1st Edition

Women, Families and the British Army 1700–1880

By Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Lynn MacKay Copyright 2020

    This series concentrates on women and the soldiers in the ranks whose lives they shared, assembling a wide body of evidence of their romantic entanglements and domestic concerns. The new military history of recent decades has demanded a broadening of the source base beyond elite accounts or those that concentrate solely on battlefield experiences. Armies did not operate in isolation, and men’s family ties influenced the course of events in a variety of ways. Campfollowing women and children occupied a liminal space in campaign life. Those who travelled "on the strength" of the army received rations in return for providing services such as laundry and nursing, but they could also be grouped with prostitutes and condemned as a ‘burden’ by officers. Parents, wives, and offspring left behind at home remained in soldiers’ thoughts, despite an army culture aimed at replacing kin with regimental ties. Soldiers’ families’ suffering, both on the march and back in Britain, attracted public attention at key points in this period as well.

    This series provides, for the first time in one place, a wide body of texts relating to common soldiers’ personal lives: the women with whom they became involved, their children, and the families who cared for them. It brings hitherto unpublished material into print for the first time, and resurrects accounts that have not been in wide circulation since the nineteenth century. The collection combines the observations of officers, government officials and others with memoirs and letters from men in the ranks, and from the women themselves. It draws extensively on press accounts, especially in the nineteenth century. It also demonstrates the value of using literary depictions alongside the letters, diaries, memoirs and war office papers that form the traditional source base of military historians. This fifth volume covers The Crimean War (1854-56).

    Volume 5: The Crimean War (1854-56)

    Edited by Lynn MacKay

    Introduction

    Newspapers, Journals and Magazines

    Part 1. Experiences of Courtship & Marriage - Domestic Arrangements in the British Isles

    1. Army Return of the Number of Married Women Belonging to Each of the Regiments Ordered on Foreign Service, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers online, 1854, XLI, p. 179.

    2. ‘Soldiers' Pay and Rations’, United Service Gazette 13 May, 1854, p. 2.

    3. ‘Practices in Barracks’, United Service Gazette 19 August, 1854, p. 7.

    4. ‘Soldiers' Marriages’, United Service Gazette 10 March, 1855, p. 8.

    5. Henry Morley and W.H. Wills, ‘The Soldier's Wife’, Household Words Conducted by Charles Dickens, Vol. 11, No. 265 21 April 1855, pp. 278-80.

    6. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, United Service Gazette 28 April 1855, p. 4.

    7. Report from the Official Committee on Barrack Accommodation for the Army, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers online, 1854-5 (405), XXXII, pp. iv-v.

    Part 2. Economic Survival

    2.1. Philanthropy

    2.1.1. Hardship

    8. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Times of London, 2 March 1854, p. 9.

    9. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Times of London, 4 March 1854, p. 9.

    10. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Times of London, 6 March 1854, p. 10.

    11. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Times of London, 7 March 1854, p. 10.

    12. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Times of London, 14 April 1854, p. 8.

    13. ‘Clerkenwell’, Daily News, 17 August 1855, p. 6.

    14. ‘Soldiers’ Wives, Times of London, 28 August 1855, p. 12.

    15. ‘Miss Nightingale’, Spectator, 5 April 1856, p. 10.

    2.1.2. Recognizing the Problem

    16. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, Times of London, 22 February 1854, p. 8.

    17. ‘The Wife I Leave Behind Me’, Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 26 February 1854, p. 6.

    18. ‘Parliamentary Proceedings’, North Wales Chronicle, 11 March 1854, p. 1.

    19. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, United Service Magazine, April 1854, pp. 591-2.

    20. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Children’, Morning Chronicle, 5 April 1854, p. 2.

    21. ‘The Wives and Children of Soldiers’, North Wales Chronicle, 8 April 1854, p. 8.

    22. ‘Soldiers' Wives—Letter from the War Office’, Morning Chronicle, 2 May 1854, p. 9.

