British Army Officers and the American War for Independence

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Conway
Keyword(s):  
British Army ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
War For Independence

Law and Honour Among Eighteenth-Century British Army Officers

1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur N. Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
British Army ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
Honour Code

There can be no doubt that those who joined the officers corps in the eighteenth century became members of an exclusive club with its own distinctive values. These values were imposed on all members of the corps and, as is the case with most exclusive organizations, only a very few individuals were confident or perverse enough to challenge the group standards. The officers corps had an honour code; a set of principles which was informally enforced to ensure that each member soon learned proper from improper behaviour. When there were violations of the code the subaltern officers would bring peer group sanctions to bear in the form of social and professional ostracism until the offender cleared his name by removing the blot on his honour.

From Whence They Came

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Dominy
Keyword(s):  
Class Structure ◽  
Internal Stability ◽  
Main Function ◽  
British Army ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
British Military ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Established Order

This chapter examines the influence of the British military garrison at Fort Napier by tracing the history of the organization from whence the garrison came: the British Army. During the Victorian era, the British Army was a pillar of the established order. Its main function was to defend the realm in the United Kingdom, the Indian Empire, and the colonies, as well as the monarchy. In the period before the establishment of an organized police force, the army maintained internal stability in Britain and, even more significantly, in Ireland. The chapter first provides an overview of the administration and reform of the British Army before considering the “inherent” qualities that were inculcated into future army officers, along with the “other ranks” of the army. It shows that the Victorian-era army reflected and magnified the class structure of the society from whence it came, citing its emphasis on the concept of masculinity.

scholarly journals Character in the British army: A precarious profession

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Ian Walker
Keyword(s):  
Code Of Ethics ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
British Army ◽  
Officer Corps ◽  
Army Officer ◽  
Main Emphasis ◽  
Army Officers ◽  
Military Profession ◽  
The One ◽  
The Military

Finding balance between institutional or bureaucratic inclinations and professional ones is a challenge for all professions, but this is especially difficult for the military profession owing to its unique role and the unusual pressures that are placed upon armed forces personnel. The military profession is charged with delivering violence for the benefit of wider society and by morally appropriate means. It is unique among professions by virtue of the authorised use of abhorrent methods and a requirement for personnel to be prepared to die in the performance of their duties. The special conditions of the military profession are further underscored by the supremacy of the mission and group over individual, such that at times institutional imperatives can dominate. The cultivation of appropriate professional military character is clearly a very complex endeavour, particularly when members of the profession must face some of the most challenging conditions imaginable. In this chapter, I shall focus on the British Army to argue that although the British Army Officer Corps is a profession, it must be considered a precarious one owing to an ongoing interplay between institutional and bureaucratic factors on the one hand and a requirement that Army officers exercise professional and ethical autonomy on the other. Moral aspects of the profession form the main emphasis of the chapter since a defining feature of any profession is its ethic or code of ethics (Bayles 1988, Oakley and Cocking 2002, Wolfendale 2009).

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