Rambling Soldier: Life in the Lower Ranks Through Soldiers' Songs and Writings, 1750-1900 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 086299246X ISBN 13: 9780862992460

Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 1985

Synopsis

Published in 1985 in paperback by Alan Sutton, 310pp, ISBN 086299246X, this book was originally published by Peacock Books (Penguin) in 1977. About this book: "If any gentlemen, soldiers or others have a mind to serve Her Majesty, and pull down the French king: if any prentices have severe masters, any children have undutiful parents; if any servant have too little wages, or any husband too much wife, let them repair to the noble Sergeant Kite, at the sign of the Raven in this good town of Shrewsbury..." Such patter of the recruiting sergeants could be heard in the market squares of Britain throughout the century and a half (1750 - 1900) covered by this book. Attracted by the prospect of adventure, of a steady -if small- income and a fine uniform, men flocked to the army in their thousands. There, despite the low pay and the meagre food, these raw recruits were transformed through constant drill and severe punishments into the soldiers that fought in the American War of Independence, in the campaigns against Napoleon, in the Crimea and in numerous small colonial wars. Roy Palmer has brought toegether songs and ballads from the period, and interspersed them with the writings (from letters, memoirs, etc) of many soldiers, as well as contemporary prints, and photographs, to give a vivid account of life in the lower ranks at this time. Extracts are taken from the work of twenty-nine soldier-writers. All served in the ranks, though two became officers. A few - Cobbett, Somerville, Blatchford - later made a living largely by the pen, but most remained obscure. Several are anonymous, and we know of them only from what they have written. Unless much has been lost or remains undiscovered, it seems that few rank and file soldiers wrote of their experiences. However, the revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars produced a mass of writing, much of it published during the succeeding ten or twenty years. It's a must-read social history of the army through the eyes of the rank and file

Edition details

• Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 086299246X
• ISBN 13: 9780862992460
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Palmer Roy