Essays in medical sociology, Volume 1 (of 2)

Memorandum by the Commander-in-Chief.

‘It will be the duty of company officers to point out to the men under their control, and particularly to young soldiers, the disastrous effects of giving way to habits of intemperance and immorality; the excessive use of intoxicating liquors unfits the soldier for active work, blunts his intelligence, and is a fruitful source of military crime.

‘The man who leads a vicious life enfeebles his constitution, and exposes himself to the risk of contracting disease of a kind which has of late made terrible ravages in the British army.

‘Many men spend a great deal of their short term of service in the military hospitals, the wards of which are crowded with patients, a large number of whom are permanently disfigured and incapacitated from earning a livelihood in or out of the army.

‘Men tainted with this disease are useless to the State while in the army, and a burden to their friends after they have left it.

‘Even those who do not altogether break down are unfit for service in the field, and would certainly be a source of weakness to their regiments and discredit to their comrades if employed in war.

‘It should not be beyond the power of company officers to exercise a salutary influence in these matters, more particularly over the younger men. Many of these join the army as mere lads, and are taken away early in life from the restraints and influences of home. They should be encouraged to look to their superiors, both officers and non-commissioned officers, but more especially to the officers commanding their troops, batteries, and companies, for example and guidance amid the temptations which surround them.

‘The Commander-in-Chief expects officers and non-commissioned officers to be always ready and willing to afford them sympathy and counsel, and to spare no effort in watching over their physical and moral welfare.

‘Officers should do their utmost to promote a cleanly and moral tone amongst the men, and to insure that all rowdyism and obscenity in word or action is kept in check. In no circumstances should public acts or expressions of indecency be tolerated, and if in any case there is reason to suspect that immorality is carried on in barracks or other buildings which are under the control of the military authorities, vigorous steps should be taken by surprise visits or otherwise to put a stop to such practices. All persons implicated in them, whatever may be their rank or position in the Service, should be punished with the utmost severity.

‘Nothing has probably done more to deter young men who have been respectably brought up from entering the army than the belief, entertained by them and by their families, that barrack-room life is such that no decent lad can submit to it without loss of character or self-respect.

‘The Commander-in-Chief desires that in making recommendations for selection for promotion regard should be had to the example set to the soldier. No man, however efficient in other respects, should be considered fit to exercise authority over his comrades if he is of notoriously vicious and intemperate habits.

‘The Commander-in-Chief is confident that officers, non-commissioned officers, and men in the Queen’s service will spare no pains to remove from the army the reproach which is due to a want of self-restraint on the part of a comparatively small number of soldiers, and that officers of all ranks will do their utmost to impress on their men that, in the important considerations of morality and temperance, soldiers of Her Majesty’s army should, as befits their honourable calling, compare favourably with other classes of the civil population.

‘War Office,
‘April 28, 1898.’