British mobilization in the war of American independence

Historical Research

Volumn 72, Issue 177, 1999, Pages 58-76

  Conway, Stephen ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

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EID: 61249693819     PISSN: 09503471     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1468-2281.00073     Document Type: Review

References (167)

1. See, for instance, J. Brewer, The Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State (1989);
2. L. Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (1992);
3. An Imperial State at War: Britain, 1689-1815, ed. L. Stone (1994);
4. K. Wilson, The Sense of the People: Politics, Culture and Imperialism in England, 1715-85 (Cambridge, 1995).
5. Colley, Britons, ch. vii.
6. See C. Emsley, British Society and the French Wars, 1793-1815 (1979), pp. 2-4;
7. G. Best, War and Society in Revolutionary Europe, 1770-1870 (1982), chs. ii and iii;
8. M. S. Anderson, War and Society in Europe of the Old Regime, 1618-1789 (1988), esp. pp. 121, 164-5;
9. Brewer, esp. pp. 41-2;
10. Stone, 'Introduction' in An Imperial State at War, esp. pp. 6, 10, 20.
11. J. E. Cookson, The British Armed Nation, 1793-1815 (Oxford, 1997), ch. i, gives some attention to the American war antecedents of mass mobilization in his period, but still understates, I would suggest, the 'evolutionary' argument.
12. Several of these are cited in subsequent footnotes, but see particularly J. A. Houlding, Fit for Service: the Training of the British Army, 1715-95 (Oxford, 1981)
13. and N. A. M. Rodger, The Wooden World: an Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (1986).
14. One of the earliest revisionist studies is J. W. Hayes, 'The social and professional background of the officers of the British army, 1714-63' (unpublished University of London M.A. thesis, 1956).
15. See N. Tracy, Navies, Deterrence and American Independence (Vancouver, 1988), ch. vi;
16. D. A. Baugh, 'The politics of British naval failure, 1775-7', American Neptune, lii (1992), 221-46.
17. The Parliamentary History of England, ed. W. Cobbett and J. Wright (36 vols., 1806-36) (hereafter cited as P.H.), xviii. 842.
18. N. A. M. Rodger, The Insatiable Earl: a Life of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, 1718-92 (1993), pp. 225-37.
19. For the debate within government on whether to use the army or a naval blockade, Baugh is essential reading; see also S. Conway, 'The politics of British military and naval mobilization, 1775-83', Eng. Hist. Rev., cxii (1997), 1179-1201.
20. For his opposition see, for instance, The Correspondence of George III, ed. Sir John Fortescue (6 vols., 1927-8), iii. 247, 249, 250;
21. British Library, Auckland Papers, Additional MS. 34412 fo. 343.
22. Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add. MS. 38344 fo. 162.
23. See Public Record Office, Treasury Papers, T 1/514 fos. 127, 130-1, 'Colonel Scheither's Terms' and 'Remarks on Lieutenant Colonel Scheither's Plan'.
24. For the distribution of Scheiter's Germans, see ibid., War Office Papers, WO 4/96, pp. 257, 389, 462;
25. WO 4/99, p. 198.
26. The best modern account is R. Atwood, The Hessians: Mercenaries from Hessen-Kassel in the American Revolution (Cambridge, 1980).
27. P.H. xxii. 783.
28. See Conway, 'Politics of mobilization', p. 1182.
29. Capt. John Rushworth to Philip Stephens, 28 May 1778 (P.R.O., Admiralty Papers, ADM 1/2391).
30. P.H., xxiii. 292.
31. Moulding, p. 126, states that in wartime British infantry regiments were, on average, at 83% of establishment strength, and cavalry regiments at 94%.
