An earlier Duke of Cambridge- Queen Victoria’s Commander-in-Chief -Part 1

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge is 30 on 21^st June 2012. William went up to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2005 and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Blues and Royals on 15 December 2006. In this context it is timely to look back at the early military career of the last Duke of Cambridge, Prince George, who dominated the Victorian Military Establishment as Commander in Chief from 1856 to his retirement in 1895. When he became Duke of Cambridge in 1850 at the age of 31, Prince George had chalked up 12 years of service in the infantry and cavalry and reached the rank of Major-General.

 Conservative or Reformer?

To a certain extent the Duke of Cambridge was the link which connected the Army of Wellington to the Modern British Army. Accused by many of conservatism, he nevertheless worked with the civilian Secretaries of State for War, Sir Sidney Herbert, Lord Panmure and Lord Cardwell overseeing root and branch reforms to the Army.

After the death of the Duke of Wellington, and 37 years on from Waterloo the condition of the Army had become fairly dire. Whilst Inspecting General of Cavalry in 1852, Prince George’s reforming instincts started to emerge and his efforts were largely directed towards introducing order, not only to the cavalry but to the Army generally. It was chiefly due to his initiative that manoeuvres on a large scale were first carried out in England, as far back as the year before the Crimean War. He landed with the Army in the Crimea as General commanding a Division in 1854; and two years afterwards he became Commanding-in-Chief on the retirement of Lord Hardinge.

As Commander-in Chief he turned his attention towards reforming the system of Army Education and the inauguration of the Staff College was largely due to him. During the next decade his efforts were mainly directed towards preserving the Army from reduction in size following the end of the Crimean War 

The Duke was also known as ’The Soldier's Friend’. Whilst he was Commander-in-Chief, the pay of the soldier was considerably increased, largely owing to his repeated efforts. On 1 March 1860 the conditions under which men could earn Good Conduct pay were improved; and again, on 29 June 1867, an increase of two pence a day was made to the soldier's ordinary pay, and an additional sum of one penny a day was granted to all who re-engaged. As the stoppages for messing remained the same as before, the soldiers derived the full benefit of this increase.

On 20 September 1873, the scale of pay was once more revised. Beer money and the stoppages for bread and meat were abolished, the Secretary of State undertaking to furnish the Non-commissioned. Officer and the Private Soldier with a daily ration of one pound of bread and three-quarters of a pound of meat, in addition to his pay of one shilling a day.

Apparently, among the old long-service soldiers it was ever an article of faith that the Duke had obtained for them the extra two pence per diem in 1867 which was greatly appreciated.

Closely connected with the question of 'stoppages' of pay was the issue of ‘barrack damages.' In 1866, when giving evidence before the Royal Commission on the recruiting problem, the Duke expressed himself strongly on the question of barrack damages. He stated that ‘barrack damages' are a source of constant complaint. There was scarcely ever a change of quarters where some complaint did not arise out of ‘barrack damage.'

‘I think that fair wear and tear ought to be more liberally accepted than it is now ;and thus I think that if any little thing has been done which has rather improved than deteriorated the barrack, which is now considered as " barrack damage," it should be accepted as an improvement and not charged at all.'

The Soldier's lot was also vastly ameliorated during the Duke's command by the gradual increase in the clothing and equipment issued for free. In 1854 the Soldier had issued to him free of cost only the following articles full-dress coatee, his trousers, and one pair of boots annually. He had to pay for everything else he wore, besides providing himself with a knapsack, haversack, and leather stock. Gradually this was altered until the men were issued for free most of the outer clothing they required; and all their regimental necessaries.  

For a volunteer army the whole question of remuneration was of great importance to the men and the gradual increase in their disposal income by increasing basic pay, reducing stoppages and barrack charges and providing free equipment would have made a great difference to the men.

According to his Military Biographer, William Willoughby Cole Verner

“the views and ideals of his whole military life can best be summed up by saying that throughout he was perfectly 'straight'; and that his sole object was to do the best he could, according to his lights, not only for the particular units or individuals which composed the force he commanded, but for the general welfare, from a national point of view, of the great institution which he loved to describe as the King's Army.”

To understand the background to the Duke of Cambridge’s career, it is worth looking back to the very start.

Early Career

Prince George of Cambridge was born on 26^th March 1819 in Hanover, where his father Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge was Lieutenant Governor and later Viceroy. Prince George spent most of his early years in Hanover, until aged eleven he came to live with his uncle King William IV at Windsor Castle. His early years were spend in the care of Rev. Canon Wood who was responsible for his education and his youth involved a round of visits to Hanover, a keen interest in Field Sports and a slowly developing interest in matters military.

