Gone for a soldier: The anatomy of a nineteenth-century army family

Journal of Family History

Volumn 25, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 39-62

  Oddy, Derek J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 0033632942     PISSN: 03631990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/036319900002500104     Document Type: Article

References (196)

1. See C. Emsley, The English Police: A Political and Social History, 2d ed. (London: Longman, 1996), for chaps. 9-10, in particular, and its extensive bibliography. Also P. S. Bagwell, The Railwaymen, vol. 1 (London: Allen & Unwin, 1963).
2. See C. Emsley, The English Police: A Political and Social History, 2d ed. (London: Longman, 1996), for chaps. 9-10, in particular, and its extensive bibliography. Also P. S. Bagwell, The Railwaymen, vol. 1 (London: Allen & Unwin, 1963).
3. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
4. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
5. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
6. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
7. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
8. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
9. See Peter Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army? 1815-1868" and also Edward Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army 1868-1914," in The Oxford History of the British Army, ed. D. Chandler and I. Beckett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), esp. 165, 168-69, 190. A. R. Skelley, The Victorian Army at Home (London: Croom Helm, 1977) provides a more detailed analysis, as does S. H. Myerly, British Military Spectacle from the Napoleonic Wars through the Crimea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996). J. Masefield, Sea Life in Nelson's Time (London: Methuen, 1905), established the view that naval life was as harsh or harsher than the army, while impressment and discipline are central themes in C. Lloyd, The British Seaman (London: Paladin, 1970). However, for a contrasting view of mid-eighteenth-century naval life, see N.A.M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London: Fontana, 1988).
10. The contrast with the Navy was greater for, as Dr. N.A.M. Rodger points out, the Navy could not be joined in the way a man enlisted in the army. In the Navy, a man signed on for a king's ship and in time of peace, at least, was discharged when she paid off. Rodger, The Wooden World, 113. There was no standing Navy before the Continuous Service Act, 1853. See Lloyd, The British Seaman, 252-54. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 1, puts forward the view that the British army was no more than "a collection of regiments" acting in combination, but this is not analogous to the Navy.
11. The contrast with the Navy was greater for, as Dr. N.A.M. Rodger points out, the Navy could not be joined in the way a man enlisted in the army. In the Navy, a man signed on for a king's ship and in time of peace, at least, was discharged when she paid off. Rodger, The Wooden World, 113. There was no standing Navy before the Continuous Service Act, 1853. See Lloyd, The British Seaman, 252-54. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 1, puts forward the view that the British army was no more than "a collection of regiments" acting in combination, but this is not analogous to the Navy.
12. The contrast with the Navy was greater for, as Dr. N.A.M. Rodger points out, the Navy could not be joined in the way a man enlisted in the army. In the Navy, a man signed on for a king's ship and in time of peace, at least, was discharged when she paid off. Rodger, The Wooden World, 113. There was no standing Navy before the Continuous Service Act, 1853. See Lloyd, The British Seaman, 252-54. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 1, puts forward the view that the British army was no more than "a collection of regiments" acting in combination, but this is not analogous to the Navy.
13. However, Myerly, British Military Spectacle, emphasizes the wider appeal of the army for British society.
14. See Joany Hichberger, "Old Soldiers," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, vol. 3, National Fictions, ed. R. Samual (London: Routledge, 1989), 50-63, and "The British Tar as Proletarian Hero," in F. Rahill, World of Melodrama (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1967), 152-60.
15. See Joany Hichberger, "Old Soldiers," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, vol. 3, National Fictions, ed. R. Samual (London: Routledge, 1989), 50-63, and "The British Tar as Proletarian Hero," in F. Rahill, World of Melodrama (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1967), 152-60.
16. The Complete Wotks of Robert Burns, ed. J. A. Mackay (Ayr, Scotland: Alloway, bicentennial ed., 1986), 56. Later Burns favored emigration to Jamaica rather than the army. Note Myerly's comment in British Military Spectacle, 199, footnote 15: "Service for Scotsmen was generally considered more respectable among poor but decent families ... Scottish units were often run in a more humane fashion."
17. The Complete Wotks of Robert Burns, ed. J. A. Mackay (Ayr, Scotland: Alloway, bicentennial ed., 1986), 56. Later Burns favored emigration to Jamaica rather than the army. Note Myerly's comment in British Military Spectacle, 199, footnote 15: "Service for Scotsmen was generally considered more respectable among poor but decent families ... Scottish units were often run in a more humane fashion."
18. For this account, see Skelley, The Victorian Army, 182-88, and James Clark (late Sergeant Royal Scots Fusiliers), Historical Record and Regimental Memoir of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (Edinburg: Bank & Co., 1885), 122-23, App. no. 5 "Long, Long Ago! " Clark explained that the Bounty was to cover the cost of kit, which totaled £5. 10s. The recruit was thereforr in debt for the first six months of his service and received only 1d. per day for cleaning materials and pocket money. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 53-54.
19. For this account, see Skelley, The Victorian Army, 182-88, and James Clark (late Sergeant Royal Scots Fusiliers), Historical Record and Regimental Memoir of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (Edinburg: Bank & Co., 1885), 122-23, App. no. 5 "Long, Long Ago! " Clark explained that the Bounty was to cover the cost of kit, which totaled £5. 10s. The recruit was thereforr in debt for the first six months of his service and received only 1d. per day for cleaning materials and pocket money. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 53-54.
