ARTILLERY SERVICE UNDER "JOHN COMPANY.” 
3 
a quarrel between him and the Adjutant of the 3 rd Infantry battalion 
at Bankipur.* He was placed under arrest by Sir Robert Barker and 
sent to Calcutta pending the decision of Lord Clive on his case but 
was shortly after released. The other officers resigned their com¬ 
missions on the 1 st May, 1766 , but were subsequently re-admitted to 
the service and placed in the positions they would have held had 
they remained in it 
1767 On the 1 st April, 1767 , Captain Kindersley under whose 
superintendence the 4 th company was first formed, was 
promoted Major. He gained his Lieutenant-Colonelcy on the 28 th 
July, 1769 , and was given the command of the Regiment. He did 
not hold it however, very long, as he died on the 24 th October, 1769 . 
On the death of Lieut.-Colonel Kindersley, Lieut.-Colonel T. D. 
Pearse, who had been specially sent out from Woolwich for the pur¬ 
pose, succeeded to the command of the corps, which he held for 
twenty years. His first impressions were apparently not very favour¬ 
able, for in a letter written to a friend shortly after he had taken over 
the command, he says “I was astonished at the ignorance of all who 
composed it. It was a common practice to make any midshipman 
(who was discontented with the Indian ships) an officer of Artillery, 
from a strange idea that a knowledge of navigation would perfect an 
officer of that corps in the knowledge of artillery. They were almost 
all of this class, and their ideas consonant to the elegant military 
education they had received. But, thank God! I have got rid of 
them all but seven.” 
From this period dates a new era for the Artillery. Lieut.- 
Colonel Pearse set himself at once to improve its condition, 
which by his energy and firmness he succeeded in doing, in spite of 
innumerable obstacles and much vexatious opposition. 
1770 In the early part of 1770 , the regiment was reorganized. 
On the 4 th March, a fifth company was raised, and in May, 
the five companies were formed into a battalion, to which an Adjutant 
was allowed. 
The Lascars were told off into divisions of 100 men with two Serangs 
and eight Tindals ; five such divisions being intended for each company 
of Artillery, but as the garrison company in Fort William did not 
require so many, the greater number of the Lascar details were dis¬ 
tributed among the rest. 
The Lascars were at first entertained to work with the drag-ropes 
in manoeuvring or bringing the guns into action, and to carry ammuni¬ 
tion, as well as to perform the lesser duties pertaining to ordnance.t 
1769 . 
* The quarrel arose in the Mess in the 3rd Infantry battalion one evening after mess. In 
order to compel the authorities to cancel the order for the reduction of Batta, all the officers joining 
in the meeting decided to resign their commissions on the same day. The Adjutant of the 3rd 
battalion refused to hand over his commission to Duff. High words followed, and Duff endeavour¬ 
ed to take it by force, a scuffle ensued, the lights were knocked over and the bungalow was set 
on fire. The flames spread to the adjoining bungalows which were straw thatched buildings and 
nearly half of the Cantonment was burnt down, 
t Such as carrying the linstock with match. 