On 3^rd November 1837, Prince George then aged 19 was gazetted to the rank of Brevet-Colonel in the British Army. Despite his rank, he subsequently went through a thorough and complete course of instruction in drill and military discipline. Gibraltar was decided upon as a suitable station where the young Prince  could acquire the first preliminaries to learning the duties of a soldier, in a Horse Guards letter of 29 September 1838 to the Governor of Gibraltar Sir Alexander Woodford, K.C.B., it was notified that

‘Her Majesty had been pleased to approve of Colonel H.R.H. Prince George of Cambridge being attached to the Garrison of Gibraltar and being employed in any manner in which the Governor may require H.R.H’s services.'

Prince George, accompanied by Lieut.-Colonel Cornwall, started on his journey to Gibraltar on 21 September 1838. On 24 September they embarked on the Falmouth steam packet, and after a rough passage arrived late on the evening of the 26th at Vigo. On the 28th the packet anchored in the Tagus, where a British Squadron was lying, and the Prince was taken ashore. At Lisbon he was entertained by the King and Queen of Portugal. Whilst there he set out on a battlefield tour of the Peninsular War, riding to Torres Vedras and then to battlefield at Rolica.

The party returned to Lisbon on 5 October, and on the 7th the Prince sailed in the Tagus steamer for Gibraltar where he arrived early on 9 October. 

Sir Alexander Woodford wrote to Prince George’s Father, the Duke of Cambridge;

“I am willing to persuade myself that the Prince is disposed to take interest in everything here, and I shall propose a plan whereby H.R.H. will get every information relative to the interior order of a regiment, and I shall also arrange for some drill and exercises with the 33rd Regiment. After that I propose that the Prince should take duty on the Field Officer's roster, and on field days 

I shall put the light companies of the five regiments together and give H.R.H. the command. ... I trust that all this, with what the Prince will see of daily routine of duty here, will give him much insight into everything connected with the service in general. I have selected an officer of Engineers who will give the Prince information upon that branch of the service, and I shall do the same for Artillery practice and Gunnery. ... I am certain that it will be very agreeable to the Duchess and to you, Sir, to hear that the Prince has pleased everybody here on his arrival by his good-humoured and unaffected manners. “

On 12 October 1838 Prince George commenced his military duties. In his diary he wrote 

'This morning I went for the first time to the barracks of the 33rd to be drilled. I am to be attached for the present to that regiment, and learn my duty with them. They are a very nice corps, and were the Duke of Wellington's own regiment in the East Indies. ‘

In his diary of 21 January 1833 the Prince wrote:

'The half-yearly inspection of the 33rd took place on the Neutral Ground, and in the afternoon I went with the General to examine the books of the Regiment.' 

On the 14th February he was placed in command of the 33rd Regiment at a Divisional Drill of two Brigades; subsequently he did Field-Officer's duty, and eventually 'Colonel of the Day* with the two Field-Officers under him. 

In April 1839, Prince George left Gibraltar for Malta and Sir Alexander wrote as follows: 

‘It has afforded me much pleasure to have H.R.H. here, and I feel persuaded that he has seen a great deal of life, and has heard a great deal of the opinions and sentiments of men of all ranks, which knowledge is always useful to a young man, and particularly to one so circumstanced as your son, Sir, and who is, moreover, a quick and apt observer.' 

Prince George landed at Malta on 90 April 1839, and remained there as the guest of His Excellency Lieutenant- General Sir H. P. Bouverie for about a fortnight. During his visit he accompanied the Governor on his half-yearly inspections of the various regiments quartered in the island, and on 16 May embarked in H.M.S. Hermes and sailed for Corfu. 

Returning home to Britain, through Greece and Italy, Prince George visited the Austrian Army Manoeuvres under Field-Marshal Count Radetzky. Colonel Cornwall reported that ' H.R.H. took much interest in the manoeuvres, and cannot have failed in deriving much improvement from them.' 

