<P> The three Presidency armies remained separate forces, each with its own Commander - in - Chief . Overall operational control was exercised by the Commander - in - Chief of the Bengal Army, who was formally the Commander - in - Chief of the East Indies . From 1861, most of the officer manpower was pooled in the three Presidential Staff Corps . After the Second Afghan War a Commission of Enquiry recommended the abolition of the presidency armies . The Ordnance, Supply and Transport, and Pay branches were by then unified . </P> <P> The Punjab Frontier Force was under the direct control of the Lieutenant - Governor of the Punjab during peacetime until 1886, when it came under the C - in - C, India . The Hyderabad Contingent and other local corps remained under direct governmental control . Standing higher formations--divisions and brigades--were abandoned in 1889 . No divisional staffs were maintained in peacetime, and troops were dispersed throughout the sub-continent, with internal security as their main function . In 1891 the three staff corps were merged into one Indian Staff Corps . </P> <P> Two years later the Madras and Bombay Armies lost their posts of Commander - in - Chief . In 1895, the Presidency Armies were abolished and the Indian Army created thereby was re-grouped into four commands: Bengal, Madras (including Burma), Bombay (including Sind, Quetta, and Aden), and the Punjab (including the North - West Frontier and the Punjab Frontier Force). Each was under the command of a lieutenant general, who answered directly to the C - in - C, India . </P> <P> The Presidency armies were abolished with effect from 1 April 1895 by a notification of the Government of India through Army Department Order Number 981 dated 26 October 1894, unifying the three Presidency armies into a single Indian Army . The armies were amalgamated into four commands, Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western . The Indian Army, like the Presidency armies, continued to provide armed support to the civil authorities, both in combating banditry and in case of riots and rebellion . One of the first external operations the new unified army faced was the Boxer Rebellion in China from 1899 to 1901 . </P>

After 1857 revolt ratio of english soldiers to indian soldiers