An exceptionally scarce official record of the celebrated Bangalore court martial arising from the East India Company's 'White Mutiny', preserving the complete proceedings of one of the Raj's most remarkable military crises.
Bibliographic Details
Author: STOREY (Major Joseph, 1st Battalion, 19th Regiment of Native Infantry).
Title: Minutes of the Proceedings of a General Court-Martial, holden at Bangalore, on the 10th of January, 1810, on Major Joseph Storey, of the 1st Battalion of the 19th Regt. of Native Infantry, late Senior Officer Commanding Masulipatam.
Place of Publication: London.
Publisher: Black, Parry, and Kingsbury.
Date / Edition: 1810. First London edition.
Pagination: [4], 158, [2] pages, complete with the half-title and publisher's advertisement leaf.
Binding: Modern maroon cloth with gilt spine lettering and renewed endpapers.
Size: 8vo (21.4 × 13.2 cm).
Condition
Very Good. The modern cloth binding is clean, smart and sound. Internally crisp and well preserved, with only light age-toning. The half-title and final advertisement leaf show mild foxing. Please request a more detailed condition report or additional photographs if required.
Description
An exceptionally rare official record documenting one of the most significant yet least familiar military crises of the East India Company's rule in India. The volume preserves the complete proceedings of the General Court-Martial held at Bangalore in January 1810 against Major Joseph Storey following his involvement in the so-called White Mutiny of 1809.
Unlike the better-known Indian Rebellion of 1857, the White Mutiny involved British officers rather than Indian troops. The unrest arose within the Madras Army after Governor Sir George Barlow introduced reforms intended to eliminate lucrative and long-established abuses surrounding military supply contracts, particularly those relating to transport and tentage. His determination to end these practices, coupled with an uncompromising administrative style, provoked widespread resentment among many officers.
Major Storey emerged as one of the principal figures in the dispute while serving at Masulipatam. His subsequent court martial became one of the defining legal proceedings arising from the crisis, illustrating the extent to which discipline within the Company's European officer corps had deteriorated during the controversy.
The present volume reproduces the complete court-martial proceedings, including testimony, legal argument and official findings. As a contemporary government publication, it provides an invaluable primary source for the study of military justice, colonial administration and the internal politics of the East India Company during the early nineteenth century.
The affair ultimately proved deeply damaging to Sir George Barlow's administration. Although the immediate rebellion was suppressed, criticism of his handling of the crisis continued, and he was recalled from the governorship in 1812, spending the remainder of his life in retirement.
This London edition appears to be considerably scarcer than the already uncommon Madras printings. COPAC records only a single institutional example at the British Library, making this a highly elusive London issue that should not be confused with the contemporary Indian editions bearing similar titles.
The work offers an outstanding opportunity to acquire a rare documentary record of corruption, military discipline and colonial governance during the formative decades of British rule in India. It will appeal strongly to collectors of East India Company history, British India, military law and nineteenth-century colonial administration.
Notes
An exceptionally scarce London printing of the official proceedings arising from the White Mutiny, preserving an important primary source for the study of the East India Company's military administration.
Particularly desirable for collectors of British India, the East India Company, military history, colonial law, court-martials, Madras Presidency and nineteenth-century government publications.