His experiences of the Austrian Military Manoeuvres in the autumn of 1839, when he witnessed the splendid squadrons of Austrian Cavalry in the field, possibly influenced his inclinations towards the cavalry and on 8 January 1840 he was attached to the 12th Lancers, and did duty with them for two months at Brighton, and subsequently in Dublin as a lieutenant-Colonel. On 25 April 1842 he was gazetted as Colonel of the 17th Lancers, then serving at Leeds. Whilst there he was actively engaged in suppressing the disturbances that took place that year in the manufacturing districts, receiving the thanks of the magistrates of Leeds 

On 20 April 1843 Lieutenant-Colonel and Brevet-Colonel Prince George was promoted to a substantive Colonelcy, and appointed Colonel on the Staff to command the garrison at Corfu 

On 7 May 1845 he was promoted to the rank of Major- General. On 1 October 1846, when in his twenty-seventh year, he was appointed to be a Major-General on the Staff and given the command of the troops at Limerick. After six months' experience of a mixed command at that station he was appointed, on 1 April 1847, to the command of the Dublin where he served his full period of five years, up to 31 March 1852. 

On 16 March 1850 Prince George of Cambridge was also appointed to be one of the Commissioners for the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and also for the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. On 8 July 1850, upon the death of his father, Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, he succeeded to his titles and dignities as 2nd Duke of Cambridge.

So on becoming Duke of Cambridge, the Duke had accumulated 12 years of varied military experience: including basic regimental duties with the infantry of the line, cavalry service, colonial service and experience of garrison command together with the study at close quarter’s continental military systems. 

References

The Military Life of HRH George, Duke of Cambridge

William Willoughby Cole Verner- London 1905

The Carving of figureheads

The Carving of figureheads

The reopened Cutty Sark at Greenwich contains a collection of Merchant ships figureheads assembled by London Businessman Sydney Chambers.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark/history-and-collections/collections/figureheads

In his letter LXVIII to the Morning Chronicle of 5^th September 1850, the renowned Victorian researcher Henry Mayhew, who was carrying out an investigation into London Trades, published an account of specialist woodworkers, in the ship and boat building trade. This letter contains an interview with a carver of Ships’ figureheads, which gives a brief, if fascinating, insight into the labour behind some of these figureheads.

“The carving of figureheads is a distinct branch of the business of ship-building. In some yards this carving, as at present pursued, partakes more and more of the characteristics of a fine art, and all in all it is less rude than it was. The monstrosities, the merely grim and grotesque, which delighted the seaman of the past age, are now almost entirely things of the past. In the figure-heads of the meanest vessels now built, some observance of truth and nature is displayed. The figure-head is ordered of the carver for the general trade (the greater builders usually comprising that department as well as others in their own establishments). Sometimes he works from a drawing – rarely from a model. A carver upon whom I called had a spacious workshop in the corner of a large garden, immediately behind his dwelling house, which was near the Thames. Ranged alongside the wall, at the top of the garden, were a row of colossal and semi-colossal figureheads, exceedingly grim and sultry, and seeming singularly out of place, for they loomed down, with their unmistakeable sea-faring look, upon the white and orange lilies, the many tainted sweet peas and carnations , and the red and white roses. The figures were all of elm and each had a preliminary coat of paint of a dull brick colour, to prevent the wood from cracking, so that their uniformity of hue added to the curious effect that they presented. It was easy enough to recognise the figures or rather the approximation to the features, of the Queen, Prince Albert, and the Duke of Wellington; though there were several countenances that looked familiar enough, and yet puzzled the memory as to whose effigy was represented. Some figure-heads were robed, and starred, and coroneted, and some had the plain coats of the present day. With these were mingled female forms, some with braided hair, others with very rigid ringlets, carved out of solid wood…

Along the wall of the workshop were the same array of effigies, while in one corner , amidst heaped up timber , was a covered figure in a sitting position, which was much more elaborately worked than the others. A cornucopia rested on its left arm, while the other grasped a snake, the head of which had been broken off, and lay close by. The carving of the thick curly hair, was minute, and showed great painstaking. This, I found, was at one time a choice ornament of the Lord Mayor’s state barge, and represented Africa. An opposite figure, allegorical of another quarter of the world , I was told became rotten and had to be removed from the barge, and Africa was removed at the same time or she would have appeared isolated. When deposited in its present place the figure was gilt, but a great part of the gilding having been rubbed or fallen off, its new owner had it painted all over to resemble the others…

A muscular, hearty, and hale-looking young man , whom I found at work in the shop , presenting many of the characteristics of the one I have more particularly described , but not the same gave me the following information.:

