British military presence in Ireland 1906

The Army had no real function except in war. The notion of maintaining an army to prevent war was not then born: the soldier's purpose was to wage it, and the waging of war could not be taught except by war itself. Therefore the conscientious officer wanted war, just as an actor desires live performance not constant dress rehearsal, but he thought it unnecessary to do much to prepare himself for it. What the Brigade taught in peacetime was conduct. This meant two things.

First, the importance of hierarchy and discipline. A guardsman will look at a man's shoulders before the face above them, to see what stripes or stars they carry. Obedience to the superior officer is laid down by regulation and accepted by habit. Drill is its most obvious manifestation.

Moving together, halting together, shifting feet and rifles in exact synchronization and alignment, create the expectation of command and an instinctive response to it which hold together a body of men in the totally different situations of battle when everything else is confused.

Careful attention to dress and routine strengthens their cohesion. It is no coincidence that uniform and uniformity are linked words. Drill and turn-out and punctuality give the Sergeants something to shout about on the parade ground and so establish their authority, but all three evoke a response which is less grudging than most guardsmen would admit. Perfection in something so simple as a polished boot or belt, or the kaleidoscopic change of a battalion on parade from one formation to another, induces satisfaction and ultimately pride. For centuries discipline of this kind has been an incentive for the regular soldiers of all armies. In the Brigade of Guards it became a point of honour.

Conduct also meant a standard of behaviour. Among officers the most important assumption was that one should not let another down.
So basic was this rule that in the Brigade a special word was applied to any breach of it, to 'cart'. You could cart a brother-officer by leaving him all evening with a plain girl while you danced off with the belle of the ball (you could also cart the plain girl by abandoning her), and you could cart him by borrowing his polo-pony and laming it, or in battle by failing to relieve him on time. Betrayal at any level led to ostracism in the mess. You must not fail to repay a debt, nor cheat at cards, nor reveal a confidence, nor speak maliciously of women.

There were certain rules of etiquette too. An officer must not be seen to carry a suitcase or even a parcel. He must not reverse in waltzing. He could smoke Turkish, but not Virginian, cigarettes. Some of these conventions survived until the opening year of the Second War, and may seem absurd, but there was also a tolerance in the Brigade which even sophisticated officers like Osbert Sitwell and Harold Macmillan came to admit as an influence on their whole lives.

Privacy was respected, and variety of character welcomed. If you did not choose or could not afford to hunt or play polo, and preferred to paint or read, it was not held against you. While intellectual accomplishment was rare, it was not despised.

Shyness was considered a drawback, not a deformity, and heartiness thought vulgar unless wit or adventurousness were allied to it. The importance of leadership was little emphasized, since there were so few opportunities to display it, the men living for most of the time apart from their officers.

The serious study of war was almost unknown. All the qualities required of an officer in battle were assumed to be latent, fostered in peacetime by lively society and energetic sport, tempered by chivalry, comradeship, generosity and a certain decorum. It is best summed up by their definition of a gentleman as a man in whose presence a woman feels herself to be a lady.

The whole Brigade of Guards was of this character, and they knew themselves to be collectively an elite.

Claw Hammer wrote: »

The British found it cheaper to maintain troops in Ireland rather than in Britain. Troops were often recruited in Britain and sent to Ireland for training and rotated to and from various parts of the empire. In 1906 in Dublin, there were troops in Beggars Bush, Portobello Wellington, Richmond and Islandbridge Barracks and Dublin Castle on the Southside of Dublin and in Linen Hall, Infirmary Road, Royal And Marlborough and Barracks on the Northside.