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Stringer Lawrence, the Father of the Indian Army
Stringer Lawrence the Father of the Indian Army Author:John Biddulph Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 96 DEFENCE OF MADRAS With the advent of the 39th Regiment in India, Lawrence received notice that the King had bestowed on him the commission of a Lieutena... more »nt-Colonel in the East Indies; but this did not save him from the loss of the chief command of troops in the field. Though he held the appointment of Commander-in-Chief under the Company, the command of the Royal troops was dependent on seniority, and Adler- cron, who commanded the 39th, was senior to Lawrence by date of commission. Lawrence refused to serve under Adlercron, and retained only his command of the Company's troops. For two years his work was chiefly administrative. When the news came, in 1756, of the capture of Calcutta by Sooraj-ud Dowla, and preparations for an expedition for its recapture were made, Adlercron was set aside by general consent, owing to his want of experience of the country, and to the independence of his1757- WAR AGAIN 97 position towards the Company's officials. Ill- health prevented Lawrence from taking the command, and Clive was selected. In April, 1757, the French took the field again, consequent on the breaking out of the Seven Years' War in Europe. Their first move was an attempt to capture Trichinopoly. On the 12th May, d'Auteuil, with 1,150 Europeans and 3,000 Sepoys, occupied Sering- ham, and, three days later, commenced to bom" bard the city. Caillaud, who held the command at Trichinopoly, was away besieging Madura, which had been seized by Mahfoos Khan. Trichinopoly washeldonly by 165 Europeansand 700 Sepoys under Captain Joseph Smith. Smith was embarrassed by the presence of 500 French prisoners, whose release was one of d'Auteuil's objects. For ten days the garrison was harassed by bombardment and threatened assaults, when the news of Caillaud's approach caused d'Auteu...« less