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Notes
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Drunkenness and poverty were the principle reasons for enlistment in the nineteenth century. Inns were a common location for recruiting sergeants to coerce potential recruits into joining up. Many a drunken man accepted the King or Queen’s shilling, only to regret it once sober. Recruiting parties had the inducement of a fee for each man they enlisted, while cash bounties, which were sometimes as much as three pounds, were used to tempt civilians to join the colours. In 1858, J. R. Godley, Assistant Under-Secretary of State for War, wrote, ‘no thoughtful man can have observed the scenes that take place daily and nightly at the taverns frequented by our recruiting staff… without feeling shame and disgust that such proceedings should form part of the recognised machinery of the British Military Service.
Title
The Recruit
Date
c.1830
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 63 x W 76.5 cm
Accession number
NAM. 1964-02-42
Acquisition method
gift from Sir Alec and Lady Martin through the Art Fund, 1964
Work type
Painting
National Army Museum
Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London, Greater London SW3 4HT England
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