‘ I was apprenticed to Mr- , and have never left London. My father was connected with shipbuilding, and so put me to this branch. I’m unmarried, and live with my friends. I have nothing to complain of in the way of business, as I have pretty good employment. We all drink beer- some of us perhaps, too much, but nothing compared to other trades. Ours is hard work, but we don’t drink much at work. Look you here, sir, this log of ellum, with just the sides taken off by the sawyers to make it square, has to be made into a “head”- into a foreign nobleman or prince, - I don’t remember his name, but it’s a queer one. To do that is heavy lifting and hard work. None of these fellows (pointing to the figures) here is proper size, hardly big enough, or I could easily gouge this one now into a lord. We first axe the log into a rough shape, a sort of outline, and then finish it with chisels and gouges. I sometimes work from a drawing, but mostly out of my own head, and direct myself by my eye. We have nothing to do with painting or gilding the heads. They’re sent home in their woods, just with a coat of paint over them to prevent them from cracking. Yes, you’re right, sir, that head will do for the Queen; but if a Queen isn’t wanted, and it’s the proper size, I can soon make her into any other female. Or she might do for a “Mary Anne”, without altering certainly she might The way the hair’s carved is the Queen’s style , and has been in fashion these eight or ten years. Ringlets ain’t easy particularly cork-screw ringlets as they’re called. The watch-chain and seals to a gentleman ain’t easy, as you have to bring out that part and cut away from it. The same with buttons and stars. Perhaps we aren’t as good at legs as at other carving. We generally carve only to the knee. The shipwrights place our work on the ship’s kneecaps. We have no Slop-workers amongst us; but there are two men who keeps a look out at the docks for broken heads, or heads damaged in any way, and offer to repair them cheap. They’re not workers themselves, but they get hold of any drunken carpenter, or any ship carver that happens to be hard up and out of work, and put them to the job at very low prices. But the thing don’t satisfy, and they do very little; still, it’s a break in upon us. I make 24s to 30S a week the year through, oftener nearer 30s. than 24 s; I make 36s at full work…..”

The birth of European Air Routes

I have a particular professional interest in business travel and travellers, I am also a frequent user of Ryanair and Easyjet, so was particularly interested to come across an article on the early days of European air travel. Anybody who has ever found themselves waiting for a low cost flight at one of Europe’s smaller airports, for example Trieste, Malmo, Bristol, Krakow might be interested in an earlier , more glamorous era of European air travel when rather than being weekend destinations, these airports were vital parts of a new and increasingly integrated network of European Air Routes. A 1933 edition of Flight Magazine published a report on the 13^th Bi-annual meeting of the International Air Traffic Association held in London on 27^th and 28^th September 1933. By 1933, nearly 800 aircraft were in operation in Europe with about 150 continental cities connected by air. The 1933 meeting was attended by representatives of 30 airlines from 15 countries.

Many of these airlines or their successors are still around today, while others have merged with onetime rivals or passed into the mists and oblivion of history. Delegates at the meeting included representatives from: AB Aerotransport ( Sweden); AEI (Italy); Aero  O/Y (Finland); Air France; Avio Linee Italiane; CLS ( Czechoslovakia); CSA Czechoslovakia; Der Danske Luft ( Denmark); Deru-Luft ( Germany- Russia) ; DLH ( Germany) ; Imperial Airways (Great Britain); KLM ( Netherlands); LAPE ( Spain); Navigazione Italiana (Italy); Norske Luftruker ( Norway) ; Osterreichse Luftkevehr ( Austria) ; LOT (Poland); SABENA ( Belgium) ; SAM (Italy); SISA (Italy)  and Swissair.

To some extent, the consolidation of the European Airline Industry was already well under way in 1933. In France, the five principal airline companies Air Union; Farman, CIDNA , Air Orient and the Compagnie Aerospatiale had been amalgamated to form Air France. Together these airlines had operated air routes which linked France with North Africa, Turkey, Sweden, Saigon and South America. As a corporate restructuring, the creation of Air France led to cost savings across the board; with a reduction in back-office administrative posts; transfer of personnel and a more productive use of equipment. The French state was, therefore, able to reduce its annual subsidy from 180 million to 155 million Francs.

By 1933 Air France was operating services such as London-Cannes ( via Paris) ; London – Marseilles ( via Paris and Lyons); ; Paris- Berlin ( via Cologne) and various routes from Paris to Central Europe , including Prague, Warsaw , Vienna , Budapest , Belgrade and Sofia. A weekly service operated from London to Saigon leaving London on a Wednesday evening and arriving Saigon on the following Thursday.

