Contract Stipulations.
54. Ibid..
55. Ibid..
56. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, p, 2640, Contract Stipulations. The Surat Maund was listed as 37 pounds, 7 ounces and 6 drams. East India Military Register and Directory for 1803, p. 292. The entire clause is a logistical cryptogram and represents the epitome of logistical horror inflicted by the multiple standards of the presidency system. The rupee's price is listed with reas, so it is assumed it is in Bombay rupees. The weight is specified in Surat Maunds, which indicates the probable origin as Gujarat, while the type of rice (white premium) is implied in the Bengal standard.
57. Dubbers were large jars. See Colonel Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindered Terms, Etymological, Historical Geographical, and Disrcursive, first published 1886, second edition edited by Wiliam Crooke with a Foreword by Anthony Burgess, reprinted Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, 1986), p. 328. The Bombay Maund was listed as 25 pounds in East India Military Register and Directoy for 1803, p. 291. Note the contract specification for measures. A procurement agent or Commissary officer could easily be duped into signing for x number of maunds without knowing if they were of Bombay, Surat, or of the Bengal variety. That was the type of shortage an officer became responsible for. But it should also be mentioned that some officers used their knowledge of differing measures to cheat Indian suppliers. Lt Dodd of the Bombay Army cheated the grain dealers and ryots of Canara by using his own enlarged unit of measure and then further cheated them by imposing extortionate rates of exchange. The evidence was later presented to the President of his Court Martial at 'Sedashigur'. Alex Read, the Collector, appropriated the pay of Lt Dodd directly from the Paymaster upon his being charged and that money was later used to repay the more than izo Star Pagodas Dodd had unlawfully deprived the grain dealers and ryots of. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #70, Proceedings, 18 May 1804, pp. 1312-13, Alex Read Collector to James Augustus Grant Sec. to Govt, Merzan 30 April 1804.
58. Dubbers were large jars. See Colonel Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindered Terms, Etymological, Historical Geographical, and Disrcursive, first published 1886, second edition edited by Wiliam Crooke with a Foreword by Anthony Burgess, reprinted Routledge & Kegan Paul (London, 1986), p. 328. The Bombay Maund was listed as 25 pounds in East India Military Register and Directoy for 1803, p. 291. Note the contract specification for measures. A procurement agent or Commissary officer could easily be duped into signing for x number of maunds without knowing if they were of Bombay, Surat, or of the Bengal variety. That was the type of shortage an officer became responsible for. But it should also be mentioned that some officers used their knowledge of differing measures to cheat Indian suppliers. Lt Dodd of the Bombay Army cheated the grain dealers and ryots of Canara by using his own enlarged unit of measure and then further cheated them by imposing extortionate rates of exchange. The evidence was later presented to the President of his Court Martial at 'Sedashigur'. Alex Read, the Collector, appropriated the pay of Lt Dodd directly from the Paymaster upon his being charged and that money was later used to repay the more than izo Star Pagodas Dodd had unlawfully deprived the grain dealers and ryots of. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #70, Proceedings, 18 May 1804, pp. 1312-13, Alex Read Collector to James Augustus Grant Sec. to Govt, Merzan 30 April 1804.
59. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1803, #62, 15 July 1803, pp. 2641-2, Contract Stipulations.
60. Ibid., pp. 2642-3.
61. Ibid., p. 2643.
62. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #73, 16 Aug. 1804, p. 975, Cursetjee Manockjee to Governor Jonathan Duncan, 16 July 1804.
63. Ibid., p. 977.
64. Ibid., p. 979.
65. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #76, 22 Dec. 1804, pp. 3466-74, Contractor Cursetjee Manockjee to Francis Warden Sec. to the Military Board, Bombay, 12 Dec. 1804.
66. The material in this report included an extremely detailed listing of contract and delivery prices of dahl, ghee, and rice, in Pune as well as Bombay.
67. For the logistical implications of feeding Bombay during the famine, see Randolf G. S. Cooper, 'Indian Army Logistics 1757-1857' (see fn. 3).
68. Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai, Bombay Pres., Military Dept, Military Board Diary, 1804, #76, 22 Dec. 1804, p. 3471, Contractor Cursetjee Manockjee to Francis Warden Sec. to the Military Board, Bombay, 12 Dec. 1804.
69. The implication being that there are diverse logistical demands placed on any military machine that must fight: a) A two-front war and b) Two separate species of warfare.
70. Oriental and India Office Collections, Board's Collections, F/4/266 #5875, pp. 1-216, 'Report on the Progress of Measures taken by the Field Paymaster to discharge the Heavy Arrears due to the Troops of the Upper Provinces'. The situation was so out of control that a year after the war ended the troops were still on the paymaster's books because there was no money to pay them. Cases of EIC troops being four months in arrears in 1806 were considered minor, pp. 107-9. The Treasury at Muttra was 'exhausted' in Nov. 1806 when it was discovered that its balance of 1,95,5000 (1 crore, 95 lakhs, and 5 thousand rupees) would only be sufficient to pay the arrears of the troops on station up to Sept. 1806, pp. 212-14. See also F/ 4/266 #5876, pp. 1-256.
71. While some might question the wisdom of this statement it should be known that, as this paper is being written, in 1997, Whitehall is struggling to perfect the computer software required to put all Ministry of Defence establishments in Britain on a resource accounting basis in which profit and loss will once again be overriding considerations in the formulation of defence policy.