Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men [Paperback]

Byron Farwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 1987

The outrageous, but often glorious, story of Britain's pre-World War I Army.

This is an upstairs-downstairs view of the Victorian-Edwardian army, one of the world's most peculiar fighting forces. The battles it fought are household words, but the idiosyncracies and eccentricities of its soldiers and the often appalling conditions under which they lived have gone largely unrecorded. Byron Farwell explores here the lives of officers and men, their foibles, gallantry, and diversions, their discipline and their rewards.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An extraordinarily useful reference for those who wish to understand the British Empire at flood tide. I cannot recommend it highly enough. (William Manchester )

I loved it. It's a fascinating social history. (John Brooks )

Highly readable . . . witty and entertaining. (Business Week )

Eye-opening . . . extravagant . . . lively. (Kirkus Reviews )

A thumping good read. (Houston Post )

A delightful and extraordinarily well-informed book. (Washington Post )

About the Author

During the Second World War, Byron Farwell (1921–1999) served as a captain of engineers attached to the Mediterranean Allied Air Force in the British Eighth Army area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 17, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393304442
• ISBN-13: 978-0393304442
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > History > Military > Life & Institutions

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Eccentric View of The Victorian Army, August 19, 2002

By 

Roger Kennedy (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men (Paperback)

This book provides a comprehensive survey of the Victorian army during the height of the Great British Empire. Mr. Farwell is something of an expert on this period and his lucid writing is a joy to read. The book brings out the many varied living conditions that existed in the British army of that time. This is more social history than pure military fare, but don't let that discourage the perspective reader. This is not dry stuff about living conditions in the Victorian army, the book is full of amusing anedotes from actual living Victorian soldiers.

They were a peculiar lot these Soldiers of the Queen, who cherished all their old traditions. The army was extremely conservetive in outlook, from Prviate to General. The regiment was the key element which kept it all together. The British army has always been a regimental army, and this was never more so than in the 19th Century. The army proved extremly adaptive to fighting in all the varied conditions within the Empire, and while this abundance of expereince gave it a unique espirit-de-corps, it did not prepare it well to fight any European conflicts. The British only barely managed to field a few full strength Corps at the beginning of the Great War in 1914. This was in no small way due to the Reforms of Edward Cardwell who created a reserve by linking many of the single battalion regiments together in the 1880s thereby establishing some form of reserve pool of manpower. The system just managed to hold the army together, but created many animosities between time-honored regiments who disliked being linked to each other in adinistractive fashion.

The book goes to great lengths to explain the huge social gulf between officers and enlisted men. The British army was stratified to a degree that no other army of the period entertained. It was an 18th century notion which struggled on into the next century. Farwell brings out these and many other fascinating details as he illustrates the daily life of the Victorian soldier. Those interested in the period of Queen Victoria's Little Wars won't want to put this one down. Its full of fascinating tid-bits of people like Kitchener, Charles Gordon, Wolsley, Frederick Roberts and Churchill, as well as the common soldiers and officers that made up the army. Also, anyone interested in the social anatomy of an army and the society to which it belonged should also find it most rewarding. There are many such Victorian studies out there, but few address the army, which perhaps reflected the age more directly than any other English institution of the time.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Little Book, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men (Paperback)

Having just finished Lawerence James' "Rise and Fall of the British Empire", I felt like sticking with the Brits for a while, and picked up this great little book. Farwell's style is excellent and his humorous little anecdotes about life in the Victorian/Edwardian British Army make for fascinating reading. Not really a history book it covers the "sociology" of the British Army of the late 1800s-early 1900s. It was a stratified society, with gentleman officers and "other ranks" drawn from people who weren't so well bred. Not for the politically correct, though.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back When Men Were Men and Sailors Were Dates!, February 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Kipling's Army: All the Queen's Men (Paperback)

Mr. Farwell's books are an unflinching glimpse back when the sun never set on the British Empire because God wouldn't trust the buggers in the dark. I look forward to reading and re-reading everyone of his books, and keep them as a ready and accurate reference.

At a time when Great Britain could only offer a spell in the Gin Mill, the Cotton Mill, the Navy or an adventure in "Inja," many took the King's Shilling to do the King's work. It was pure, hard, basic soldiering and Mr. Farwell has captured it in a well written manner. Even Lord Wellington described his British force in Spain (fighting against Napoleon) as "the scum of the earth...the absolute scum of the earth." But Wellington's scum eventually beat Napoleon and conquered and held a vast portion of this globe. The British Army "squares" held until World War I. If you like Kipling, and a glimpse at what really went on, then you will like any of Mr. Farwell's offerings.