32. See Conway, 'Politics of mobilization', pp. 1187-8.
33. George Wansey to Richard Laurence, 10 Oct. 1779 (Wiltshire Record Office, Wansey Papers, 314/4/2).
34. P.R.O., State Papers Military, SP 41/33 fos. 20, 47, 53, 78, 89-90, 92, 101, 153, 157, 266, 277;
35. Cornwall Record Office, Tremayne of Heligan Papers, DDT 1892/1;
36. The Private Papers of John, Earl of Sandwich, ed. G. B. Barnes and J. H. Owen (4 vols., 1932-8), iii.74.
37. Lt. Matthew Bentham to Lord Ailesbury, 10 Oct. 1779 (Wiltshire Record Office, Savernake MS. 9).
38. P.R.O., Home Office Papers, HO 42/205 fos. 156-8;
39. Brit. Libr., Pelham Papers, Add. MS. 33127 fo. 33.
40. P.R.O., WO 34/116 fos. 1-2.
41. H. Butterfield, George III, Lord North and the People, 1779-80 (1949), p. 55.
42. Ipswich Journal, 22 July 1780.
43. P.R.O., SP 41/33 fo. 301;
44. HO 42/205 fo. 132.
45. See also Norfolk Record Office, Great Yarmouth Corporation Records, Y/TC/36/20/10.
46. P.R.O., State Papers Scotland, SP 54/47 fos. 135, 137, 151;
47. SP 54/48 fos. 103, 105, 107, 125, 127.
48. J. Robertson, The Scottish Enlightenment and the Militia bsue (Edinburgh, 1985), pp. 137-8.
49. P.R.O., HO 42/205 fos. 152-4;
50. Brit. Libr, Pelham Papers, Add. MS. 33128 fo. 79;
51. The Town Book of Lewes, 1702-1837, ed. V. Smith (Sussex Record Soc, lxix, 1973), pp. 68-9.
52. Leeds Intelligencer, 24, 31 Dec. 1782.
53. P.R.O., HO 42/205 fo. 111.
54. Rev. William Palgrave to William Weddell, 2 Sept. [1782] (Leeds Archives, Rockingham Letters, vol. 3b, Ramsden Papers).
55. I.J. F. Beckett, The Amateur Military Tradition, 1558-1945 (Manchester, 1991), p. 70.
56. Mary Hardy's Diary, ed. B. Cozens-Hardy (Norfolk Record Soc, xxxvii, 1968), p. 43.
57. Precision is impossible. This figure is based on the estimates presented to the house of commons in Feb. 1783 (Journals of the House of Commons, xxxix. 203, 242-4)
58. P. Smyth, '"Our cloud-cap't grenadiers": the volunteers as a military force', Irish Sword, xiii (1977-9), 195.
59. Rushworth to Stephens, 25 March 1779 (P.R.O., ADM 1/2392).
60. Brit. Libr., Hardwicke Papers, Add. MS. 35660 fo. 210.
61. Staffordshire Record Office, Paget Papers, D 603/0/2/8.
62. Brit. Libr., Rainsford Papers, Add. MS. 23654 fo. 135.
63. J. R Western, The English Militia in the 18th Century (1965), p. 265.
64. M. Duffy, The foundations of British naval power', The Military Revolution and the State, 1500-1800, ed. M. Duffy (Exeter, 1980), p. 72.
65. Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add. MS. 38375 fos. 74-5.
66. Lt. William Robertson to his father, 17 Jan.-1 Feb. 1779 (Scottish Record Office, Dalguise Muniments, G.D. 38/2/19).
67. Extrapolated from the figures in Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add, MS. 38344 fo. 162.
68. This could easily be an underestimate: Duffy, 'Foundations of British naval power', p. 72, states that there were 175,990 enlistments from 1774 to 1780 alone. On the other hand, this figure probably includes some men who joined one ship, were discharged, and then joined another.
69. P.R.O., Chatham Papers, 30/8/25 fo. 206.
70. For deaths at Warley camp in Essex see parish records of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Brentwood, St. Peter, Little Warley, and St. Mary the Virgin, Great Warley (Essex Record Office, D/P 362/1/2, D/P 66/1/2, D/P 195/1/2).
71. For an example of a private arrangement see the agreement between James Smith and Thomas Adams, a serving substitute 'soon to be discharged', 4 March 1780 (Hampshire Record Office, Jervoise Papers, 44 M69 030).
72. C. A. Markham, The History of the Northamptonshire and Rutland Militia (1924), p. 48.
73. P.R.O., WO 13/99.
74. There were, of course, some entrants of more tender years, such as drummer boys in the army and the three Bedfordshire lads, aged between 10 and 11, who in 1781 joined the navy, probably as servants (see D. Baker, 'The inhabitants of Cardington in 1782', Publications of the Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, lii (1973), 57).
75. In general, however, most recruits for the army and navy were 16 or above (see S. Frey, The British Soldier in America (Austin, Tex., 1981), pp. 23-6;
76. Rodger, Wooden World, pp. 360-4).
77. See, for instance, L. Colley, 'Whose nation? Class and national consciousness in Britain, 1750-1830', Past and Present, cxiii (1986), 101 & n. 12.
78. J. Bourne, 'Goodbye to all that? Recent writing on the Great War', Twentieth-Century British History, i (1990), 97.
79. These are my calculations, based on the same method as used to work out the proportion of British and Irish manpower in military service during the American war.
80. It should be noted, however, that much less reliance was placed on German auxiliary units than in previous 18th-century conflicts. In the War of Spanish Succession (1702-13) the costs associated with the hiring of foreign troops absorbed 25% of the army budget; in 1760, during the Seven Years' War, parliament planned to spend 24% of the money allocated to the army on foreign mercenaries; in 1781, at the height of the American war, only 9% (Brewer, p. 32; Journals of the House of Commons, xxviii. 636-9, xxxviii. 33-9;
81. see also D. French, The British Way in Warfare, 1688-2000 (1990), pp. 59, 87).
