By David Stevens

Life was harsh for the average British soldier of the 19^th century. The degree of hardship varied from regiment to regiment and from posting to posting. Flogging was commonplace, even for minor offences, 500 lashes not being uncommon in the early part of that century. Prior to 1871, when it was finally abolished, branding could be ordered as punishment although it was rarely administered.

Flogging, on the other hand, was a frequent spectacle. The regiment was always paraded to witness a flogging. Formed into a hollow square the men looked on as the miscreant, stripped to the waist, was strapped with his hands above his head to a triangle of poles. The regimental drummers beat out the rhythm as two burly soldiers, usually farriers, laid on with the cat-o’-nine-tails, a whip with nine knotted strings. A senior N.C.O. armed with a stick to beat the beaters closely watched them to ensure the punishment was applied with vigour. A senior officer counted off the strokes whilst a military doctor looked on. Afterwards the man was cut loose and his torn and lacerated skin washed with salt water, not as additional punishment but a crude antiseptic. Flogging was finally abandoned in the British Army and the Royal Navy in 1881.

For murder a soldier, like the civilian, was hanged. Unlike a civilian execution the army version was conducted with typical military precision and great ceremony. Rudyard Kipling’s poem "Danny Deever" is a graphic illustration:

The soldier’s lot gradually improved as the 19^th century progressed. His pay was slightly increased as was the quality of the food and living conditions became healthier. Yet even as late as the 1870s a soldier was issued with his uniform, a mattress, a pillow, blankets and a pair of sheets. The blankets were seldom washed, fresh sheets issued once a month and new straw for the mattresses once a quarter. The soldier’s working day began at 6.30am and ended well after sunset. Sunday was supposed to be a rest day but it included a full-dress church parade followed by an inspection of stables and quarters by the commanding officer. The extra work involved ensured that Sunday was anything but a day of rest for Tommy Atkins.

Marriage:

The ordinary soldier was discouraged from marrying and his commanding officer’s permission was necessary before he could do so. The army believed that the married soldier would be too easily distracted from his military duties by his domestic responsibilities. Wives and children were also an unnecessary encumbrance.

For soldiers who did marry it was often the case that the wife suffered the greater hardship. In the first half of the century wives who were "on the strength" were accommodated in the barracks with the men. Their home was a corner of the barrack room partitioned off with blankets.

The women had to work for their keep, washing clothes for the other men, cooking or sewing. In this way they might earn a few pennies to buy extra food for their children. When the regiment went overseas some wives accompanied them. Numbers were severely restricted and lots were drawn for the privilege. Those who lost out and stayed behind had to fend for themselves. If their husbands were killed no provision was made for widows and orphans. There were private charities that tried to assist destitute army widows but these were few. It was quite common for a widow to remarry in a matter of weeks, usually to another soldier from her late husband’s regiment simply to remain "on the strength". For the Victorian army wife romance was a stranger. Security for themselves and their children was the prime consideration.

Food:

Peacetime rations were scant. Up to the Crimean War there were only two meals a day – at 7.30am and 12.30pm. Until the 1870s the only food issued was 12 ounces of meat (usually of poor quality), a pound of bread and a pound of potatoes for which sixpence a day was deducted from the soldier’s pay. Any additional foodstuff had to be paid for out of what was left. Even at the end of the century the last meal of the day was tea at 4pm. This consisted of tea, bread and butter.

The officers dined well and in luxury amid the glittering regimental silver. Few took any interest in the messing arrangements of their men or the quality of their food. During the Crimean War a famous French chef, Alexis Soyer, went to Scutari to help Florence Nightingale improve the preparation of food for wounded soldiers. He was also keen to instruct the men on how to do this for themselves once they were fit. His efforts were received less than enthusiastically by some senior officers. General Eyre said: "Soldiers don’t require such good messes…you will improve the cook but spoil the soldier."