    23. ‘Wives and Families of Soldiers’, United Service Magazine May 1854, pp. 122-4.

    24. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and Families’, Derby Mercury, 24 May 1854, p. 6.

    2.1.3. Schemes

    25. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Children’, Times of London, 27 February 1854, p. 9.

    26. ‘House of Commons’, The Ipswich Journal, 4 March 1854, p. 1.

    27. ‘The Absent Soldiers’ Wives’, Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 5 March 1854, p. 6.

    28. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, Daily News, 9 March 1854, p. 5.

    29. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, Liverpool Mercury, 11 May 1855, p. 9.

    30. ‘Soldiers' Wives’ United Service Magazine, May 1854, p. 121.

    31. ‘Fund for Families of Soldiers in the East’, United Service Gazette 30 September 1854, p. 5.

    32. ‘The Soldier's Widow’, United Service Gazette 4 November 1854, p. 4.

    33. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 15 December 1854, p. 3.

    34. ‘The Patriotic Fund—Payments to Widows and Orphans’, Patriotic Fund Journal 10 March 1855, Vol. I, No. 13, p. 229.

    2.1.4. Association in Aid

    35. ‘Association in Aid of Soldiers’ Wives’, Morning Chronicle, 28 February 1854, p. 1.

    36. ‘Aid to Soldiers' Wives’, The Examiner, 4 March 1854, p. 139.

    37. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Children’, Manchester Times, 4 March 1854, p. 4.

    38. ‘Provision for Soldiers’ Wives’, Daily News, 8 March 1854, p. 3.

    39. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Children’, Aberdeen Journal, 8 March 1854, p. 8.

    40. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and Families’, Daily News, 28 March 1854, p. 6.

    41. Major Carton, Declaration of War: The Regulations Affecting Non-Commissioned Officers' and Soldiers' Wives Considered with Reference to the Army Ordered to Turkey, (London: Thomas Hatchard, 1854), pp. 1-16.

    42. ‘House of Lords’, Aberdeen Journal 12 April 1854, p. 8.

    43. ‘The Clergy of Great Britain and Ireland’, Times of London, 14 April 1854, p. 10.

    44. ‘Editorial’, Times of London, 2 May 1854, p. 9.

    45. ‘Police―Thames’, Morning Chronicle, 5 May 1854, p. 11.

    46. ‘Police―Marlborough Street’, Morning Chronicle, 19 May 1854, p. 7.

    47. ‘Police—Thames’, Times of London, 6 May 1854, p. 12.

    48. ‘The Wives and Families of the Absent Soldiers’, United Service Gazette 20 May 1854, p. 3.

    49. ‘The Wives and Children of the Absent Soldiers’, United Service Gazette (20 May 1854), p. 5.

    50. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Families’, Trewman's Exeter Flying Post or Plymouth & Cornish Advertiser, 8 June 1854, p. 8.

    51. Permanent Relief for the Wives and Families, Widows and Orphans, of Our Soldiers", Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 10 June 1854, p. 7.

    52. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and Children’, The Era, 25 June 1854, p. 9.

    53. Excerpts from ‘The First Half-Yearly Report of the Central Association’, United Services Gazette, 7 October, 1854, pp. 7-8.

    54. ‘The Wives and Families of the Soldiers of the Expedition’, United Service Gazette 7 October 1854, p. 4.

    55. Patriotic Fund’, Leeds Mercury, 14 October 1854, p. 4.

    56. ‘The Central Association for Soldiers’ Wives, Widows and Children’, Morning Chronicle, 24 October 1854, p. 3.

    57. The Patriotic Fund and the Central Association", The Era, 5 November 1854, p. 9.

    58. ‘Major Powys Again!’, Times of London, 11 November 1854, p. 5.

    59. ‘Abuse of Public Bounty’, Reynolds’s Newspaper, 12 November 1854, p. 4.

    60. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Widows’, Times of London, 16 November 1854, p. 7.

    61. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and Widows’, Times of London, 17 November 1854, p. 7.

