ABSTRACT
This chapter is mainly concerned with European volunteer units in British-India. The Calcutta Militia with both infantry and cavalry branches comprised British, Armenian and Portuguese inhabitants of the town of Calcutta. Though part-time soldier is a more apt term, we will use the term volunteers because that is how the European civilians who undertook part-time soldiering in British-India described themselves. India was not a white settlement colony like Canada or South Africa. Two hundred years of British-Indian history shows that, except in a few cases, the Indian Army proved to be loyal and combat effective. In fact, the Indian Army was the largest volunteer force in the world. Due to low number of European subjects in British-India, large number of European militias could not be mobilized. Moreover, there was also no necessity to use the European civilians because of the cultural traditions of pre-modern India and vast demographic resources of South Asia.
