At
first glance, it must seem obvious
That
as there was no explosion of mutiny
Until
after the conclusion of conflict,
Then
the British Army must have been,
On
the whole, loyal to King and Country
(Over
half of the army were volunteers);
Admittedly,
two hundred and sixty six men
Were
shot for desertion in the face of the enemy,
But
these were acts of individual insubordination,
Rather
than acts of collective, mutinous solidarity,
And
few executions resulted at the Great War’s end,
(Nothing
like the musket balls in Burford Church,
After
the Leveller’s Mutiny in 1649,
Nor
the 1797 mutinies at the Nore and Spithead,
When
29 members of ‘the floating republic’ were hanged),
But
on the other hand…
The
necessities of trench line duty
Prevented
the mass meetings necessary for mutiny,
As
opposed to acts of individual insubordination,
But
when troops did get the chance to meet en masse …
Then
sometimes all hell let loose,
So,
who, where, when, what, why and how?
Over
2,000 men were charged with mutiny
Between
1914 and 1922
(Only
men and other ranks, no officers;
A
staggering 90% found guilty),
And
there were over 300,000 courts martial cases,
With,
again, a similar figure of 90% found guilty:
Officers
demanded absolute discipline,
While
diffident Tommies were often alone in these courts,
Facing
a vehement prosecution …
There
were over fifty wartime mutinies at home,
The
major ones being at Canterbury,
In
July 1915 and January 1917,
Towcester,
November 1916,
And Bramshott,
November 1917;
There
were also 5, 739 conscientious objectors
Who
faced charges,
As
well as the formation, in June 1917,
Of a
workers’ and soldiers’ council
At,
of all places, Tonbridge Wells:
Ringleaders
were posted to France and elsewhere,
But
government spies and agents provocateurs
Could
not prevent the ubiquitous unrest in 1919,
When
army camps were overwhelmed
By
strikes, demonstrations and protest
At
the slow pace of demobilization;
Special
Branch top toff, Sir Basil Thomson, gloomily intoned
‘I
do not think at any time in history since the Bristol Riots
have
we been so near revolution’,
So
worried was he by the flying of red flags …
But,
in the main, motivations for mutiny
Were
about dreadful training camps and rations
(Wiltshire,
1914 and 1915, Etaples, 1917),
War
weary impatience with demobilization
(Dover,
Folkestone, Calais and India, 1919),
Complaints
about mistreatment and punishment
(Blargies
North Prison, 1916),
But
even when taking that into account,
The
1919 mutiny at Poona is an exemplar,
Of
how an ostensible protest about demobilization
Was,
in fact, a pregnant denotation
About
the fragility of Empire,
And
its impact upon boss and worker at home:
Soldiers
in India were worried about their jobs,
If
not speedily repatriated;
The
top brass in India were worried that after Amritsar,
There
might be insufficient troops to quell rebellion -
But
fighting for King, Country and Empire
Would
be cold comfort if you lost your job,
A
few ‘Homes fit for Heroes’ were not enough,
Strikes,
wage cuts and unemployment
Were
just around the corner in ‘Dear Old Blighty’,
And
as for Ireland and Empire …
Addendum
Local History:
‘Refusals to parade were a common form of
protest by troops stationed in Britain during the First World War … It seems
that only when threats of violence were made, or actually broke out during the
negotiating process, as with the Gloucesters at Malvern Wells in June 1915, men
were court martialled.’
Pte F Phillips Incit M + Insub(Maj) + Resist+Esc
3 yrs PS
Pte AG Denton Incit M + Viol (Sgt) NG
Pte P Galloway Incit M + Insub (Sgt)+ S40 3
yrs PS
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