Literacy:

In the 1850s a fifth of all ordinary soldiers were totally illiterate and only a small percentage barely literate. This is not a surprising statistic, merely reflecting the lack of education then prevalent among the civilian working classes from which the army drew the bulk of its recruits. In 1870 the Compulsory Education Act was introduced and this slowly brought about improvements in the standard of civilian education which, in turn, eventually led to the eradication of illiteracy in the army.

Officers:

Before 1871 commissions and promotions were purchased in the cavalry and infantry. The Duke of Wellington defended this system stating: "It is promotion by purchase which brings into the service…men who have some connection with the interests and fortunes of the country." The system effectively excluded those who, though they might be eminently qualified, spoke less than perfect grammatical English and were thought not to be "gentlemen."

Since the army provided no pension for officers, the purchase of commissions was an investment, the higher the rank the higher the price. A lieutenant colonel about to retire could sell his commission for anything from £4000 to £10,000 depending on whether he served in The Guards or a regiment of the line. The price of commissions in Guards regiments and certain of the more illustrious cavalry regiments were treble those of line regiments.

The sons of wealthy English families were not expected to take paid employment. That was for the middle and ‘labouring’ classes. Gentlemen preferred the church or the army after which, perhaps, a career in politics. Officers, even junior ones, had to be wealthy. In cavalry regiments an officer would be expected to purchase two chargers, one or two hunters and, if posted to India, several polo ponies. Despite these formidable obstacles there were those who rose from the ranks to become senior officers. Their path was strewn with difficulties - social and financial – and those who overcame them were the exception rather than the rule.

Weapons:

Infantry:

By 1857 most regiments had been issued with the new Enfield rifle, introduced as a replacement for the old ‘Brown Bess’ musket that had been in service since before the American War of Independence. The Enfield was still a muzzle-loading weapon but lighter and more accurate than the old ‘Bess’. The Enfields remained in service later being adapted as breech-loaders until the introduction of the first custom built breech-loading weapons in the early 1860s.

The soldier would have carried the Enfield together with his bayonet, a back-pack plus webbing with cartridge pouches. Officers carried swords and, in the 1850s, a percussion-lock single shot pistol. Later, the revolver would replace this. The officer’s belt held a cartridge pouch, pistol holster and sword scabbard.

Cavalry:

Lancers: Lancers carried nine-foot lances and the percussion-lock single shot pistol. Officers carried the pistol and a standard cavalry sword

Dragoons & Hussars: Each man was armed with the standard cavalry sword. Some units also carried the muzzle-loading swivel carbine that required the rider to wear a carbine swing belt (to which the carbine was attached by a short chain clip). Reloading a weapon such as this from the saddle was a difficult process only solved by the introduction of the breech-loading carbine in 1861.

Tactics:

The basic tactics employed by the British Army in the 19^th century were laid out in the Field Exercises Manuel of 1833. These differed hardly at all from the formations used by Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars. At Waterloo Napoleon had used his well tried ‘Columns’ formation, a mass of troops advancing on a narrow front to steamroller their way through by sheer weight of numbers. Wellington had countered this with his ‘Line’ formation, which had the advantage of bringing maximum firepower to bear on the advancing foe. After Waterloo the British adopted both systems, advancing to attack in column then deploying into line to fight. The standard defensive formation for receiving cavalry was to form a square, usually of two ranks (front rank kneeling), both ranks with fixed bayonets presenting an impenetrable barrier secure on all sides.

While these tactics were highly successful against mass attacks by lightly armed opponents like the Zulu, Dervishes and Fuzzy-Wuzzies they were disastrous when employed against an enemy armed with modern rifles and arrtillery. By the end of the century infantry weapons had become highly efficient, quick firing and accurate. In the hands of expert marksmen they were lethal, as the British were to discover to their cost during the Anglo Boer War.

Summing Up:

Despite the British public’s demonstrations of euphoria at every colonial victory and its demand for instant retribution for any defeat, the soldier on his home territory was not well thought of by the civilian population. Private soldiers were not allowed to wear civilian clothes except when on leave and were often denied service in pubs or seats at the theatre. Many bars had a sign saying "men in uniform not admitted." Again it was Rudyard Kipling who made the point: