Abstract
The result of many years of painstaking research, Ian Beckett’s A British Profession in Arms is an invaluable and original addition to the study of the workings of the British Army in the late Victorian period. Building on previous work by, among others, Edward Spiers and utilizing an array of personal papers from a vast number of archives and record offices, Beckett constructs a vivid picture of command, arguing that the system that evolved in the late Victorian army after the abolition of the purchase system was the best that could have been adopted, especially because of the army’s place in society, and that as a profession it did not differ to other professions in Victorian Britain.
To demonstrate this, the book is usefully split into two sections. The first focuses on the extent to which the British Army of the late Victorian period could be regarded as increasingly professional, especially in terms of, and in comparison to, other nineteenth century professions. This is done by looking at how military knowledge was disseminated throughout the army, and by exploring an officer’s quest for material reward, honours and awards. The second part of the book is an analysis of the complex process of selection and appointment to command, discussing the different factions, or ‘rings’, within the officer corps, and looking at the various external pressures on this selection – political, public and royal. The focus of these sections, understandably, is on the three biggest personalities in the officer corps: Garnet Wolseley, Frederick Roberts and the Duke of Cambridge.
It is the latter part of the book where this work comes into its own, with its fascinating insight into the workings of these factions, and how personalities influenced the dynamics of the British Army, sometimes positively and occasionally to the detriment of its abilities.
This is also carried out with reference to four case studies, permitting a more detailed investigation into some of these themes: assessing the choice of commanders in chief in India and Britain; and looking at the Second Afghan War (1878–1881); the Anglo-Zulu War (1879–1880); and the South African War (1899–1902). In exploring these flashpoints in time, the reader is able to understand how political wrangling influenced the appointment of officers as well as the individual, and often complex, relationships that officers had with one another. It also demonstrates how the officer corps was not a homogeneous group, but one which held different and often competing views.
Alongside this, there are also insightful discussions about external influences on appointments, especially the role-played by Queen Victoria, and the role of the press, particularly Lord Roberts’s successful use of it for self-promotion. Linked to this, there is a useful, and previously underexplored, section looking at the role of officers’ wives in influencing the decision-making individuals, particularly in terms of which appointments they took, and also an exploration of their role in lobbying for these positions. The sections which cover ‘regulations’ and ‘process’ are perhaps a little dry and technical in their content, not endearing themselves to the general reader but are, nevertheless, valuable narratives on how the purchase system worked, and how the process of promotion was carried out.
Ultimately though, Beckett successfully completes the objectives he sets out to achieve. In what is a complex topic, he skilfully navigates the disparate archive material to produce a book that provides a fascinating insight into the workings of the British Army in the late-nineteenth century.