Soldiers

Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors

Richard Holmes

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9780007356805
• eBook ISBN:
  9780007457724
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

From the redcoat who served Charles II to the modern, camouflage-clad guard at Camp Bastion, from battlefield to barrack-room, this is a magisterial social history of the British soldier.

Since 1660 the army has evolved and adapted, but the social organisation of the men has changed less, with the major combat arms retaining many of the characteristics familiar to those who fought at Blenheim, Waterloo and the Somme. The Duke of Marlborough, who built up the British army to become a world-class fighting force in the 1660s, would recognise in the tired heroes of Helmand the descendants of the men he led to victory at Blenheim over three hundred years ago.

'Soldiers' is exhaustively researched, and Holmes's affection for the soldier shines through on every page. Above all, this book is brimming with great stories, from the chaos of the battlefield to the fug of the barrack-room, from Ulster to Bengal, from Flanders' fields to the Afghan hills. This is a magisterial social history of the British soldier – and Richard Holmes's fitting last tribute to the British soldier to whom he was so devoted.

SEARCHABLE TERMS

The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.

NOTE: Ranks and titles are generally the highest mentioned in the text

abbreviations (linguistic), 456, 461

Abercrombie, General Sir James, 466

Abercromby, General Sir Ralph, 236

Acland-Troyte, Lieut. John Edward, 181, 523

Adam, Sir Ken (born Klaus Hugo Adam), 346

Adam, General Sir Ronald, 216, 384, 390–1

Adams, Private Buck, 469, 598

Adams, George, 279

Adams, John, 6

Adams, Revd J.W., VC, 253

Adeane, Sir Michael, 19

adjutant general, 70–2

Adjutant General’s Corps, 543

adjutants: duties and status, 69–70, 72–3

Adlercron, Colonel John, 150

Adye, Major General Sir John, 169

Afghanistan: chaplains in, 234–5

Africa: troops in, 304

age: of serving soldiers, 271–86

Ainsworth, Bob, 46, 428

Airey, General Richard, 1st Baron, 77

Airlie, Lieut. Colonel David Stanley William Ogilvy, 6th Earl of, 464

Akabusi, Kriss, 582

Al Amarah, Iraq, 90

Alanbrooke, Field-Marshal Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount, 17, 113, 123

Albemarle, George Monck, 1st Duke of, 6–7, 125, 128, 231

Albert, Prince Consort, 13

Albert Victor, Prince, 14

Aldenrath, Corporal James, 332–3

Aldershot: barracks, 512, 521; church parades, 252–3; Military Detention Barracks (‘the Glasshouse’), 518

Alexander, Field Marshal Harold, 1st Earl, 123

Alfieri, Count Vittorio, 327

Algeo, Captain W.B., 61–2

Aliwal, battle of (1846), 310

Allenby, Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman, 1st Viscount, 371

Alma river, 448

Almanza, battle of (1707), 325–6

Alten, Field Marshal Charles von, 338

Alten, Major General Victor von, 338

Alvanley, Lieut. William Arden, 2nd Baron, 584

Ambrose, Stephen, 498

American War of Independence (Revolutionary War; 1775–81): conduct, 6, 12, 36–7; foreign auxiliaries in British army, 322–4; France allies with Americans, 96

Amery, Leo, 41

Amiens, Peace of (1802), 328–9

Amritsar Massacre (1919), 52

Ancell, Sergeant Sam, 9

Anderson, Private James, 389

André, Major John, 139, 327

Andrews, I.G., 387

Andrews, Lieut. Colonel, 203

Anglesey, George Charles Henry Victor Paget, 7th Marquess of, 180

Anne, Princess Royal, 16

Anne, Queen (earlier Princess), 11, 22, 134–5, 137

Anstruther, Colonel Philip, 49

Anti-Aircraft Command: women in, 354–6

Anton, James, 507–8

Anzio, 404, 406

Arassus, Charles Pierre d’, 327

Arbuthnot, Major Robert, 330

Ardent, HMS, 540

Argyll, General John Campbell, 2nd Duke of, 563

aristocracy: and officers, 159–64, 167

Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme (AFPS), 34

Armed Services Forum, 46

Armit, WO3 ‘Muscle’, 65

Armitage, Second Lieut. Douglas William, 184

arms plotting, 430

Army Acts: (1881), 21; (1913), 289; (1955), 21

Army Board of the Defence Council, 23; Executive Committee, 433

Army Canteen Committee, 539

Army Council: created, 22–3

Army Discipline and Regulating Act (1879), 21

Army Enlistment Act (1870), 378

Army Foundation College, Harrogate, 283

Army Officer Selection Board (AOSB), 223, 226

Army Regulation Bill (1871), 155

Army of Reserve (1803), 97

Army Rumour Service (website), 34, 47, 264, 357

Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming, 487

Army Training Regiments, 284, 286

Army units:

ARMOURED: Royal Armoured Corps, 64, 373, 430; Royal Tank Regiment, 65, 371, 373, 481

CAVALRY: 1st Royal Dragoons (Royals), 132, 172, 365–6, 367; 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys), 372; 2nd Queen’s Dragoon Guards, 369; 3rd Dragoon Guards, 180, 503; 5th (Royal Irish) Dragoons, 245; 7th (Princess Royal’s) Dragoon Guards, 369; 9th Light Dragoons, 370; 10th (or Prince of Wales’s Own) Royal Regiment of Light Dragoons (Hussars), 370; 11th Hussars (‘Cherry Bums’), 292, 477–8; 12th Lancers, 415–17; 13th Light Dragoons, 172; 13th/18th Hussars, 448; 15th Light Dragoons, 370, 441; 15th/19th King‘s Royal Hussars, 103–4, 371, 373; 16th/5th Queen’s Royal Lancers, 13, 245, 448; 18th Light Dragoons, 370; 19th Hussars, 371; 19th Light Dragoons, 370; 20th Hussars, 371; 21st Lancers, 371; Blues and Royals, 15; Cheshire Yeomanry, 103; Heavy Brigade, 371; Horse Grenadier Guards, 79–80; Horse Guards (‘the Blues’), 7; Imperial Yeomanry (IY), 107–8; King’s Royal Hussars, 478; Life Guards, 79; Light Brigade (later Light Division), 70, 367, 371; Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, 14; Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars, 448, 453; Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, 487

FOOT GUARDS: height requirement, 271; inter-war promotions, 209; ranks, 80–2; recruitment, 382; regiments raised, 7; Coldstream Guards, 6–7, 80–1; Grenadier Guards, 7, 473, 475; Scots Guards, 221

INFANTRY: 1st Foot (Royal Scots), 20–1, 304, 365, 374, 449, 476–7; 2nd Foot (Que...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• I. Politics and Position
• II. Gallant Gentlemen and Officers
• III. Recruiting a National Army
• IV. Tribes And Totems
• V. Habits and Habitat
• Afterword
• Picture Section
• Acknowledgements
• Endnotes
• Searchable Terms
• Other Books by Richard Holmes
• Copyright
• About the Publisher