Travancore War The Travancore War was fought between the British East India Company and the ministers of the states of Travancore and Cochin in 1808 - 9 . British occupation of the Northern Malabar Coast ( modern North Kerala in South India ) at the end of 18th century had faced resistance from some of the locals and there were several revolts against British rule . Following the defeat of Mysore , the English East India Company took over the administration of the territories in Malabar which had been conquered by Mysore . The princely states of Tranvancore and Cochin were allies of the English East India Company , and as a part of the Subsidiary alliance which they had signed , the states had to maintain a British resident and an army to ensure both internal and external peace . At the request of the Dalawa ( vizier ) of Travancore , the Company ' s forces had put down a mutiny by some elements of the Tranvancorean army in 1805 . However by 1808 , fresh trouble brewed in the region , when the maharaja of Travancore defaulted on his payment of costs charged for the British involvement in the Third Mysore War , the 1805 mutiny and for the maintenance of the subsidiary British force . The British Resident at Travancore , Lieutenant Colonel Colin Macaulay , demanded prompt payment of the arrears and insisted on disbandment of some state infantry units to raise the money . The demand was rejected by the Dalawa Velu Thampi Dalawa of Travancore , who was the " de facto " ruler of the state . The Dalawa of Cochin , Palaith Achan , was upset with Col Macaulay over his friendship with Achan ' s sworn enemy , Kunhikrishna Menon of Nadvaramba . Both of the Dalwas planned the rebellion together and it is not clear how far their own maharajahs were involved in this . Following vague assurances of French support from Mauritius , they both decided to attack and remove the British from the Malabar coast . On December 18 , 1808 , open rebellion broke out in Travancore and Cochin . At midnight , the residents house at Cochin was stormed though Col Macaulay and Kunhikrishana Menon managed to escape . The British garrison in Cochin , under Lieutenant Colonel John Chalmers , found itself under attack by thousands of militia as well as the state forces of Travancore . Reinforcements including the 1st Battalion 17th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry ( or 1 / 17th MNI , now 5th Battalion The Baloch Regiment , Pakistan Army ) were despatched from Madras and arrived in Cochin in early January 1809 . On 19 January 1809 , a large force of rebels attacked the town of Cochin , which was being defended by six companies of 1 / 17th MNI and fifty men of the 12th Regiment of Foot under the command of Major WH Hewitt of 1 / 17th MNI . Major Hewitt and his men repulsed the attack after a gallant and skilful defence . In a despatch to the Resident , Major Hewitt described the action : In a second despatch , Hewitt gave more details of the action : The casualties of 1 / 17th MNI were ten privates killed and 45 wounded in addition to Captain John Reid , who later died of his wounds . For the gallant defence , the battalion was later awarded the Battle Honour of ‘ Cochin . ’ The British troops defeated the rebels in another battle at Quilon . In the meantime , following Thampi ' s Kundara proclamation ( January 11 , 1809 ) , some British civilians and their native supporters were executed by the rebels in Travancore . In mid - January , the British assembled a force of 3000 in the south of Travancore to relieve pressure on Lieutenant Colonel Chalmers ’ force and under Col . St . Leger , it entered Travancore via the Armboli pass and occupied the fortress there . On February 19 , 1809 , the strategic forts of Udayagiri and Padmanabhapuram fell to the British . The army marched to Trivandrum , the capital of Travancore and camped at the suburb of Pappanamcode , while another force entered Cochin and chased away the remaining rebels . The Rajas of both the states had not openly supported the rebels and at these turn of events , the Maharaja of Travancore defected to the east India company and appointed a new Dalawa . . Following a severe defeat at Cochin , Paliath Achan , the Dalawa of Cochin , defected from the anti - British alliance on February 27 , 1809 . The Maharajah issued an order for the arrest of Velu Thampi , who was chased to the ground by the Maharajah ' s soldiers at Mannadi . Velu Thampi committed suicide to avoid capture and with his death the rebellion ended .