Publisher's Synopsis
In the 1890s the British Empire was at its height. Covering about a quarter of the world's surface and containing some 4000 million souls, it was seen by many as a massive confirmation of Britain's God-given right to rule over and civilize 'lesser breeds'. From Canada to Burma the Empire was garrisoned by a small, professional army which, despite frequently appalling conditions and harsh discipline, played no small part in the expansion and consolidation of British territories overseas.
In this book Philip Warner has assembled a remarkable collection of photographs and articles from Navy and Army Illustrated, which during the 1890s was devoted to hymning the virtues of the Empire and the armed services. The result is a fascinating glimpse of army life at home and overseas during the closing years of Victoria's reign. Self-confident, jingoistic, often pompous, and sometimes endearing, these articles and photographs reflect not only the life of 'Tommy Atkins' at home and in the colonies but also the attitudes of a nation which, while applauding far-off victories over the Dervishes or the Zulus, displayed considerably less enthusiasm for soldiers stationed in the British Isles.
Here we have 'barrack room court martials', Christmas with our gallant officers in the Burma hills, regimental shoe-makers, sapper balloonists, and the heroes of Omdurman. There are campaign pictures from the Sudan and the Boer War, portraits of military personalities of the day, and scenes from training, manoeuvres and the colonies. These are all elements of a vanished world, although there is much here that would be familiar to the soldier today: the blandishments of an article entitled 'To Those about to Enlist' are echoed today in the advertisements for our modern army; and the frequently pointless rigours of training are still a feature, albeit a diminishing one, of army life.
At the turn of the 20th century, the British Army was a small, tightly knit, and highly professional organisation, with a proud record and a keen sense of tradition. A mere fifteen years later it was to be swallowed up in the holocaust of the First World War. Army Life in the 1890s provides an insight into Victoria's army before it disappeared under the weight of twentieth-century technological warfare.
