Women, Families and the British Army, 1700–1880 Vol 6 by Jennine Hurl-Eamon Lynn MacKay

Author:Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Lynn MacKay [Jennine Hurl-Eamon, Lynn MacKay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781000029017
Google: t9HVDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2020-03-10T01:38:18+00:00

(CHAPLAIN'S SECOND LETTER)

Chaplain’s Office, the Camp, Colchester.

20 February 1857.

Sir,

IN accordance with your wishes, I have the honour of stating, for the information of his Lordship the Secretary of State for War, that we have at present here about 370 women, with between 500 and 600 children (I cannot give a more definite statement, as we have a constant influx of women and children from the regiments, and an outflow to Chatham, where the old soldiers go to be invalided). Out of the number, 144 women with their families are in the camp; the remainder live in the town, and, with very few exceptions, are destitute more or less.

There is a great difference in the degree of destitution in the different depôts, resulting from a greater amount of stoppages which the soldiers of some depôts are under, from the greater extent and expense of their journey to Colchester. As an example, the 13th and 89th depôts both came from Ireland; the 13th brought 73 women and 108 children from Templemore; the 89th, 60 women and 126 children. The number of destitute is therefore much greater in those depôts than in any of the others.

I am not aware of any soldier’s wife in Colchester receiving any allowances under the Circular of 15th July 1856, No. 1235, nor had I an idea that it applied to our case; should it do so, it would afford us very great relief.

I take the liberty of bringing under his Lordship’s notice, as the most deplorable class of cases, the wives of soldiers married without the commanding officer's leave, and who have no children. Those soldiers are obliged to mess in camp; their wives receive twopence, and many of them only one penny a day to live on; lodging in the most depraved localities, hard pressed by want; their husbands sleeping in barracks. The evils that follow are deplorable to contemplate; and if something be not speedily done, many, if not all those cases will end in open prostitution.

I am aware of the great difficulty that surrounds this question. Loose women will ever gather round an encampment, and in improving the condition of the soldier’s wife, there is the danger that many such will prevail on the thoughtless soldier in the hour of dissipation to cover over their misconduct with a holy name, and to admit them to the privileges of soldier’s wives. But, on the other hand, there are very many soldiers’ wives trying to bring up their families in sobriety, chastity, and in the fear of God; many of those poor women are here at present in great destitution, and I wrote the letter to the Chaplain-general as well as the statement of the 14th you were kind enough to forward, with a special view to their relief.

The private sympathy of officers and civilians has done much for the temporary relief of the state of things set forth in my letter to the Chaplain-general.

I believe there is no soldier’s wife in Colchester now without some straw to lie on, and a rug to cover her and her children.

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