    62. ‘The Bumble Association’, Times of London, 18 November 1854, p. 10.

    63. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and Widows’, Times of London, 20 November 1854, p. 10.

    64. ‘Major Powys and Mr. Newland’, Times of London, 21 November 1854, p. 6.

    65. ‘To the Editor’, Times of London, 22 November 1854, p. 5.

    66. ‘Soldiers’ Wives’, Liverpool Mercury, 24 November 1854, p. 11.

    67. ‘Bury St. Edmunds’, Times of London, 24 November 1854, p. 10.

    68. ‘Major Powys & the Fund’, United Service Magazine, No. 313, December 1854, pp. 587-8.

    69. ‘Central Association’, Daily News, 30 November 1854, p. 3.

    70. ‘Editorial’, Times of London, 1 December 1854, p. 6.

    71. ‘Martha Brightwell’, Times of London, 5 December 1854, p. 6.

    72. ‘Martha Brightwell’, Times of London, 22 December 1854, p. 7.

    73. ‘The Patriotic Fund and Proselytism’, Tablet, 18 November 1854, p. 10.

    74. ‘Ireland’, Daily News, 16 January 1855, p. 3.

    75. ‘Soldiers' Wives and Families’, United Service Gazette 10 March 1855, p. 7.

    76. ‘The Central Association for Soldiers' Wives’, Morning Chronicle, 1 August 1856, p. 3.

    77. How to Get Up a Testimonial’, Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 22 August 1856, p. 2.

    2.2. State Relief

    2.2.1. Poor Relief

    78. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, Times of London, 25 February 1854, p. 12.

    79.’Death of a Soldier’s Child from Want of Nourishment’, North Wales Chronicle, 14 October 1854, p. 6.

    80. ‘Hammersmith’ Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 22 October 1854, p. 2.

    81. ‘Families of Soldiers Serving in the Crimea’, Morning Chronicle, 27 July 1855, p. 6.

    82. ‘Board of Guardians’, Manchester Times, 12 January 1856, p. 9.

    83. ‘The Poor Law Boards of Scotland and Soldiers' Wives and Children’, Times of London, 5 December 1855, p. 12.

    84. Keith Letter in the Witness, 12 December 1855, p. 3.

    85. ‘Correspondence’, Caledonian Mercury, 17 December 1855, p. 3.

    86. ‘St. Nicholas Parochial Board’, The Witness, 19 December 1855, p. 3.

    87. ‘Poor Law Boards of Scotland’, The Witness, 22 December 1855, p. 3.

    88. ‘Soldiers’ Wives and the Parochial Boards’, Aberdeen Journal, 23 January 1856, p. 1.

    89. ‘St. Nicholas Parochial Board’, Aberdeen Journal, 23 January 1856, p. 4.

    90. ‘A Bottle of Small Beer’, Aberdeen Journal, 30 January 1856, p. 8.

    91. ‘St. Nicholas Parochial Board’, Aberdeen Journal, 6 February 1856, p. 7.

    2.2.2. Education

    92. ‘The Royal Military Asylum’, United Service Gazette 13 January 1855, p. 7.

    93. ‘Female Children and Orphans of Soldiers’, United Service Gazette, 12 May 1855, p. 4.

    94. ‘The Soldiers' Infant Home’, United Service Gazette 10 November 1855, p. 3.

    2.3. Work

    95. ‘Soldiers' and Sailors' Wives and Families’, Times of London, 25 April 1854, p. 10.

    96. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, United Service Gazette 21 October 1854, pp. 4-5.

    97. ‘The Soldiers' Wives in the East’, Times of London, 24 October 1854, p. 9.

    98. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, United Service Gazette 4 November 1854, p. 4.

    99. ‘Employment for Soldiers' Wives’, United Service Gazette 12 May 1855, p. 5.

    Part 3. Impact of War

    Part 3.1. Life in a War Zone

    3.1.1. Getting There

    100. ‘An interesting incident’, Caledonian Mercury, 27 February 1854, p. 2.

