Reports bringing up the statistical history of the European Army in India and of the Native Army and jail population of Bengal to 1876 : and the cholera history of 1875 and 1876, in continuation of reports embracing the period from 1817 to 1872 / by J.L.Bryden.

  • James Bryden
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports bringing up the statistical history of the European Army in India and of the Native Army and jail population of Bengal to 1876 : and the cholera history of 1875 and 1876, in continuation of reports embracing the period from 1817 to 1872 / by J.L.Bryden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Gain and Loss Statement for the Army of India for the six years from 1871 to 1876—contd. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Total for the five years. Average for the five years. 1876. Decrease during the year— Deaths Passed Invaliding Commit- tees :— For Discharge For change o£ climate . Discharged by purchase „ by sentence of Courts Martial „ service expired . Transfers .... Desertions .... 974 688 1,691 70 106 681 2,288 64 1,396 701 1,719 64 61 579 1,803 92 889 596 1,841 lla ^ AO iO» 918 2,143 81 795 615 1,795 149 oo OS 1,309 2,119 64 1,015 534 1,837 117 1,313 2,273 78 5,069 ] 12,017 447 4,8C0| 1 10,6263 ^ 379 1,014 2,403 T AO lOi nA yu 3,085 76 881 2,273 TOO 4,780* 55 Total Deceease . 6,562 6,415 6,688 6,934 7,251 33,850 6,770 8,191 Strength of the Arniy towards the close of each year, not including regiments which may have arrived in course of relief .... 55,584 57,668 57,748 57,441 57,072 285,513 57,103 55,792 Besides the fully recruited regiments which have replaced the weaker bodies removed from India, 17,379 recruits from England were required to replace the loss by death and invaliding from 1871 to 1875; for in this period 5,147 men died, and 12,035 were invalided^ and the strength was thus diminished by 17,182. The loss by invaliding varies little from year to year :— Number of Men Lost hy Invaliding from 1871 to 1875. 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Average of the five years. 2,381 2,438 2,434 2,411 ^.371 2,407 The facilities for removal to England are great, and are fully taken advantage of; and that the death statistics of the Army of India of the present day show to advantage as a consequence of the weeding out of these sickly men year by year, is not doubtful. The Army Medical Reports published annually in England debit to India the deaths among invalids during the voyage home and after arrival at Netley. The mortality of the Army of India from 1871 to 1875 is shown to be increased by these additional deaths to this extent:— 1871. 1872. 1873. 1874. 1875. Average. 70 60 63 42 69 61 A return furnished to the House of Commons by the War Office in February of the cur- rent year, shows that a body of 10,041 invalids for India, Disposal of Invalids from India after arriving between 1870 and 1874, were disposed of after land- arnval in England. • • ?i i i i mg m Jliugland, as under :— To duty. To Pension. To Asylum. Died. Otherwise disposed of. 5,587 3,858 199 174 223 It is satisfactory to find that more than one-half of the men sent home were considered fit for further service. It is also satisfactory to know that hitherto the volunteering from regiments on leaving India has compensated to a great extent for the loss of time- Volunteering from Kegiments leav- regiments which have left India mg India. -,1 , r- i kaaa ^ , i , m the past five years, nearly 5,000 men elected to remain in the country. The statement for 1876, however, shows that the number of men whose service expired during the year was greater by 1,014 than the average of the previous five years, and with shortened service this source of loss will naturally increase. The loss by desertion in the five years was 253 only; the number that deserted was 379, and of these 126 were received back. Nearly one-half of all Desertions during service m India. desertions from the Army of Bengal take place from Calcutta and Dum-Dum. Fort William, from 1871 to 1875, gave 87 desertions, out of a total for the Presidency of 217. The number of deaths has ranged from 806 in 1874 to 1,425 in 1872 ; or, excluding cholera deaths, from 752 in 1876 to 998 in 1872. In the past it ^J^thf «iodS*S)-7^^ four years the range of the annual mortality has been within 100, if cholera be excluded. And it is right that cholera should be thus placed separately, since this cause of mortality is as yet an item incapable of being reduced to an average that can be reckoned on, even approximately. * Time-expired 1,974, 1,014 above the average of 1871—75,