James P. Lawford 
Britain”s Army in India 
From its Origins to the Conquest of Bengal

Britain’s Army in India (1978) tells how a joint stock company, the Honourable East India Company, came to organise a private army and lay the foundations for the establishment of the British Empire in India. From its origins as warehouse guards, through its struggles against the Dutch and the Portuguese, and its rivalry with the French, the decay of the Moghul Empire, this book examines the Company and its army up to the battle of Buxar in 1764, which established the force as the leading military power in India.