ROYAL NAVY ABOLISHES FLOGGINGS

WISTFUL DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE SAYS ENGLAND GETTING SOFT

 

June 30, 1879

London

 

The Duke of Cambridge, England’s top general, can’t believe the news: the Royal Navy has decided to stop flogging sailors.

“It’s a sad day for the British Empire,” the Duke told a group of reporters at the royal army barracks.

Bestride a war horse, the medals on his uniform gleaming in the afternoon sun, the Duke explained:

“Floggings made us great. Any soldier or sailor would tell you so himself.”

His words were temporarily drowned out by the jubilant cheering of a unit of royal army cadets in the distance.

“You see, the lash builds character” he continued, combing his mustaches with a tiny gold comb.

He continued. “Flogging made men out of boys. The beatings made us better. So much better.”

He rapped his ornamental riding crop against his palm for emphasis.

“Oh, I’ll miss those floggings” he sighed, with a far-off look in his eye, and rode off.

 

But seriously…

 

June 10th, 2024

 

George William Frederick Charles FitzGeorge, known as the Duke of Cambridge, liked to wear a cocked hat- the kind that had a chinstrap running under the chin.

He also fancied spectacular uniforms sparkling with medals.

And military drill-parades. He loved parades.

He was a showoff, and the British military was his bauble.

The Duke of Cambridge was the grandson and namesake of King George II. He was also first cousin to Queen Victoria, and at one time considered as a potential husband.

Before the birth of Victoria, he was the heir presumptive to the throne.

He served as Commander-in-chief for thirty-nine years, during which time he worked with eighteen secretaries for war.

He was the face of the English army.

He was also the single biggest obstruction to reform of that army.

 

The Lash

Flogging was, for centuries, an accepted part of an English sailor’s life.

There were many offenses for which he could be flogged, including drunkenness, disobedience, neglect of duty, and insolence.

Also known as “going to the gratings” named after the place where the offender would be bound before being whipped, it was also called “the lash.”

How often the punishment was used was up to a captain, and varied widely from ship to ship. One study suggests that a ship averaging 1 flogging and 30 lashes per month was lenient.

The push to get rid of corporal punishment in the British military was spearheaded by Edward Cardwell, the Minister of War during the administration of Prime Minister Gladstone. It progressed in stages.

One milestone was 1879, when the Army Discipline and Regulation Act officially suspended flogging in the navy.

But Cardwell had set his sights not only on outlawing whipping; he endeavored to radically reform the entire military structure and culture. Standing in his way was the man known as Cambridge- a man of the old school.

 

Reform

The move to abolish flogging was part of a larger push to reform the military, including the reserves.

In 1870, the Army Enlistment Act allowed a soldier to join the reserves after 6 years on active duty.

He started a linked battalion system: two battalions were assigned to each depot; one was always at the depot while the other was on foreign service.

With these changes, he was able to increase the strength of the army by 25 battalions. The number of reserves was raised from 3,545 to 35,905 men.

While Cambridge was parading in full dress uniform, Cardwell was doing the nuts-and-bolts work of making the army more nimble and ready to meet the challenges of a changing world.

 

Purchase

But his biggest battle was perhaps when he took aim at the commission system.

Known as “Purchase,” it began in the seventeenth century by colonels who were charged with raising regiments. The idea was, allow gentlemen to buy a commission in the army. He got to be an officer, and the regiment covered its expenses.

It had its champions, like the Duke of Wellington. He claimed that it brought into the service “men who have some connection with the interests and fortunes of the country besides the commissions which they hold from his Majesty. It is this circumstance which exempts the British Army from the character of being a ‘mercenary army.’

It also had detractors.

Edward Barrington de Fonblanque saw what it did to the common soldier, “bent and bald under that cruel game of golden leap-frog of which they are the eternal victims.”

Fortescue enjoyed poking fun at it:

“The system, being utterly illogical, iniquitous and indefensible, commends itself heartily to the British public.”

It was abolished in 1871.

 

Gossip

For all his power and prestige, for all his years at the head of the military, and despite having the ear of the queen, Cambridge could not stop progress.

In the end, all that was left to him was to complain.

This man’s man- the empire’s top soldier- had a coterie of harping matrons with whom he exchanged criticisms of prominent politicians. And boy, could they be catty.

One of his favorites was Lady Geraldine Somerset, and she didn’t hold back.

“Every day shows more the abomination of idiotic Cardwell’s system!! … The idiocy of the English constitution taking an ignorant civilian, a stupid lawyer full of theories, to organize the Army!!!”

His clique included Queen Victoria herself. She said Cardwell was “disliked by the Army” and “knew nothing of military matters.”

 

Cambridge lost the battle of reform. But he still had his parades, and his uniforms.

Never losing sight of what was important, he complimented the Prussian army for its uniform.

It was “the most theatrical Army in Europe!”

 

Sources

Ensor, R.C.K. (1963). England 1870–1914, The Oxford history of England

A Frigate of King George, Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War, Brian Vale

To Rule the Waves, Arthur Herman

The Royal George, 1819-1904: the Life of H.R.H. Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, Giles St. Aubyn