British Royal Army (Georgian/Napoleonic era)

Yeah, Jack's taught me the basics of clothing and guns (half-cock, cartridge, barrel, frizzen, ramrod, cock, shoot SIR!) but I'm seriously lazy in the research department- and the public school system's library has done me no good in the British area of things- so, is there anything crucial/interesting I need to know?

One of my characters is in the Army, and since it's in America and since he's younger it'll be cruder (I'm going a little wayward in detail on purpose) but I still need to know the rules to be able to break 'em, yes?

So...if you know any basic rules, drills, stuff like that that they would have had, do tell.

For one, I wouldn't call it the Royal Army - yes, there's the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force, but it has never really been called the Royal Army.

I think this could be useful, it's the manual exerice drill they used in the Revolution and beforehand in America -

http://users.erols.com/candidus/musket.htm

It's really easy to find stuff if you simply search on the net, it's not hard and there's a wealth of information on the British Army out there to be found - organisation etc.

This gives you salaries - http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_proje ... alary.html and for officers - http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_proje ... fficer.htm

Here's some random information on food, it's a little earlier than the Revolution but it's doubtful that much would have changed -

The British army was the best fed army in the world during the time of the French & Indian war. The British Parliament passed the Vectualing act which guaranteed every soldier would receive each day a one pound loaf of bread, and one pound of beef; this amount may be increased during times of war, as the laboring soldiers require more food to maintain their strength. If fresh bread or beef were unavailable, they were substituted by an amount equal to that of fresh or salt pork, hardtack, flour, or in America, Indian corn. Other victuals were issued to soldiers when available, such as: fruits, vegetables, and cheese. Rations were not issued daily, instead a soldier would receive several days worth or more at one time, it was up to the soldier to make sure his rations lasted. The food issued to the soldiers was paid for by stoppages to the men's wages. His daily ration was not the only source for a soldier's food, Suttlers followed the army selling food and liquor to the officers and soldiers. Suttlers provided the soldiers with such things as, beer, rum, gin, tea, chocolate, sugar, fruits & vegetables, fish, tobacco, and more. The women of the army were also issued food by the army, women campfollowers received half of a soldier's ration, and children a quarter ration.

The soldiers of each company formed 'messes' of 5 or 6 men, who also shared a tent together. Each mess was issued a tin mess kettle used for cooking their victuals. When raw meat was issued, the men would boil them in their kettle until edible, or roast them over a fire. Often the men would combine their bread, meat, vegetables, and whatever else they had at hand into their kettles to form a sort of soup. When raw flour was issued, the men mixed it with water and baked them over hot coals to make flour cakes. When time permitted, each company built an earthen oven called a 'camp kitchen' to cook with. A camp kitchen was simply a mound of dirt with several small ovens built into it, in this way the heat was centralized and less wood was needed.

The above mentioned represents the ideal standards in the British army. In times of war, and in the wilderness conditions of North America, food and water was often hard to acquire, transport, or easily spoiled

Source: http://44thregiment.itgo.com/victuals.html



I found all this in about 15 minutes so it's not hard to find much! Anyway hope they helped, even a little.

YAY! Thank you! (In a book I was reading, it was called the Royal Army...and we dumb Americans can't really tell the difference. )

And the food was exactly what I needed. That and the exercise! Thanks!