Deutsche Lufthansa (which again was born in an amalgamation of various German airlines in 1926) maintained a comprehensive network of routes across Germany and beyond. Key routes included; Berlin-Hannover- Amsterdam-Rotterdam-London; Berlin-Stettin-Danzig-Konigsberg. There was even an early spot of code-sharing going on the following routes were run in conjunction with other airlines. Berlin-Cologne-Paris ( with Air France) ; Berlin-Copenhagen-Malmo ( in conjunction with Den Danske Luft) and Munich-Innsbruck- Bolzano- Trento- Milano ( with Avio Linee Italiane) . An early example of a commuter shuttle was the “Aerobus” which ran three times daily between Frankfurt and Cologne. Lufthansa also ran connecting services from Berlin to Fredrichshafen where the airship Graf Zeppekin commenced the epic route Frederichshafen- Pernabuco- Rio de Janeiro- Montevideo- Buenos Aires- Bolivia- Chile.

Although Britain’s Imperial Airways was a member of IATA, as with most things Britain’s air routes remained firmly focussed on Imperial Routes. Despite this, by the 1930s there was a growth in internal air routes in Great Britain. Such routes included Blackpool- Liverpool; Bristol-Cardiff; Hull-Grimsby. By 1933 the following British cities had licensed aerodromes; Blackpool, Bristol, Cardiff, Hull, Inverness, Ipswich, Leeds-Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Renfrew, Stoke and Southampton.

Also in 1933 Schipol in the Netherland was serving as a major hub for KLM with connecting flights to other parts of Europe in connection with Sabena, Lufthansa, AB- Aerpotransport and Air France. The direct flight from Croydon to Amsterdam took about 2 1./2 hours across the North Sea. Since 1931, the Dutch had operated the longest air service in the world from Amsterdam-Schipol to the Dutch East Indies.

In 1933, Italian Airlines remained fragmented with six major companies. SISA based in Trieste ran services down the Eastern side of the Adriatic to Zara, Durazzo, Brindisi, Fiume and Venice. SAM based in Rome ran flights to France and across the Mediterranean to Libya where services linked up with SAN which ran between Tripoli and Benghazi and Benghazi and Tobruk. SAM also ran routes from Rome to Sardinia ans Sicily. AEI ran routes to Eastern Europe including Brindisi-Athens-Istanbul and Brindisi-Athens-Rome. Finally SA Avio line ran routes from Northern Italy to Germany. In 1934 all of the above with the exception of Avio Linee were amalgamated to form Ala Littoria as a consolidated national carrier.

In 1933 Belgium’s Sabena was able to make the happy claim that they had operated for none years without accidents to passengers or freight. .Possibly this was because they mainly ran short cross channel hops between London and the Belgian coastal resorts. Despite its small size, Czechoslovakia had two airlines the state run CSA operated routes between Prague, Brno , Bratislava and Zagreb, while CLS operated Prague-Dresden-Berlin and Prague to Amsterdam ( via Halle, Leipzig and Mulheim).  Poland’s state subsidized LOT operated routes from Warsaw to the Balkans and Warsaw to Danzig.

Greece by virtue of its position on the edge of Europe found itself as an important centre for aviation. Among those airlines passing through or over Greece, were Imperial Airways on the way to India and South Africa; KLM on the Amsterdam-Batavia route; the French Air Orient Co on its routes from Marseilles to Indo-China and AEI on its routes to Istanbul and Rhodes. In addition Lufthansa, Air France, LOT and SAM ran services from Northern Europe to Salonika. Due to its fragmented topography of islands and mountains, Greece was peculiarly unsuited to rail travel. The 200 mile trip from Athens to Salonika took at least 12 hours by train, 20 hours by sea and only 2 hours by air. By 1932 the Greek Airline EEES was carrying 7,892 passengers a year and understandably looking to expand its routes to the Greek islands.

Spain was lagging behind the rest of Europe. Although French postal routes to South America and Northern Africa traversed Spain, along with the Zeppelin routes to Brazil, there was negligible development of internal air travel in Spain. By 1933 only one company was operating Linea Aereas Postales Easpanoles, running daily services from Madrid to Barcelona and Madrid to Seville and back.

Finally to conclude this brief tour with the Northern Edge of Europe, air travel was developing slowly in Scandinavia. DDL operated a service between Copenhagen and Malmo. In Finland, Aero O/Y in conjunction with Swedish Aerotransport operated a regular service between Helsinki and Stockholm and the short hop between Helsinki and Tallinn.

So looking back, many of those aging terminal buildings which have recently been expanded and spruced up to acts as hubs for new low cost airlines and as new destinations for weekend breaks were vital parts of a rapidly expanding European air network over 80 years ago.

Introduction

I studied history at university, My professional interests are in taxation and in particular taxation relating to expatriates and internatonal executives. I want to use this blog to post on the historical background to some of the professional issues I come across and also on matters of general historical interest which I think might be interesting to talk about.