Will Cohu describes the reluctant adventurers and over-cooked gentlemen who formed the British forces in India:
‘Sahib’ was the title by which European men were addressed. If you added ‘pucka’ from the Hindustani word for ripe, or cooked, you had pucka sahib: strictly, a well-cooked gentleman. Many were over-cooked and expired in the unaccustomed heat. Relatively few were killed in battle, but the mortality rate among Europeans, mostly due to cholera, was 69 in 1,000 — more than five times that of the Manchester slums. Of the company’s officers from 1760 to 1834, only 10 per cent survived to draw pensions.
How did the enlisted men entertain themselves in India?
In 1833, the 710 men of HM’s 26th Foot consumed 5,320 gallons of arrack, 209 of brandy, 249 of gin and more than 500 of beer. By 1899, 361 of every 1,000 men admitted to hospital were suffering from venereal disease.