British infantry, native infantry and native cavalry drilling outside Fort St George, Madras, 1786 (w/c)

British infantry, native infantry and native cavalry drilling outside Fort St George, Madras, 1786. Watercolour by Johann Jacob Ludewig Rothmeyer, 15th Hannover Regiment, 1786. British and native infantry engage in drill on the flood plain, while a force of native cavalry appears on the edge of their training ground. Fort St George was established in 1639 as a defended trading post for the East India Company’s spice trade. The company wanted a port closer to the Malaccan Straits than its first settlement of Surat (situated on the west coast of India). The city of Madras (Chennai) would not have evolved without the establishment of the fortress.