20. For this account, see Skelley, The Victorian Army, 182-88, and James Clark (late Sergeant Royal Scots Fusiliers), Historical Record and Regimental Memoir of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (Edinburg: Bank & Co., 1885), 122-23, App. no. 5 "Long, Long Ago! " Clark explained that the Bounty was to cover the cost of kit, which totaled £5. 10s. The recruit was thereforr in debt for the first six months of his service and received only 1d. per day for cleaning materials and pocket money. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 53-54.
21. Calculated from Skelley, The Victorian Army, app. 4, 320. In part, lower physical standards reflected the lower ages at which recruits entered. See Skelley, 25-26. See also Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army," 190, regarding special enlisments of underage, undersized recruits.
22. Calculated from Skelley, The Victorian Army, app. 4, 320. In part, lower physical standards reflected the lower ages at which recruits entered. See Skelley, 25-26. See also Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army," 190, regarding special enlisments of underage, undersized recruits.
23. Calculated from Skelley, The Victorian Army, app. 4, 320. In part, lower physical standards reflected the lower ages at which recruits entered. See Skelley, 25-26. See also Spiers, "The Late Victorian Army," 190, regarding special enlisments of underage, undersized recruits.
24. R. Price, An Imperial War and the British Working Class (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972), saw Jingoism in 1899-1902 as a middle-class phenomenon to which most of the working class were, at best, indiffferent. However, H. Cunningham, The Volunter Force: A Social and Political History 1859-1908 (London: Croom Helm, 1976), 108-17, 153-55, records the extent to which volunteer companies provided institutionalized sport and recreation for working-class men. Anne Summers, "Edwardian Militarism," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel (London: Routledge, 1989), 236-56, notes on page 242 that after the Boer war even social reform was discussed in miltaristic terms.
25. R. Price, An Imperial War and the British Working Class (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972), saw Jingoism in 1899-1902 as a middle-class phenomenon to which most of the working class were, at best, indiffferent. However, H. Cunningham, The Volunter Force: A Social and Political History 1859-1908 (London: Croom Helm, 1976), 108-17, 153-55, records the extent to which volunteer companies provided institutionalized sport and recreation for working-class men. Anne Summers, "Edwardian Militarism," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel (London: Routledge, 1989), 236-56, notes on page 242 that after the Boer war even social reform was discussed in miltaristic terms.
26. R. Price, An Imperial War and the British Working Class (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972), saw Jingoism in 1899-1902 as a middle-class phenomenon to which most of the working class were, at best, indiffferent. However, H. Cunningham, The Volunter Force: A Social and Political History 1859-1908 (London: Croom Helm, 1976), 108-17, 153-55, records the extent to which volunteer companies provided institutionalized sport and recreation for working-class men. Anne Summers, "Edwardian Militarism," in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel (London: Routledge, 1989), 236-56, notes on page 242 that after the Boer war even social reform was discussed in miltaristic terms.
27. Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 165; Skelley, The Victorian Army, 22-25. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 27, notes the effect of heavy kit on the soldier's health.
28. Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 165; Skelley, The Victorian Army, 22-25. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 27, notes the effect of heavy kit on the soldier's health.
29. Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 165; Skelley, The Victorian Army, 22-25. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 27, notes the effect of heavy kit on the soldier's health.
30. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 30-36; also Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 172-74.
31. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 30-36; also Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 172-74.
32. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 7-8. Myna Trustram, Women of the Regiment (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 68, suggests that service families had to accept that the army "sought to loosen any expectation of family obligations which men and women might have brought from the civilian world."
33. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 7-8. Myna Trustram, Women of the Regiment (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 68, suggests that service families had to accept that the army "sought to loosen any expectation of family obligations which men and women might have brought from the civilian world."
34. Trustram, Women of the Regiment, 146.
35. The term used by the nineteenth-century army for the Office of the Secretary of State for War.
36. His birth date is uncertain and his Attestation Papers have not survived. In the Public Record Office, Kew (PRO), ADM 10/25/8, his age was given as twenty-five on May 2, 1833 and twenty-six on May 18, 1833. If correct, that would mean he was born in May 1807. However, the New Register House computer index to the Old Parish Records for Ayrshire records no birth or baptism of a John McCulloch around at a time. Most probably he was the son of William McCulloch and Janet Doak, born at St Quivox, Ayr, on December 6, 1807 (Frame 191 612.1/1).
37. Information supplied on Alexander McCulloch's marriage certificate of 1897.
38. The cotton trade was severely depressed. From Girvan came newa that about half the 2,000 looms in the district were idle and those working faced reduced prices. Ayr Advertiser, March 12, 1829, 4 (pages unnumbered). Most workers in Glasgow were reported to be on two-thirds time and some on half-time. Stone breaking had been introduced as a labor test. Ayr Advertiser, March 26, 1829, 3.
39. The cotton trade was severely depressed. From Girvan came newa that about half the 2,000 looms in the district were idle and those working faced reduced prices. Ayr Advertiser, March 12, 1829, 4 (pages unnumbered). Most workers in Glasgow were reported to be on two-thirds time and some on half-time. Stone breaking had been introduced as a labor test. Ayr Advertiser, March 26, 1829, 3.
40. Ayr Advertiser, March 19, 1829, 4.
41. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 54-55, discusses the complex motivation of recruits. For John McCulloch's enlistment, see PRO, WO12/3799, fol. 60.
42. The 21st had raised its 2d Battalion for the Napoleonic Wars in Ayrshire and southwestern Scotland.
43. Old Parish Registers 578/12, frame 225 and 578/12, frame 2745; Jean Kennedy, the third child of "Gilbert Kennedy horse breaker in Ayr and Elisabeth Campbell his spouse" was born on February 28, 1811 (578/6, frame 1002). See also n. 41 below. Jean' s married life was not quite as anonymous as that of many army wives. In Women of the Regiment, 143-47, Trustram cited few examples of individual women's lives except from the Poor Law Commissioners' correspondence (PRO, class MH12).
