Redcoats to Tommies: The Experience of the British Soldier from the Eighteenth Century

This book surveys and examines the history of Britain's soldiers from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. It focuses on the lifecycle of a soldier, including enlistment and experience, and on identity, representations and place in society. It covers the diverse military forces of the British crown - the regular army, home defence forces, part-time soldiers, auxiliaries, officers, non-commissioned officers and rank and file - across times of conflict and peace and their wider relationship to families, communities, government and society. Additionally, it considers both British troops, and, recognising Britain's soldiers as a transnational phenomenon, forces raised outside of Britain and Ireland. By assessing the evolution of Britain's soldiers across three centuries, the book highlights continuity and change and gauges how far the basic fundamentals, principles and priorities of army life have endured or been transformed during the existence of a continual standing army. The book includes up-to-date research from a new generation of early-career researchers and reflections from established scholars.

KEVIN LINCH is Associate Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds. He specialises in the history of Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing on the interaction between Britain's armed forces and wider social and cultural trends.

MATTHEW LORD specialises in British military culture and counterinsurgency after 1945, particularly focusing on the interaction between politics and the honours system. He has worked as Lecturer in Military History at Aberystwyth University.

CONTRIBUTORS: Ian Beckett, Timothy Bowman, Gavin Daly, Peter Doyle, Edward Gosling, George Hay, Kevin Linch, Matthew Lord, Eleanor O'Keeffe, Adam Prime, Michael Reeve, Jacqueline Reiter, Robert Tildesley, and Christina Welsch.