The British officer corps, 1754-1783. (Volumes I and II).

This dissertation is a collective biographical study of 394 British officers who served in four regiments of foot between 1767 and 1783. The work utilizes several methodologies, including narrative regimental history, quantitative analysis and prosopography, to produce a "holistic" picture of the mid-eighteenth-century British officer corps. There are two major foci to the thesis: the first, the army as an institution with methods and imperatives of its own that shaped the lives of individual officers, and , second, the officer corps as a reflection of the composition and mores of elite society. After an introductory chapter placing the British army in a European context, and outlining the structure and significance of the regiment, Chapters Two and Three address the history of the sample units, the 8th, 12th, 17th and 35th regiments. These chapters explore the differing collective identities created in these four military "communities" by service experiences. Chapter Four discusses the social and ethnic origins and educational background of the officer corps, stressing that most officers came from the l and ed classes, were educated in local rather than public schools, and were inadequately prepared by their provincial and ethnic upbringing for life in a multi-national organization like the British army. Chapter Five describes gentry family strategies in choosing a professional career for their sons, the lines of patronage utilized by officer recruits, the workings of the purchase system, and the career patterns of military men. Chapter Six shows the rather distant style of leadership adopted by officers in their relations with the other ranks. Coming from a gentry society that increasingly preferred impersonal to patriarchal models in its dealings with the lower classes, officers were often negligent and uneasy in their leadership role, and depended upon an array of rewards, punishments and symbols, and , in wartime, displays of tactical ability, to motivate their men. The final chapter discusses the "society" of the regiment: the models of regimental society used by officers in their descriptions of their professional lives, and the impact of the code of honor, elite styles of behavior, generational conflict, and national disharmony on relationships between officers.PhDEuropean historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/161958/1/8821632.pd