44. J. Strawhorn, The History of Ayr (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1989), 92. Between 1794 and 1873, when it burnt down, the Barracks was a converted Sugar House on the site of Ayr Fort. It is mere speculation that he might have been put aboard a ship sailing from Ayr toward Dublin. The Hawarden Castle, a collier, and the Arthur and Eleanor, with coals and potatoes, both sailed on March 21, 1829.
45. PRO, WO12/3799. See fol. 44.
46. PRO, WO12/3799, fols. 44,58, and 60. However, see Clark, Historical Record, 122-23, app. no. 5 "Long, Long Ago!"
47. Regimental numbers first appeared in 1831, after which allocations to companies ceased to be recorded. In the last quarter of 1830 a preliminary numbering system was used in the pay ledger. In that list John McCulloch was no. 378. See PRO, WO 12/3799. However, by fol. 16 of WO 12/3800, a renumbering of the battalion made him no. 687.
48. PRO, WO 12/3799. See fol. 58 for details of the marches.
49. PRO, WO 12/3799. No illnesses were specified but sore or blistered feet were common causes of hospitalization. However, see PRO, ADM 101/25/8, fol. 11, case 8, for a specific diagnosis of his pulmonary condition in 1833.
50. PRO, WO 12/3800, fol. 56. Colin Campbell (later Field Marshal Lord Clyde) commanded the Highland Brigade in the Crimea.
51. See G. O. Tuathaigh, Ireland before the Famine, 1798-1848 (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1972), 178. For details of events in Newtonbarry, see the Wexford Independent and Wexford Herald during July 1831.
52. See G. O. Tuathaigh, Ireland before the Famine, 1798-1848 (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 1972), 178. For details of events in Newtonbarry, see the Wexford Independent and Wexford Herald during July 1831.
53. PRO, WO 12/3800, fol. 109.
54. PRO, WO 12/3800, fols. 133 and 147. The novelty of being "on board steam vessels" was inserted in the record of marches in a different hand (fol. 147).
55. PRO, WO 12/3800, fols. 171 and 185. On October 16, 1831, 18 miles from Liverpool to Warrington with the main body of the 21st; November 2-5, 56 miles from Warrington to Stafford; November 6-11, Stafford to Weedon. The record of marches notes that the heavy baggage was conveyed from Liverpool to Weedon by canal.
56. PRO, WO 12/3800, fol. 171.
57. See J. Buchan, The History of the Royal Scots Fusiliers (1679-1918) (London: Nelson, 1925), 190.
58. PRO, WO 12/3801.
59. Trustram, Women of the Regiment, 86, notes that King's Regulations allowed only six wives per 100 men, apart from India where the ratio was twelve per 100.
60. Ibid., 91 ; or on the baggage barges by canal.
61. PRO, WO 12/3801, fol. 200; WO 12/3802, fol. 70.
62. PRO, WO 12/3801 refers to "on command with convicts voucher no. 3."
63. Details of the voyage have been taken from PRO, ADM 101/25/8, Journal of His Majesty's Hired Convict Ship Emperor Alexander, William Donnelly, surgeon, between March 13 and August 16, 1833. The lieutenant commanding the guard and four other ranks were from infantry regiments other than the 21st. WO 25/3503 Embarkation Returns 1815-38, shows the 21st Regiment allocated one sergeant, twenty-six rank and file, and five women to this voyage, but Surgeon Donnelly recorded that six women and nine children were on board. The difference in number may reflect the smuggling of women on board without leave. See Carolyn Steedman, The Radical Soldier's Tale (London: Routledge, 1988), 112, for John Pearman's comment on four young married women being embarked illicitly by men of the 3d King's Own Light Dragoons at Gravesend in 1845.
64. ADM 101/25/8. She was born Jean Kennedy in 1811 (although m the 1840s her name was usually recorded as Jane). On the occasion of her third marriage at Christ Church, Cawnpore, in 1847, she gave her father's name as Gilbert Kennedy. See British Library, India Office Library (IOL), N/1/72/261.
65. See PRO HO11/9, fol. 19. Most of the convicts had been sentenced to seven years at Assize Court Sessions in England and Wales between the summer of 1832 and January 1833. A few were sentenced to fourteen years or life.
66. PRO, ADM 101/25/8, fol. 11, case no. 8.
67. PRO, WO 12/3802, fol. 91. WO 25/3503 Embarkation Returns 1815-38 gives no disembarkation date.
68. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 193. His account is based on Clark, Historical Record, 43: "Only two companies, with band and staff, remaining at headquarters." The regiment's depot was at Chatham throughout this overseas posting.
69. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 193. His account is based on Clark, Historical Record, 43: "Only two companies, with band and staff, remaining at headquarters." The regiment's depot was at Chatham throughout this overseas posting.
70. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 193. His account is based on Clark, Historical Record, 43: "Only two companies, with band and staff, remaining at headquarters." The regiment's depot was at Chatham throughout this overseas posting.
71. PRO, WO 12/3804.
72. Payments for wives' half rations are not shown in the ledgers.
73. PRO, WO12/3806, fol. 51.
74. PRO WO12/3806, fol. 88. He had not previously received any good-conduct pay. See Historical Record, 122, app. no. 5 "Long, Long Ago!" Clark states that good-conduct pay was not granted until December 1845.
