German Auxiliary Troops in the British and Dutch East India Companies

Abstract

During the last quarter of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century European powers hired German auxiliary troops for colonial service. The most famous case was the troops that Britain hired from six German principalities for the American War of Independence. However, they were followed by troops hired by the British and Dutch East India Companies and the Dutch government for colonial service in India, Ceylon, South Africa and Indonesia, so that we may speak of a new development in the recruitment of European soldiers for colonial service. Auxiliary troops are an interesting subject for investigation because, unlike ordinary mercenaries enlisting individually, they often had a sense of belonging to a standing army in whose traditions they took pride. This was especially true of officers, who usually were career officers, motivated by loyalty to their prince, professional ambition and the code of honour characteristic of the military class. Their service for a colonial army, especially the army of a colonial trading company, could pose complicated problems of identification and integration. This chapter concentrates on the recruitment of two Hanoverian regiments for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1781 and that of the Wurttemberg Cape regiment for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1786. It examines the background for their recruitment, their cooperation with the hiring armies and the degree of their identification with the colonial power they served.