Cozens, Joseph (2014) ‘The Blackest Perjury’: Desertion, Military Justice, and Popular Politics in England, 1803-1805. Labour History Review, 79 (3). pp. 255-280. DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/lhr.2014.14
Cozens, Joseph (2014) ‘The Blackest Perjury’: Desertion, Military Justice, and Popular Politics in England, 1803-1805. Labour History Review, 79 (3). pp. 255-280. DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/lhr.2014.14
Cozens, Joseph (2014) ‘The Blackest Perjury’: Desertion, Military Justice, and Popular Politics in England, 1803-1805. Labour History Review, 79 (3). pp. 255-280. DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/lhr.2014.14
Abstract
Framed around an account of the last deserter ever to face the firing squad in England, this article assesses the extent and significance of desertion from the land forces after the Peace of Amiens. Recent historical accounts have tended to use the large number of soldiers and volunteers raised in this period as a measure of the depth of popular loyalism at this time. This article seeks to temper these arguments by examining the difficulties the government had in retaining recruits for the army and militia between 1803 and 1805. Using official returns, court martial transcripts, and little-used deserter bounty certificates it will be demonstrated that levels of desertion were unusually high in England at this time and that the scale of desertion caused great anxiety among both the civil and military authorities. Moreover, through an examination of the motives which drove thousands of men to desert from their regiments, a more variegated plebeian experience of armed service will be presented, one which did not always engender loyalism or nationalism.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | British army, courts martial, desertion, volunteers |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | British army; courts martial; desertion; volunteers |
Subjects: | D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain |
Divisions: | Faculty of Arts and Humanities Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2015 12:20 |
Last Modified: | 16 May 2024 19:11 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/14357 |