75. PRO WO 12/3807. When at sea, 6d. per day was stopped for food supplied. At the end of 1838, the 21st was 735 men strong. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 191, places the disembarkation at Calcutta.
76. See PRO, WO12/3808 pt. 1.There were still two detachments left behind in Australia.
77. PRO, WO 12/3809, fol. 80. The details are confirmed on fol. 104 under the list of numbers "added to or reduced or discontinued in the Regiment."
78. The obituary in The Lynn Advertiser, Wisbech Constitutional Gazette and Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Herald, October 27, 1916, 5, col. 1, is incorrect in stating that he was born on board a troopship bound for India while the ship was leaving the port of Ayr. In the 1891 census, Alexander McCulloch gave his birthplace as Sheerness. The reference to Ayr sounds like a family memory, since his father John had a last view of Scotland from a ship leaving Ayr.
79. IOL, N/1/56/119. She was baptized on August 9 at Fort William, Calcutta.
80. IOL, N/1/58/127. John was buried on November 28 and William on Decembers 3, 1840. Both died of"fever."
81. IOL, N/1/62/114. The cause of death is given as "Dentition"; N/1/63/279 baptisms.
82. IOL, N/1/72/261. James Stevenson's cause of death is described in PRO, WO 334/19, fols 15-16 as "attributable to the intense heat of the weather in May and June." The "Hospital Serjeant James Stevenson Ætat 34. who was taken ill with Fever on the 29th May and was seized with Apoplexy on the 2nd June which carried him off in less than half an hour." Trustram, Women of the Regiment, 92: remarriage was "the only means of survival" for most women. See Steedman, The Radical Soldier's Tale, 142-43. In India, Sergeant Pearman noted (fols. 60-61): "We had 14 or 15 widows in the regit, and most of them was married in a month after our return to quarters soon forgot the one dead some of them had had 3 or 4 husbands one that was Married made her Sixth Husband."
83. IOL, N/1/72/261. James Stevenson's cause of death is described in PRO, WO 334/19, fols 15-16 as "attributable to the intense heat of the weather in May and June." The "Hospital Serjeant James Stevenson Ætat 34. who was taken ill with Fever on the 29th May and was seized with Apoplexy on the 2nd June which carried him off in less than half an hour." Trustram, Women of the Regiment, 92: remarriage was "the only means of survival" for most women. See Steedman, The Radical Soldier's Tale, 142-43. In India, Sergeant Pearman noted (fols. 60-61): "We had 14 or 15 widows in the regit, and most of them was married in a month after our return to quarters soon forgot the one dead some of them had had 3 or 4 husbands one that was Married made her Sixth Husband."
84. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 192. The 21st remained in a policing role and took no part in the Afghan campaign of 1839-42, the conquest of Sind in 1843, or the Sikh War.
85. Jean made her mark in the register for her second and third marriages. See PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 4, for the Annual Report of the Regimental Surgeon.
86. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 4.
87. On his discharge, he gave his occupation at the time of enlistment as "Clerk." See PRO, WO 12/10469, fol. 202. In 1847, Cawnpore contained a civil magistrate, a special law commissioner, and a commissioner of revenue besides the army's pay, clothing, ordnance, commissariat, and public works departments. See F. Clark, The East India Register and Army List for 1847 (London: W. H. Allen, 1847), 43 et seq. In PRO, WO 334/19, there is only an oblique reference to Alec's enlistment. See fol. 5: "No recruits joined from England and only 3 boys were enlisted at Head Quarters."
88. On his discharge, he gave his occupation at the time of enlistment as "Clerk." See PRO, WO 12/10469, fol. 202. In 1847, Cawnpore contained a civil magistrate, a special law commissioner, and a commissioner of revenue besides the army's pay, clothing, ordnance, commissariat, and public works departments. See F. Clark, The East India Register and Army List for 1847 (London: W. H. Allen, 1847), 43 et seq. In PRO, WO 334/19, there is only an oblique reference to Alec's enlistment. See fol. 5: "No recruits joined from England and only 3 boys were enlisted at Head Quarters."
89. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 3.
90. His aptitude was recognized both by the Royal Humane Society and by the people of Bishops Bridge Road, Norwich, who made a presentation to him in 1894, for teaching children to swim. See nt. 129.
91. PRO, WO 12/3816. He appears with another boy "enlisted by special authority (as Special Cases) 24th. Inst. Attested 26th Inst." Alec first received a man's pay on April 26, 1848. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 251, points out that until 1847 enlistment was for life or until a discharge on medical grounds was granted. He based this statement on the Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Present System of Recruiting in the Army (C.2762) 1861, v.
92. PRO, WO 12/3816. He appears with another boy "enlisted by special authority (as Special Cases) 24th. Inst. Attested 26th Inst." Alec first received a man's pay on April 26, 1848. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 251, points out that until 1847 enlistment was for life or until a discharge on medical grounds was granted. He based this statement on the Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Present System of Recruiting in the Army (C.2762) 1861, v.
93. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 5. See Disease table. From April 1 to December 31, 1847, Surgeon Dempster treated 1,532 cases of fever, 135 for dysentery, 209 for diarrhea, 135 "venereals," and 38 for "delirium tremens."
94. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 1. By 1847, after fourteen years away from home, the regiment numbered an average of 669 men. The strength of regimental loyalties stressed by Myerly might be reconsidered in the light of the practice of volunteering out. See Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 7-8. Pressure may also have been put on men to volunteer. In his report, Surgeon Dempster noted, "since the Corps' arrival at the Presidency the Government have ordered another Volunteering to the extent of 50 men which is to take place on the 5th or 6th instant."
95. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 1, and Clark, Historical Record, 44, both date the march from November 1 to December 30, 1847. The East India Register put the distance as 628 "British Miles."
96. PRO, WO 12/3817, fol. 26.
97. PRO, WO 334/19, fol. 1. There were thirty-seven sergeants in all. Older men between thirty and fifty years of age numbered 109. Long service overseas changed the composition of a regiment: a "Constitution of the Corps" listed the 21st with 580 men of whom there were "English 285, Irish 205, Scotch 90."
98. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 195. In total, 470 men joined at Canterbury.
99. PRO, WO 12/3817, fol. 100. In WO 12/3820 he was identified as a drummer. Myerly, British Military Spectacle, 85, notes the "low status" of "field musicians" and their duties of administering floggings. Yet, their pay was greater than that of the private soldier.
100. PRO, WO 12/3820, fol. 266, Remarks column: "On furlo' from 1st rejoined 30th Jany."
101. PRO, WO 12/3818. See Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 196. Buchan may have been assessing the regiment's condition in 1854, the date at which his chapter ended. However, the 21st had not been quartered in Scotland since 1850!
102. PRO, WO 12/3818. See fol. 6 for that quarter. However, he suffered no loss of pay and is not listed on Form 9 as "in confinement."
103. PRO, WO 12/3819; Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 195.
104. PRO, WO 12/3820, fols. 58-59.
105. PRO, WO 12/3820, fols. 40-41. He was recorded as not entitled to beer money for that period.
106. PRO, WO 12/2821, fol. 42. See Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 195, for the introduction of Minié rifles and a marksmanship competition.
107. PRO, WO 97/417. David Trench enlisted in Glasgow in May 1831, describing himself as a shoemaker. He was 5ft 61/2 in. tall, with grey eyes and fair hair, born in the Cannongate Parish of Edinburgh. He joined the 21st at Kilkenny on June 1, 1831 and served twenty-one years twenty-seven days in the regiment. The medical reason for his discharge is illegible in the microfilmed copy of his papers.
108. PRO, WO 12/3821, fol. 42. A marriage certificate for Lance Corporal Alexander McCulloch is in the 21st Regiment's Registry of Marriages. The minister officiating was D. Macfarlan principal of Glasgow College. In addition to his duties as principal of the university, he was also minister of the High Church, Glasgow. Margaret Young gave her birthplace as Ireland in the 1891 census of England and Wales.
109. See Skelley, The Victorian Army, 30; Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 172-74, 185.
110. See Skelley, The Victorian Army, 30; Burroughs, "An Unreformed Army," 172-74, 185.
111. PRO, WO 12/3821.
112. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 195-96.
113. PRO, WO 27/430. In May 1853, Major General Arbuthnot's inspection report criticized drill and officer turnover.
114. PRO, WO 27/430, question 39 and p. 13.
115. See birth certificate. The child's names were chosen in honor of his stepfather, Color Sergeant David Trench, rather than the Scottish naming pattern by which the eldest son would have been named after the paternal grandfather (William). The baptism was carried out by the garrison chaplain rather than the regimental chaplain. See below for the formation of the Military Stores Staff Corps in 1865.
116. PRO, WO 12/10945, fol. 66. The first appearance of Form 58 (Sheet E) in the pay lists of the Military Stores Staff Corps in October 1868 gives the initial date when a man was placed on the Married Establishment. Against no. 121 First Corporal Alex' McCulloch is written "Jan'y 54."
117. Trustram, Women of the Regiment, 35, Table 3.4.
118. PRO, WO 12/3822, fol. 12: the First Muster column has "From Privates. 20 Feb 1854 per authority dated War Office No 48,500/101" written vertically against twenty names.
119. PRO, WO 12/3823, fol. 4.
120. Obituary, The Lynn Advertiser, October 27, 1916, 5, col. 1.
121. In The Victorian Army at Home, 128, Skelley states that there was a minimum age for overseas postings but does not specify it.
122. PRO WO 12/3823, fol. 4. He was listed on the strength of the Regimental Depot which, according to the cover of the pay ledger for 1854, was "Dublin Buttevant & Birr," as "Probationary O R Clerk.... Promoted to Serjeant 12 August vice Bennett." In Queen's Regulations and Orders for the Army 1859 (London: HMSO [Parker & Son and Clowes & Sons], 1859), the probationary period of service as regimental orderly-room clerk is given as one year if a private, eight months if a corporal, and two months if a sergeant.
123. Alexander McCulloch was described as "Staff Serjeant Battalion Clerk" on the baptism certificate of August 15, 1856. Margaret Young, his wife, born in Ireland in 1834, may have lived through the Irish Famine in her adolescence. If so, it is possible that the privations of the 1840s were reflected in her children's health. Her oldest son, David Trench, survived and later enlisted in the 21st, but the second, Alexander Young, must have died before 1861 when her fourth child was given the name of Alexander. Her third son, William John, suffered from infantile cataract or xerophthalmia, which led to the loss of one eye, and her fourth son, Alexander Ross, died aged thirty-three years. He suffered numerous chest complaints before contracting tuberculosis in Burma in 1886. Janet, a daughter, died in infancy from congenital abnormalities. A fifth male child, George, for whom no details can be traced, was born about 1868 but died before adulthood.
124. PRO, WO 12/3825. The 21st's muster list numbered Alec McCulloch among the sergeants but listed him "On Command at Birr." WO 27/470 lists Depot Battalions, 1857. It confirms that the 21st's Depot was in Glasgow. The garrison at Birr contained the depot battalions of the 18th (Royal Irish Regiment), the 62d (Wiltshire), 63d (Manchester), and the 76th (West Riding) regiments.
