The Duke of Wellington continued from the previous page..
With the outbreak of War with France it was not long before with the assistance of a loan from his brother Richard that Arthur bought himself a ' Majority ' in the Thirty-third and by the time the regiment landed at Ostend on the 25th of June 1794, he had commanded it as Lieutenat-Colonel for nine months. He was just 25 years of age. It might be well worth looking at the condition of the army during this period.
By the outbreak of war in 1793 there was a chronic shortage of troops. The establishment of the army at this time was about 40,000 rank and file, exclusive of the 15,000 men of the Irish establishment and about 4,000 artillerymen. The actual strength was far lower, about 38,000 for both the Army and the Navy. From this number men had to be allocated to garrison the various colonies throughout the Empire. At the outbreak of war the disposable force of the United Kingdom was so small that the only military assistance which could immediately be sent to the Allies in the Netherlands was a weak brigade of Foot Guards, less than 2,000 all ranks, without artillery, medical supplies or reserve ammunition. A month later it was found possible to send 123 gunners and three battalions of infantry, but these had been so hsatily recruited that the Adjutant-General was obliged to the commander in the field:
By the outbreak of war in 1793 there was a chronic shortage of troops. The establishment of the army at this time was about 40,000 rank and file, exclusive of the 15,000 men of the Irish establishment and about 4,000 artillerymen. The actual strength was far lower, about 38,000 for both the Army and the Navy. From this number men had to be allocated to garrison the various colonies throughout the Empire. At the outbreak of war the disposable force of the United Kingdom was so small that the only military assistance which could immediately be sent to the Allies in the Netherlands was a weak brigade of Foot Guards, less than 2,000 all ranks, without artillery, medical supplies or reserve ammunition. A month later it was found possible to send 123 gunners and three battalions of infantry, but these had been so hsatily recruited that the Adjutant-General was obliged to the commander in the field:
" I am afraid that you will not reap the advantage that you might have expected from the brigade of the line just sent over to you, as so considerable a part of it is composed of undisciplined and raw recruits. And how they are to be disposed of until they can be taught their business i am at a loss to imagine. I was not consulted upon the subject until it was too late to remedy the evil. "
Great, though unco-ordinated efforts were made to increase the strength of the army. The Militia were embodied; Fencible regiments raised for home defence; every kind of device was employed to raise recruits, ranging from the use of contractors to an abortive attempt to impose conscription on the unemployed, but try as ministers would, they could not keep recruiting for the regular army at a level to enable it to meet its commitments. There were two principle reasons for this. The first was the government's attempt to defeat france by siezing her West Indian colonies. This was intended to ruin France economically or, alternatively, to provide useful bargaining counters as a peace conference. The effect on the army was deplorable. Although battle casualties could be described as moderate, the disease rates were terribly high for such postings. To give one example, when General Grey captured Martinique in 1794, he took to the island a force of 7,000 men. Of these only 2,000 survived. Of the officers who must have numbered about 400, 27 were killed or mortally wounded in action and 170 died of disease. In all during the years 1793, 1794, 1795 and 1796, the campaign in the West Indies cost the army in death and permanent disablement, 80,000 men, of whom half died. During this period the total enlistments for the regular army was 112,000, and since many of these, having been raised by crimps, were found to be unusable from physical or mental deficiencies, or were foreign troops who deserted at the first opportnity. It can fairly be said that the campaign in the West Indies succeeded in mullifying all the efoorts made during that time to increase the strength of the army.