82. Lord Weymouth to Lord Amherst, 25 Oct. 1779 (P.R.O., SP 41/28).
83. The Correspondence of the Three William Byrds of Westover, Virginia, 1684-1776, ed. M. Tinling (2 vols., Charlottesville, Va., 1977), ii. 777, 778, 793-4, 803-4, 808-9, 817-18;
84. The Saltonstall Papers', ed. R. E. Moody, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, lxxxi (1974), 477, 479, 490.
85. See also 'George Inman's Narrative', Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vii (1883), 237.
86. Nor should we forget that some Britons served in units raised in the colonies. See The Diary of the Revd. William Jones, 1777-1821, ed. O. F. Christie (1929), p. 58;
87. Robert Rauthmell to his aunt, 6 July 1778 (Cumbria Record Office, Rauthmell Letters, WD/AG/Box 3).
88. Frey, pp. 23-6;
89. East Sussex Record Office, Sheffield Papers, A 2714/265, 'General Return'.
90. J. Cannon, Aristocratic Century: the Peerage of 18th-century England (Cambridge, 1984), p. 146.
91. See A. Bruce, The Purchase System in the British Army, 1660-1871 (1980), p. 13.
92. P.R.O., WO 1/1008, p. 1053.
93. Bedfordshire Record Office, Polwarth Papers, Lucas Collection, L 30/12/3/4.
94. Barrington complained that the volunteers commissioned after Bunker Hill were 'all without a farthing' (East Suffolk Record Office, Barrington Papers, H.A. 174/1026/107, Letter-book 1766-75, p. 315).
95. Gage sought to reassure him that "They were all Gentlemen's Sons Strongly recommended' (5 Oct 1775, Barrington Papers, H.A. 174/1026/6a (2)).
96. However other sources suggest that Barrington's fears were justified: Brig.-Gen James Grant was forced to take 'a reduced Custom-House Officer' as a volunteer (Grant to A. Mackenzie, 4 June 1776, Ballindalloch Castle, Macpherson Grant Papers, bundle 772).
97. See National Library of Scotland, Robertson-MacDonald Papers, MS. 3945 fo. 52.
98. P.R.O., WO 55/1527 fo. 62;
99. Library of Congress, Peter Force MSS., Orderly-book 43rd Foot, entry of 10 Feb. 1776.
100. Bedfordshire Record Office, Polwarth Papers, Lucas Collection, L 30/12/17/2.
101. National Army Museum, 7201-36-1, 'Account of the Military Services of. . .James Green'.
102. Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add. MS. 38217 fo. 173.
103. See An Officer, A New System for . . . the Army (1775), p. 29.
104. S. Payne Adye, Treatise on Courts Martial (2nd edn, 1778), p, 15. See also pp. 153-4.
105. Brit. Libr., Napier Papers, Add. MS. 49092 fo. 8.
106. For a fuller treatment of this subject see S. Conway, 'The recruitment of criminals into the British army, 1775-81', ante, Iviii (1985), 46-58. The material on criminals produced below is from this source unless otherwise stated. Discrepancies between the figures here and in the article are explained by the different ways in which the marines are considered. In the article they were viewed as associated with the army; here they are seen as part of the navy.
107. Warwickshire Record Office, Sessions Order-books, OS 32/1-2;
108. Minute-book, 1778-91, OS 39/8.
109. Cambridgeshire Record Office, Sessions Order-book 1768-76, O/S 07, pp. 453-5;
110. Sessions Order-book 1776-86, O/S 08, p. 101.
111. Lichfield Record Office, Sessions Order-book, 1775-1802, D 25/1/1 fo. 104.
112. But see also P.R.O., WO 4/96, p. 354, which suggests that there was another.
113. See P.R.O., WO 34/119 fos. 217-19;
114. Capt. John Money to Jenkinson, 13 March 1779 (WO 1/ 1004);
115. Lord Percy to Jenkinson, 8 March 1779 (WO 1/1005).
116. Most of the men raised seem to have been collected in the metropolis: see the memo. of David Wilmot and others (T 1/549 fo. 71).
117. The acts, it should be added, were seen mainly as a means of stimulating voluntary enlistment, and they seem to have succeeded in this respect (Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add. MS. 38306 fo. 100).
118. P.R.O., WO 4/966, p. 144.
119. See Library of Congress, Peter Force MSS., George Chalmers Collection, 8A/25, Journal of Walter Home, 'Description of Lord Robert Berries Company Royal Fuziliers', Nov, 1772;
120. and the artisan applicants to Sir John Langham's Charity (Corporation of London Record Office, Miscellaneous MSS., box 206).