125. PRO, WO 12/3827.
126. PRO, WO 12/12923, fol. 50, Form 10.
127. PRO, WO 12/12923; WO 12/3828, fols. 5-6. Folio 45 Account of Soldiers in Confinement. He was charged 2s. 6d. for five days subsistence. Strangely, there is no entry for this trial in WO 86/10 District Courts Martial 1858-9, although WO 12/3828, fol. 45 indicates that it was a military offence. Whether the regime in the cells followed the pattern of stone breaking and shot exercise set out in Queen's Regulations, 1859, cannot be ascertained.
128. PRO, WO 12/3829, fol. 26.
129. Ibid., fols. 11-12 (matching entry in muster roll on fol. 8).
130. PRO, WO 12/3830, 3831. In the ledgers, he was repeatedly entered in error as 2297.
131. PRO, WO 12/3832; WO 86/13 District Courts Martial 1863-64, fol. 131.
132. Ibid., but WO 86/13 has no entry for a court-martial in December 1863.
133. PRO, WO 12/3833.
134. Ibid. See Clark, Historical Record, 61. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 221, records the formation of the 2d Battalion at Paisley in April 1858.
135. Ibid. See Clark, Historical Record, 61. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 221, records the formation of the 2d Battalion at Paisley in April 1858.
136. Ibid. See Clark, Historical Record, 61. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 221, records the formation of the 2d Battalion at Paisley in April 1858.
137. PRO, WO 12/3834. For details of movements, see Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 223-24, or Clark, Historical Record, 62.
138. PRO, WO 12/3834. For details of movements, see Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 223-24, or Clark, Historical Record, 62.
139. PRO, WO 12/3834, fol. 26. The pay rate was 1s. 4d. plus 1d. good-conduct pay.
140. Photograph in author's possession.
141. PRO, WO 12/3835, fol. 8. The posting is dated from May 16, 1866.
142. PRO, WO 12/3835-3839. Fuller entries explain that the M.S.S. Corps was the Military Stores Staff Corps. From July 1866 he was listed as "Supernumerary. M.S.S. Corps Woolwich" and similar entries were inserted in the muster rolls for the next three years until early 1870, by which time the 1st Battalion of the 21st had moved to Dublin, to the Curragh, to Enniskillen, and had set off once more for India, leaving its Depot behind at Shorncliffe Camp, Folkestone.
143. It was commanded by a lieutenant colonel, designated the "Staff Officer," with a lieutenant as deputy assistant superintendent, plus a quartermaster.
144. PRO, WO 12/10944, fols. 21 and 41.
145. Ibid., fol. 8 "per H[orse]. G[uards]. order 20 July."
146. Ibid., fol. 8.
147. PRO, WO 12/10945. Except March 1868, for which nothing is entered.
148. Ibid., Form 58E.
149. PRO, WO 12/10946: The cryptic comment in the ledger is "Tried and sentenced to be reduced 24th Restored." See also WO 86/18, District Courts Martial 1869-70, fol. 72.
150. PRO, WO 12/10946, fol. six sergeants; fol. eight 1st corporals, see also fol. 58: "From Rank & File Roll 9 March." Whether the family's accommodation improved is unclear.
151. PRO, WO 12/10946. April 1, 1870 lists 121 Serjeant McCulloch but at a rate of only 2s. 7d. per day. On fol. 50, Form 58E records: "The whole of the Married Establishment, as per March pay list . . . has been transferred to the Army Service Corps from 1st April."
152. For the absorption of the Military Stores Staff Corps (MSSC) into the Army Service Corps, see C. H. Massé, The Predecessors of the Royal Army Service Corps (Aldershot, UK: Gale & Polden, 1948), 62, or J. Fortescue, The Royal Army Service Corps: A History of Transport and Supply in the British Army, vol. 1 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1930), 187.
153. For the absorption of the Military Stores Staff Corps (MSSC) into the Army Service Corps, see C. H. Massé, The Predecessors of the Royal Army Service Corps (Aldershot, UK: Gale & Polden, 1948), 62, or J. Fortescue, The Royal Army Service Corps: A History of Transport and Supply in the British Army, vol. 1 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1930), 187.
154. It fell into three separate categories: men at Headquarters, the Transport branch, and the Supply branch. Until the late 1870s, when men are listed by companies, there is no evidence where men were stationed, unless individual entries of postings such as "To Gibraltar," "To Newfoundland" appear in the pay ledgers.
155. PRO, WO 12/10462, fol. 9. He had a new regimental number, 1103. Some extra "Departmental Pay" is recorded per a Royal Warrant of April 11, 1870: twenty-six days at 1s. 0d.; twenty-four days at 8d. This ledger also contains a married establishment on Form 58E.
156. PRO, WO 12/10462 gives no details of his posting but he is listed in the Barracks on the date of the census (April 10, 1871). See RG 10/2134, fols. 78-79. The children entered on the Census Schedule do not match the numbers and ages shown on the 1870 Married Establishment (WO 12/10462) which continued to list one child already dead. The youngest child in the 1871 census is George, aged two years, born in Woolwich, Kent, for whom neither birth certificate nor death certificate can be traced.