Worst than this, they strengthened the existing prejudice against joining the army. At best no respectable working class family cared to see a son go for a soldier. To do so was the last resort of the ' shiftless ' ( As late as 1877, when William Robertson, later a Field-Marshal and C.I.G.S joined the 17th Lancers as a trooper, his mother, wife of a village tailor and postmaster, wrote to him " What cause have you for such a low life?....the army is a refuge for all idle people. I shall name it to no one for i am ashamed to think of it. I would rather bury you than see you in a red coat. " ) If to the disgrace of enlisting was to be added the near certainty of death in a fever-stricken tropical island, it is small wonder that even the most idle and drunken were reluctant to take the King's Shilling, the more so sice they could get better financial terms by enlisting for home service only ( A marriage allowance was paid to men in the Militia but not to regulars, even if serving overseas ) " Our army is composed of the scum of the earth-the mere scum of the earth. People talk about their enlisting from their fine military feeling - all stuff - no such thing. Some of out men enlist from having got bastard children, some for minor offences, many for drink. " High minded historians of a later age have censured Wellington for these words, though they have usually passed over addition, " It really is wonderful that we should have made them the fine fellows they are. " All the evidence goes to show that the Duke spoke no more than the truth. A sergeant of the Seventh Fusiliers wrote that the " Army was composed of the lowest orders. Many if not most of them were ignorant, idle and drunken. " A guardsman admitted that " Of those who voluntarily enlist some few are driven by poverty...some have disgraced themselves in their situation or employment, many have committed misdemeanours which expose them to the penalties of the law of the land, and most are confirmed drunkards. Wellington may have done an injustice to a small minority who joined from the admirable patriotic motives, but there can be no doubt that they were few in number. By far the greatest part of the army were induced to join in quite a different way. A recruiting sergeant of the time described the different ways he used for persuading men to join, some by preying on their fears of unemployment, some particularly ploughboys, by telling them ' how many recruits had been made sergeants, when they enlisted - howmany were now officers. If you saw an officer pass while you were speaking, no matter whether you knew him or not, tell him he was only a recruit a year ago; but now he's so proud he won't speak to you. If this won't do, don't give up the chase - keep to him...you must keep him drinking - don't let him go to the door without one of your party with him until he is passed the doctor and attested. Your last resort was to get him drunk and then slip a shilling in his pocket, get him home to your billet, and next morning swear he enlisted, bring all your party to prove it, get him persuaded to pass the doctor. Should he pass, you must try every means in your power to get him to drink, blow him up with a fine story, get him inveigled to the magistrate in some shape or other and get him atteste; but by no means let him out of your hands.' It needed this kind of persuasion to enlist men for the army. Leaving aside the perils of the West Indies, there was little except a bounty on attestation and the prospect of liquor and loot to make a man join. The pay of a private of the line was seven shillings a week, from which four shillings a week were stopped before he received it to cover the cost of his rations. A further eighteenpence was deducted for the upkeep of his necessaries, his personal equipment. The remaining one and sixpence was paid over to the soldier less charges for washing his shirts and suplying him with cleaning materials.
18th Century: Recruiting Sergeants at work.
As Lieutenat-Colonel of the 33rd Arthur Wesley was beginning to develop a professional interest in matters military and a skill in attention to detail. In his first experience of action in the field, in Holland September 1794, he commanded a brigade in Lord Moira's force sent to reinforce the army of the Duke of York in Flanders and was commended for his handling of it. The expedition however was poorly led and the 33rd joined other regiments in a prolonged and undisciplined retreat in bitter winter weather. It was a shocking experience and the neglect of the men and the lack of supply-services was a salutary lesson for the young Wesley. He would later complain " I was on the Waal from October to January...and during all that time i only saw once one General from the headquarters"
A complaint echoed over a century later in the First World War by the young Lieutenat Bernard Montgomery, also of Irish stock. Returning reluctantly to Ireland and his aide de camp duties. It was not long before he left Ireland for India, joining his regiment at Cape Town, promoted a full Colonel in the army by seniority at twenty-seven.
Arriving at Calcutta in February 1797 Wesley found that the Irish were a mejor element in its social life and he was prevailed upon, as a newly arrived Irishman, to preside at the annual St.Patrick's day dinner. Much socializing and drinking went on, especially in the mess of the 33rd and with two new companions, the Irish Major General John St Leger, a friend of the Prince of Wales and recently arrived with the Royal Establishment in Bengal, and William Hickey, a memoirist of the East India Company who for many years was an attorney in Calcutta. Wesley's in Calcutta society, however was fleeting; he had come to India in the interest of his military career and, having spent his time studying books on Indian campaigns, he became increasingly impatient with the numerous dinner parties.
A complaint echoed over a century later in the First World War by the young Lieutenat Bernard Montgomery, also of Irish stock. Returning reluctantly to Ireland and his aide de camp duties. It was not long before he left Ireland for India, joining his regiment at Cape Town, promoted a full Colonel in the army by seniority at twenty-seven.
Arriving at Calcutta in February 1797 Wesley found that the Irish were a mejor element in its social life and he was prevailed upon, as a newly arrived Irishman, to preside at the annual St.Patrick's day dinner. Much socializing and drinking went on, especially in the mess of the 33rd and with two new companions, the Irish Major General John St Leger, a friend of the Prince of Wales and recently arrived with the Royal Establishment in Bengal, and William Hickey, a memoirist of the East India Company who for many years was an attorney in Calcutta. Wesley's in Calcutta society, however was fleeting; he had come to India in the interest of his military career and, having spent his time studying books on Indian campaigns, he became increasingly impatient with the numerous dinner parties.