    101. ‘The disembarkation’, Daily News, 15 June 1854, p. 5.

    102. ‘The Regiment’, United Service Gazette, 17 June 1854, p. 5.

    3.1.2. The Army’s Provisions for the Wives

    103. ‘The French’, Morning Chronicle, 15 June 1854, p. 6.

    104. ‘A Letter from the English Camp at Varna’, Daily News, 22 June 1854, p. 5.

    105. ‘Brutal Treatment of Soldiers’ Wives’, Reynolds’s Newspaper, 9 July 1854, p. 7.

    106. ‘Letters from the Seat of War’, Daily News, 11 July 1854, p. 5.

    107. ‘Mr. Fellows Writes from Galata’, Daily News, 18 September 1854, p. 2.

    108. ‘The War’, Daily News, 15 November 1854, p. 5.

    109. ‘The Soldiers’ Wives at Scutari’, Leeds Mercury, 3 March 1855, p. 8.

    110. ‘Army Inquiry Committee’, Manchester Times, 17 March 1855, p. 4.

    111. ‘Infamous Treatment of the Wounded’, Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 18 March 1855, p. 7.

    112. ‘The Army and Navy’, Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser, 19 July 1855, p. 4.

    113. Florence Nightingale, from Notes on the Health of the British Army, (London: Harrison & Sons, 1858), pp. 462-9.

    114. Charles Holte Bracebridge, ‘Assistance Given to the Wives, Widows, and Children, of the British Soldiers at Scutari, 1854-5-6’, in Statements Exhibiting the Voluntary Contributions Received by Miss Nightingale for the Use of British War Hospitals in the East (London: Harrison & Sons, 1857), pp. 60-6.

    115. Lady Alicia Blackwood, Narrative of Personal Experiences and Impressions During a Residence on the Bosphorus throughout the Crimean War (London: Hatchard, 1881), pp. 49-60.

    116. George Buchanan, Camp Life As Seen By A Civilian (Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1871), pp. 105-6.

    117. General Orders Issued to the Army in the East from April 1854 to December 1855. (London: John Parker & Son, 1856), pp. 11, 20, 39, 91, & 199.

    3.1.3. Daily Life

    118. Mrs. Young, Our Camp in Turkey, (London: Richard Bentley, 1854). pp. 55-62, 92-3, 113-5, 121, 126-30, 154-9, 201-4, 217-20.

    119. Thomas McKiernan, Experiences of a British Veteran Soldier (Port Talbot, Wales: Major Jones & Co., 1892), pp. 18-9.

    120. ‘Letter from the East’, United Services Gazette, 8 July 1854, p. 6.

    121. ‘Discovery at Gallipoli’, Daily News, 13 July 1854, p. 5.

    122. ‘About this time’, Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, 21 May 1854, p. 5.

    123. General Sir George Higginson, excerpt from Seventy-one Years of a Guardsman's Life (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1916), p. 121.

    124. ‘Soldiers' Wives’, Daily News, 8 June 1854, p. 5.

    125. ‘The Women Left On Board the Transports’, North Wales Chronicle, 7 October 1854, p. 3.

    126. ‘A Daughter of the Regiment’, United Service Gazette, 2 December 1854, p. 5.

    127. Fanny Duberly, Mrs. Duberly's Journal (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longman's, 1856), p. 170.

    3.1.4. Criticism

    128. ‘The arrival’, Morning Chronicle, 23 November 1854, p. 6.

    129. ‘It is sincerely’, Morning Chronicle, 30 November 1854, p. 5.

    130. ‘Hospital Life at Scutari’, Bristol Mercury, 9 December 1854, p. 6.

    3.1.5. At the Battlefront

    131. William Munro, Reminiscences of Military Service with the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1883), pp. 40-2.

    132. Harold Wylly, The 95th (The Derbyshire) Regiment in the Crimea (London: S. Sonnenschein, 1899), pp. 20-1.

    Part 3.2. Separation, Anxiety, and Loss

    133. ‘Departure of Reinforcements for the Guards in the Crimea’, United Service Gazette, 28 October 1854, p. 6.