157. PRO, WO 12/10466, third quarter, fol. 23.
158. PRO, WO12/10468, third quarter, fol. 16. See also WO 12/19469, which forms pt. 2of the 1873-4 ledger. On fol. 178, it gives the details that he had enlisted at Cawnpore and was to reside at Devonport. He was given an "Allowance on Discharge" of 20s. 0d.; fol. 202, giving details of men become noneffective, also lists him as follows: "Place of Birth - At sea"; "Trade when enlisted - Clerk"; "Date of Enlistment - 24 April '47"; "How non effective - To Pension." In WO121/227, Royal Hospital, Chelsea Register 1871-79, fol. 144, Army Service Corps, he is listed as having twenty-two years 102 days pensionable service.
159. PRO, WO 61/11, fol. 76. His address was given as 36 Marlboro Street, Devonport.
160. Alec McCulloch was a witness when his son William married Annie Vickers in Lincoln on August 7, 1882. Their eldest child, Alice Rose, was born at Lincoln Barracks in 1882.
161. The Argus, Norwich, Tuesday, June 24, 1890, 2, col. 5; The Norwich Mercury, June 25, 1890, 2, col. 3. For details of the rescue on June 21, 1890, see the Humane Society's committee meeting of July 21, 1890, entry no. 933, Bronze Medal Award no. 24933. "The Sergeant ran 100 yards plunged into the river with full uniform on, swam to the boy and succeeded in bringing him safely out."
162. The Argus, Norwich, Tuesday, June 24, 1890, 2, col. 5; The Norwich Mercury, June 25, 1890, 2, col. 3. For details of the rescue on June 21, 1890, see the Humane Society's committee meeting of July 21, 1890, entry no. 933, Bronze Medal Award no. 24933. "The Sergeant ran 100 yards plunged into the river with full uniform on, swam to the boy and succeeded in bringing him safely out."
163. The Argus, Norwich, Tuesday, June 24, 1890, 2, col. 5; The Norwich Mercury, June 25, 1890, 2, col. 3. For details of the rescue on June 21, 1890, see the Humane Society's committee meeting of July 21, 1890, entry no. 933, Bronze Medal Award no. 24933. "The Sergeant ran 100 yards plunged into the river with full uniform on, swam to the boy and succeeded in bringing him safely out."
164. The Norfolk Weekly Standard and Argus, Saturday, September 8, 1894, 4, col .6. He was given a matched set of an umbrella and a walking stick. The silver mounting on the stick reads: "Presented to Alec McCullock [sic] by Grateful Pupils for Teaching Swimming 1/9/94."
165. RG 12/1521, fol. 105. Other families listed at the same address included the bandmaster of the 8th Hussars and another barrack sergeant pensioner.
166. Emily was described as a spinster on the marriage certificate, but entries on her children's birth and death certificates give her surname as Haylar, formerly Harding. Whether she was a widow when she married or was William Haylar's stepdaughter is not known. Local newspapers do not help: neither the Grays and Tilbury Gazette nor the Grays and Tilbury Standard have survived in the Newspaper Library, Colindale, for the later part of 1897. William Haylar appeared on the marriage certificate as Captain R. N. but cannot be traced in the Navy List for this period.
167. The death certificate for George is dated August 18, but the notice in the Lynn News and County Press gave it as August 22. At the time, concern was expressed in the local press about the town's water supply in view of a typhoid outbreak. Jane Emily died on January 29, 1919, from pulmonary tuberculosis. The birth date of her sister, Mabel, has not been traceable.
168. See nt. 94 for the children of the first marriage.
169. The Lynn Advertiser, July 7, 1905, 5, col. 5. Alec McCulloch may have obtained the post with the assistance of Rev. E. W. Bremner of the Union Chapel, who was a member of the Public Library Committee, and who later officiated at his funeral.
170. The Lynn Advertiser, October 27, 1916, 5, col. 1.
171. PRO, WO 97/3348.
172. Ibid. Additional details from WO 16/1549. On Form 30 Remittances, he sent Mrs E. J. McCulloch £5 from South Africa in the April-June quarter of 1879 and a further £5 on August 25, 1879.
173. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 150-51. Flogging was formally abolished in 1881, but "in 1878 it was revived in all its former vigour to maintain discipline among the forces in South Africa." The Army Act restricted it to units on active service. Anne Summers, "Edwardian militarism," in Patriotism, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel, cites A. Griffiths, "Military Crime and Its Treatment," Fortnightly Review, November 1901, for the continuation of flogging in the Boer War.
174. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 150-51. Flogging was formally abolished in 1881, but "in 1878 it was revived in all its former vigour to maintain discipline among the forces in South Africa." The Army Act restricted it to units on active service. Anne Summers, "Edwardian militarism," in Patriotism, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel, cites A. Griffiths, "Military Crime and Its Treatment," Fortnightly Review, November 1901, for the continuation of flogging in the Boer War.
175. Skelley, The Victorian Army, 150-51. Flogging was formally abolished in 1881, but "in 1878 it was revived in all its former vigour to maintain discipline among the forces in South Africa." The Army Act restricted it to units on active service. Anne Summers, "Edwardian militarism," in Patriotism, vol. 1, History and Politics, ed. R. Samuel, cites A. Griffiths, "Military Crime and Its Treatment," Fortnightly Review, November 1901, for the continuation of flogging in the Boer War.
176. For details of the campaign, see Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 238-41.
177. PRO, WO 16/1549, fol. 27. The pay lists do not distinguish between men detached to garrison the forts and those who took part in the battle.
178. Buchan, Royal Scots Fusiliers, 242-43. Spelling of Zulu names follows Buchan.
179. PRO, WO 16/2809.
180. PRO, WO 97/3348. See also WO 16/2944. On April 1 ,1887, the Roxburgh and Selkirk Rifle Volunteers and their staff were transferred from the Royal Scots Fusiliers recruiting district to that of the King's Own Scottish Borderers. David McCulloch was promoted color sergeant on August 27, 1888 by the King's Own Scottish Borderers at the end of his second term of service, and his engagement was extended beyond twenty-one years. On discharge, his next of kin was given as Mrs. E. McCulloch, with four dependent children younger than fourteen years.
