Antique 19th Century Padouk Anglo Indian Campaign Secretaire Chest & Cupboard

An early 19th century Padouk Anglo-Indian Campaign Chest with a secretaire & cupboard. With gadrooned carved moulding detailing on all edges, gadrooned turned feet and round wooden handles. The top largest drawer, opens downwards to reveal a secretaire writing surface, pigeon holes, and drawers. The leather writing surfaces open upwards to reveal further storage space, and when the secretaire is opened a spring mechanism pushes forward a section of storage compartments. The cupboard on top opens to reveal two shelves. There are 4 handles on this piece, two on each side, this is traditional with most campaign pieces, to allow for the top cupboards and chest of drawers to be lifted and moved for ease of transportation. Provenance: In the restoration process we discovered underneath the pigeon hole section a hollow space which had been unopened since this campaign piece was created. We opened this to find a few pieces of paper which must have slipped behind the back of the secretaire drawers and pigeon holes over its life, all pieces of paper fairly worn, aged, and some ripped. One of the pieces of paper was a a programme for a military march by 1st Madras Fusiliers in Madras on the 4th August 1856. Madras is the former name of the city of Chennai, which is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast in southern India. 1st Madras Fusiliers The 1st Madras Fusiliers, originally the 102nd Regiment of Foot, was a regiment of the British Army raised by the East India Company in 1742, becoming the 1st Madras (European) Fusiliers in 1843. The 102nd Regiment of Foot returned to India in 1816 and took part in the Battle of Mahidpur in December 1817 during the Third Anglo-Maratha War. It was deployed to Burma in 1824 for service in the First Anglo-Burmese War: it formed part of an army which advanced up the River Irrawaddy to the Kingdom of Ava. It returned to India arriving in Madras in 1826. It transferred to Malacca in 1835 and became the 1st Madras (European) Fusiliers in 1843. After returning to India in early 1852 it was deployed to the Province of Pegu in April 1852 during the Second Anglo-Burmese War. The regiment fought at the siege and relief of Lucknow in November 1857 during the Indian Rebellion. Three members of the regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions during the siege. After the Crown took control of the Presidency armies in the aftermath of the Rebellion, the regiment became the 1st Madras Fusiliers in July 1858 and then the 1st Royal Madras Fusiliers in May 1861. It was then renumbered as the 102nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Madras Fusiliers) on transfer to the British Army in September 1862. The regiment embarked for England in 1870 and was then deployed to Gibraltar in April 1876 and to Ceylon in 1879. As part of the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, where single-battalion regiments were linked together to share a single depot and recruiting district in the United Kingdom, the 102nd was linked with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers), and assigned to district no. 66 at Naas Barracks in County Kildare. On 1 July 1881 the Childers Reforms came into effect and the regiment amalgamated with the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers) to form the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.