Rum, Sodomy, Prayers, and the Lash Revisited

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann
Keyword(s):  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
Social Agenda ◽  
Reform Programme ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Naval Officers

There is an old story about Winston Churchill, which relates that, during his time as First Lord of the Admiralty, he made a proposal for reform that was strenuously opposed by the naval officers around him. The reason given was that Churchill’s measure was not in accord with naval tradition. Hearing this objection, Churchill immediately retorted, ‘Naval tradition? Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers and the lash.’ The quotation is frequently dismissed as apocryphal or a jest, but, interestingly, all four areas of naval life singled out were subject to major reform initiatives while Churchill was in charge of the Royal Navy between October 1911 and May 1915. During this period, not only were there major improvements in pay and conditions for sailors, but detailed consideration was given to the future of the spirit ration; to the punishing and eradicating of homosexual practices; to the spiritual concerns of the fleet; and also to the regime of corporal punishment that underpinned naval discipline for boy sailors. In short, under Churchill, the Royal Navy introduced a social reform programme perfectly encapsulated in this elegant quip. And, yet, not only has no one studied it; many people do not even know that such a programme even existed. This book rectifies that. It shows that Churchill was not just a major architect of welfare reform as President of the Board of Trade and as Home Secretary, but that he continued to push a radical social agenda while running the Navy.

The Lash

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Naval Officers

Although the flogging of adult sailors had been suspended in the Royal Navy in 1881, at the outset of the twentieth century boy sailors could still be caned or birched for infractions of naval discipline. Many naval officers regarded such physical chastisement as the only appropriate and effective punishment for the youths in their charge, but there were many important opinion formers and campaigners outside the Navy who regarded corporal punishment as a relic from a more barbaric age and sought its total abolition in the senior service. Pressure was particularly strong in Parliament on this point. Sensitive to this pressure, Winston Churchill set up a committee to examine the whole system of naval discipline and, under cover of its report, sought to limit the regime of corporal punishment in the Navy.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann
Keyword(s):  
Corporal Punishment ◽  
Social Reform ◽  
Alcohol Intake ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Push Forward ◽  
The Common

As this book has shown the common conception that ‘Churchill’s “radical phase” was cast to the winds’ when he was put in charge of the Navy in October 1911, although well established in the literature, is not, in fact, accurate.1 The radical President of the Board of Trade, eager to improve the lives of the poor, became the radical Home Secretary, no less enthusiastic for social reform, who then became the radical First Lord of the Admiralty, imbued with both a desire and, perhaps more importantly, a will to intervene in order to better conditions for those who served in the Royal Navy. Accordingly, he embarked upon a major programme of improvement across a wide range of different areas all of which affected the everyday life of sailors. Alcohol intake, sexual behaviour, religious practice, corporal punishment, as well as pay and equality of progression, all came under the spotlight while Churchill was First Lord. Of course, not all of the new measures were successful and not all were progressive in the modern understanding of the term, but all of them represented significant attempts to push forward a radical agenda for change....

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann
Keyword(s):  
Royal Navy ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
Naval Officers

There is an old story about Winston Churchill and the Royal Navy that runs thus: during his time as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911 to 1915, Churchill made a proposal for reform that was strenuously opposed by the naval officers on the Board of Admiralty, whose role it was to advise politicians on the administration of the service. The reason given for their objection was that Churchill’s measure was not in accord with what they referred to as ‘naval tradition’. Upon encountering such opposition, Churchill immediately and thunderously retorted, ‘Naval tradition? Naval tradition? Monstrous. Nothing but rum, sodomy, prayers and the lash.’...

Pay, Promotion, and Democratization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew S. Seligmann
Keyword(s):  
Officer Corps ◽  
Social Reformer ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
Social Composition ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Many ◽  
Naval Officers ◽  
Lower Deck

As soon as he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, Winston Churchill sought to buttress his credentials as a social reformer by improving conditions for sailors in the Navy and widening the social composition of the officer corps. This chapter examines his efforts towards both of these ends. It shows how he fought against the Treasury and his Cabinet colleagues to offer sailors their first meaningful pay rise in decades. It similarly catalogues the many schemes he introduced to entice people from a wider range of backgrounds, including sailors from the lower deck, to become naval officers. As with enhanced naval pay, this required him to persevere against entrenched interests, but as this chapter will show, his achievements in this area were considerable.

Monarchy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joël Félix
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Social ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Louis Xvi ◽  
Louis Xv

This chapter examines the social and political structures of the absolute monarchy. It explores the extent to which tensions and conflicts in the mid-eighteenth century, in particular disputes between government and parlements, divided the elites over reform and policy, and opened up the realm of politics to public opinion. Reviewing the fate of major reform initiatives through the reigns of both Louis XV and his grandson Louis XVI, it argues that political crises paralysed the ability of royal institutions to enforce authority and generate consensus, thus making the transition from the old regime to the modern world necessary and inevitable.

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