    134. ‘Thirst for News’, Manchester Times, 29 November, 1854, p. 3.

    135. ‘Captain Horatio Morgan’, Daily News, 25 August 1855, p. 3.

    136. ‘How Soldiers’ Wives Are Treated’, Reynolds’s Newspaper, 13 January 1856, p. 11.

    Part 4. First Person Accounts

    4.1 Memoirs & Interviews

    137. Margaret Kerwin, ‘One Woman’s Story’, Friends of the Green Howards’ Newsletter (3), September 1997 (reprint from 1895), pp. 14-15.

    138. Elizabeth Evans as told to Walter Woods, ‘A Soldier's Wife in the Crimea’, Royal Magazine, July 1908, pp. 265-72.

    139. Col. L. I. Cowper, ‘The Crimean War’, in The King's Own, the Story of a Royal Regiment, Vol. II, 1814-1914 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939), pp. 82, 91, 96, 103, 105, 111-2, 120.

    140. James Bayes, ‘Nell Butler was the front line "Florence Nightingale"', Portsmouth Evening News, 3 May 1963, pp. 20-1.

    141. Mary Seacole, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands (London: Blackwood, 1857), pp. 14-15, 18-19, 32, 43, 46, 47-8.

    142. ‘A Crimean Heroine: Lord Wolseley and the Soldier's Widow’, The Thistle, A Monthly Journal of the Royal Scots, Vol. VI, No. 6, (August 1899), pp. 101-2.

    4.2. Letters

    143. Private Robert Hull, No 4 Coy 50th (or Duke of Clarence's) Regiment of Foot, National Army Museum, 1978-04-39-1 & 2.

    144. Private Joseph Reid, Rifle Brigade, 2nd Battalion, National Army Museum 1999-03-130.

    145. TSM George Cruse, 1st Royal dragoons, National Army Museum 1974-12-76, Letters 9 & 10.

    146. Private George Greenfield, 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot, National Army Museum, 1976-07-85.

    145. Private John Pine, Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion, National Army Museum 1996-05-4.

    146. Sergeant Robert Clarke, 39th Regiment of Foot, National Army Museum, 1973-01-56, Letters 5 December 1854, 23 March 1855, and 16 April 1855.

    147. Hospital Sergeant Frederick Newman, 97th (Earl of Ulster's) Regiment, National Army Museum 2002-03-167.

    148. "Kerrymen", Freeman's Journal & Daily Commercial Advertiser, 10 November 1854, p. 2.

    149. Sergeant William Jowett, Letters contained in The Diary of Sergeant William Jowett (Beeston, Nottinghamshire: R. Porter, 1856), pp. 59, 60, 71-80.

    150. ‘From a Sergeant in the Scotch Fusiliers’, Patriotic Fund Journal, 10 February 1855, 1, 9, p. 157.

    151, ‘From a Non-Commissioned Officer in the 50th Regiment’, Patriotic Fund Journal, 24 February 1855, 1, 11, pp. 183-4.

    152. Gunner Charles Branton to his Wife, 12th Battalion, Royal Artillery, 21 October 1854 and 23 October 1855, National Army Museum 1993-02-243-1 and 1993-02-243-2.

    153. H. B., Letters from the Crimea During the Years 1854 and 1855, [Corporal Henry Blishen] (London: Emily Faithfull, 1863).

    Part 5. Fictional Representations - Poems

    154. ‘An Appeal on Behalf of Soldiers' Wives’, Liverpool Mercury, 11 April 1854, p. 2.

    155. ‘A Night on the Heights’, by Private Jones, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 21

    156. ‘The Wives of Soldiers’, by P. G. Hamerton, Bristol Mercury, 8 December 1855, p.4.

    Biography

    Jennine Hurl-Eamon is Associate Professor of History at Trent University, Canada

    Lynn MacKay is Professor of History at Brandon University, Canada