The British Soldier and his Libraries, c. 1822-1901 by Sharon Murphy

Author:Sharon Murphy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK, London

The army’s decision to begin to establish libraries for non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the late 1830s represented a major shift in attitude on the part of authorities and was a consequence of several factors: In the first place, the army had before it the example of those regiments that had already begun to set up libraries for themselves overseas, although many of these—at least at first—were intended for the exclusive use of officers.13 Secondly, concerned individuals and societies had also made increasing efforts from the early 1800s to provide reading materials for those who found themselves on the ships of either His Majesty or the merchant navy, and suggested that this was something that should not be neglected. The influence of the Quaker Elizabeth Fry and her Ladies’ Committee of Prison Reformers was also important, for these, too, tried to persuade the government to take “a more active role in libraries for prisoners, as well as sailors and soldiers.”14 And, of course, the East India Company’s libraries had by this time been up and running in India since the early 1820s, and Regular Army soldiers were clearly appreciative of their presence on the subcontinent.

According to Colonel John Henry Lefroy, however, who was appointed as the Inspector-General of Army Schools in 1857, the army’s shift in attitude toward the provision of libraries for soldiers was primarily “an indirect result of the remarks of the Inspectors of Prisons in Great Britain … on the imprisonment of military offenders.”15 In their 1837 report, the Inspectors had observed that the “dark cells” to which military offenders were typically consigned had “the effect of hardening and brutalizing those … confined in them … It may be also proper to remark, that in a light cell the salutary effect of reading and instruction may be expected.” Crucially, the Inspectors also revealed that their preoccupation with the possible reading and instruction of military offenders arose directly from their conviction that too much emphasis was being placed by the army on punishing “bad soldiers”; much more should be done, they stressed, to “reward” and “encourage” the “good soldier,” who was often overlooked among the troops:Nothing would have a greater influence in encouraging good habits, and in supplanting bad ones; in raising the tone of discipline, and the general character of the soldiery, than the consulting [of] the comforts and interests of the good soldier, and the conferring upon him those marks of distinction upon which the men greatly pride themselves, and which, however intrinsically slight, are, in the soldier’s esteem, of the very highest value, and a source of the very greatest gratification.16

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