121. Reading Mercury and Oxford Gazette, 10 June 1782.
122. P.R.O., WO 1/992, 'List of Recruits Raised for the 46th Regiment', 9 Feb. 1776.
123. Brit. Libr., Loudoun Papers, Add. MS. 44084 fo. 231.
124. Rammerscales House, Dumfries, Bell-Macdonald Papers, Macdonald's Day-book. 89 P.R.O., WO 68/203.
125. The property was acquired by the Littleton family in 1778 after a dispute over ownership - hence the survival of a good deal of interesting biographical material on the Kirkams (see Staffordshire Record Office, Littleton Papers, D 260/M/T/5/52).
126. P.R.O., WO 4/111, p. 164;
127. WO 1/1010, p. 259;
128. Brit. Libr., Liverpool Papers, Add. MS. 38212 fo. 81;
129. Maj. George Reynolds to -, 24 May 1779 (P.R.O., WO 1/1005).
130. P.R.O., ADM 1/5118/21 fo. 520.
131. Brit. Libr., Journal of Marmaduke Strotber, 1784-5, Egerton MS. 2479 fo. 51.
132. Records of the Portsmouth Division of Marines, 1764-1800, ed. J. A. Lowe (Portsmouth Record Ser., 1990), pp. liii-liv.
133. P.R.O., ADM 6/89.
134. P.R.O., ASSI 42/9, Gaol Book, City and County of York, entry of 6 March 1779.
135. Essex Record Office, Sessions Book, 1777-82, O/Smg 23, entry of 13 Jan. 1778.
136. Hampshire Record Office, Quarter Sessions Order Book 1777-83, 01/19, p. 123.
137. Richards to Stephens, 15 March 1777 (P.R.O., ADM 1/2390).
138. See Conway, 'Recruitment of criminals', p. 55.
139. Records of the Portsmouth Division, p. lxiii.
140. Calendar of Bradford-on-Avon Settlement Examinations and Removal Orders, 1725-98, ed. P. Hembry (Wiltshire Record Soc., xlvi, 1990), p. 54.
141. P.R.O., ADM 1/1446.
142. Essex Record Office, D/DHt T145/4, List of men sworn and enrolled, Ilford Subdivision, 17 Apr, 1779-16 Feb. 1780.
143. P.R.O, WO 13/99.
144. See, for instance, Staffordshire Record Office, D 1527/4, 7, Diary of Samuel Pipe Wolfestan, entries of 9 June, 14 Aug. 1779, 12, 20 May 1782.
145. See Western, pp. 252-3; and for an example from our period, Hampshire Record Office, 65 M82/2, Diary of John Thorp, entry of 18 May 1779.
146. Hertfordshire Family and Population History Society, Hertfordshire Militia Lists: Ware, A-C (Militia ser., no. 25, 1992), p. 5;
147. East Sussex Record Office, Sheffield Papers, A 2714/265, Muster of Major Holroyd's company, n.d., but 1778.
148. Berkshire Record Office, D/P 2/17/1/3, Abingdon St. Nicholas Parish Records.
149. See The Early Journals and Letten of Fanny Burney, ed. L. E. Troide and S. J. Cooke (3 vols., Oxford, 1988-94), iii. 272-3 & nn. 275 & nn.
150. P. Langford, Public Life and the Propertied Englishman, 1689-1798 (Oxford, 1991), pp. 298-9.
151. Brit. Libr., Hardwicke Papers, Add. MS. 33660 fo. 263.
152. The Council Book of the Corporation of the City of Cork, ed. R. Caulfield (Guildford, 1876), p. 932.
153. See E. Black, 'Volunteer portraits in the Ulster Museum, Belfast', Irish Sword, xiii (1977-9), 181-4.
154. Sheffield Archives, Rockingham MSS., R 1/1854a.
155. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Abercorn Papers, D/623/A/44/10.
156. Pembroke Papers (1780-94), ed. Lord Herbert (1950), p. 206.
157. See also P.R.O.N.I., Downshire Papers, D/607/B/91.
158. Shelburne to Smyth, 11 June 1782 (Essex Record Office, Smyth Family Papers, D/DFg Z1).
159. Scottish Record Office, Logan Home of Edrom Muniments, G.D. 1/384/7/19.
160. P.R.O., WO 34/138 fo. 256.
161. Leeds Mercury, 25 June 1782.
162. P.R.O., WO 34/116 fcs. 1 -2;
163. Bailey's British Directory . . . for the Year 1784 (1 vol. in 4, 1784), iv. 803-5.
164. Although this directory gives information on the status of volunteers 5 years later, it can probably be regarded as a tolerably good guide.
165. Norfolk Mercury, 14 Sept. 1782
166. cited in Beckett, p. 70.
167. London Chronicle, 13-15, 17-20 June 1780.