181. PRO, WO 97/3348.
182. He suffered from general debility soon after enlistment on August 26, 1875, and a year later from tonsillitis at Portsmouth on August 4, 1876. The following year at Fort George on the Moray Forth, he was treated for an ulcerated finger on October 18, 1877.
183. PRO, WO 16/1548 fol. 23.
184. PRO, WO 16/1550.
185. PRO, WO 16/2809. Later, with a draft mainly from the 1st Battalion arriving on November 2, 1885, the battalion's strength was twenty-seven officers and 945 NCOs and rank and file.
186. PRO, WO 16/2809. Letter from Colonel Winsloe to the undersecretary of state, War Office, explaining the lateness of the battalion's returns.
187. PRO, WO 97/3348. Chelsea no. 27, 312. His illness is described as "severe non-recovered." His next of kin was given as his father, of New Barracks, Lincoln.
188. PRO, RG 12/1521, fol. 105. See Joany Hichberger, "Old Soldiers," in Patriotism, vol. 3, ed. R. Samuel, 58, on ex-soldiers as musicians, particularly street musicians.
189. The notification of death by A. McCulloch, widow, is an error on the death certificate.
190. The anonymity of women's lives is fully illustrated by Trustram, Women of the Regiment. See 143-47, for the limited evidence provided by Poor Relief records. Army wives were treated as if they "had no settlement" and were transferred to their husbands' parishes.
191. Employment opportunities for ex-servicemen increased in the late nineteenth century, particularly in uniformed occupations. See J. Gildea, Naval and Military Funds and Institutions, 3d ed. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1898). The Army and Navy Pensioners' Employment Society was established as early as 1855, followed in 1859 by the Corps of Commissionaires. By the end of the century, the Civil Service Commission, the Prison Commission, the Post Office, and the railway companies all offered employment to ex-servicemen. Cleaning work, chiefly in the London area, was offered by the Army and Navy Labour Corps, while work as night-watchmen, clerks, and musicians was offered by the National Association for the Employment of Reserve Soldiers and the Employment Register for Reserve or Pensioned Soldiers from Regiments Abroad, which had been established at the Gosport Discharge Depot in 1890. After short-service engagements were introduced in 1870, discharged soldiers were commonly still in their twenties, and the demand for employment increased. However, employers were often unwilling to employ reservists who might be called up to the colors. See Joany Hichberger, "Old Soldiers," in Patriotism, vol. 3, ed. R. Samuel, 58. Also Steedman, The Radical Soldier's Tale, 52-55, notes that in the mid-nineteenth century, ex-soldiers were not popular with the new police authorities, who associated them with low levels of literacy and an addiction to drink.
192. Employment opportunities for ex-servicemen increased in the late nineteenth century, particularly in uniformed occupations. See J. Gildea, Naval and Military Funds and Institutions, 3d ed. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1898). The Army and Navy Pensioners' Employment Society was established as early as 1855, followed in 1859 by the Corps of Commissionaires. By the end of the century, the Civil Service Commission, the Prison Commission, the Post Office, and the railway companies all offered employment to ex-servicemen. Cleaning work, chiefly in the London area, was offered by the Army and Navy Labour Corps, while work as night-watchmen, clerks, and musicians was offered by the National Association for the Employment of Reserve Soldiers and the Employment Register
193. Employment opportunities for ex-servicemen increased in the late nineteenth century, particularly in uniformed occupations. See J. Gildea, Naval and Military Funds and Institutions, 3d ed. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1898). The Army and Navy Pensioners' Employment Society was established as early as 1855, followed in 1859 by the Corps of Commissionaires. By the end of the century, the Civil Service Commission, the Prison Commission, the Post Office, and the railway companies all offered employment to ex-servicemen. Cleaning work, chiefly in the London area, was offered by the Army and Navy Labour Corps, while work as night-watchmen, clerks, and musicians was offered by the National Association for the Employment of Reserve Soldiers and the Employment Register for Reserve or Pensioned Soldiers from Regiments Abroad, which had been established at the Gosport Discharge Depot in 1890. After short-service engagements were introduced in 1870, discharged soldiers were commonly still in their twenties, and the demand for employment increased. However, employers were often unwilling to employ reservists who might be called up to the colors. See Joany Hichberger, "Old Soldiers," in Patriotism, vol. 3, ed. R. Samuel, 58. Also Steedman, The Radical Soldier's Tale, 52-55, notes that in the mid-nineteenth century, ex-soldiers were not popular with the new police authorities, who associated them with low levels of literacy and an addiction to drink.
194. See nt. 9 above. H. Cunningham, 108-19, emphasizes the social activities and growth of clubs associated with volunteer companies.
195. P. Dietz, Garrison: Ten British Military Towns (London: Brassey's Defence, 1986), 40. Military Sunday parades in York began in 1885 as a memorial to General Gordon's death in Khartoum.
196. For the less fortunate, see R. Samuel, "Comers and Goers," in The Victorian City: Images and Reality, vol. 1, Past and Present/Numbers of People, ed. H. J. Dyos and M. Wolff (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, paperback ed., 1976), 124. A Charity Organization Society report of 1891 estimated that old soldiers and army reservists constituted "not less than one-fourth or one-fifth of destitute homeless persons" on the tramp.