War & Conflict: - The Vellore Mutiny

One hundred and ninety-eight years after the first British ships arrive in Surat in the western Indian state of Gujarat, and some two hundred and six years after the formation of the British East India Company, and post the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the British East India Company would gain control of India.

The British East India Company after it had gained control of the country would tighten its grip on the nation. In order to maintain its grip, the East India Company employed young men to serve in its army, and these men were known as sepoys.

The sepoy battalions that served the British East India Company were never officially formed but were recruited when the need arose to serve in the army that the British East India Company maintained in India, to not only counter threats from other European nations that were seeking to gain access to the lucrative Indian market but to also counter any threats that may arise from local principalities, and to put down any revolts.

The sepoys were created by the British East India Company, and they owe their formation to the British East India Company.

In November 1805 the British East India Company introduced a standard dress code for all its sepoys, and as part of the dress code the sepoys were made to wear a hat with a round brim normally associated to Europeans and Christians, and made other changes associated to religious practices for example while on duty, the sepoys were not allowed to place religious marks on their foreheads, and they were not allowed to have beards, and this offended local sensibilities.

The sepoys protested but the protestors were quickly arrested. Two of them were dismissed after they were subjected to ninety lashes each, while nineteen others were pardoned after they’d received fifty lashes each.

Historical records don’t clearly indicate exactly what happened next. Either the sepoys approached one of Tipu Sultan’s sons, Fateh Hyder, who was under house arrest at the time, or Fateh Hyder reached out to the sepoys, Fateh Hyder and his brothers were confined to a palace that was located within the fort, but on the 10th of July 1806, the sepoys mutinied under his name.

A couple of hours past midnight, the sepoys that were in Vellore Fort rebelled killing fourteen officers, and one hundred and fifteen men of the 69th regiment stationed there.

The mutineers seized control of Vellore Fort by dawn, and raised Tipu’s sultan’s flag, and as soon as they did so Fateh Hyder’s retainers emerged to show their support for the mutineers.

British soldiers stationed outside the fort alerted the garrison in Arcot, and soldiers from the 3rd Madras Native Cavalry under the command of Captain Robert Gillespie were immediately dispatched to reclaim Vellore Fort. The reinforcements managed to enter the fort after blowing up the gates and after a brief but fierce battle, they managed to reclaim the fort.

The mutineers were arrested and tried. Six mutineers were shot out of canons, five were executed by a firing squad, another eight were hanged, and five more were transported to penal colonies. The Madras battalions that were involved in the mutiny were disbanded. The Vellore Mutiny occurred fifty-one years prior to the Sepoy Mutiny, and it was a sign of things to come.

Copyright © 2025 by Kathiresan Ramachanderam