Desertion from the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars

Desertion as theft

“…Nevertheless, the data offer suggestive evidence that the variables identified by our theoretical analysis to affect the magnitude of desertion do in fact matter, and matter in the direction predicted by our framework. Our analysis is also consistent with historical experience “out of sample.” For example, in his study of desertion in the British army during the Napoleonic wars, Linch finds that “the location of the soldier and prospects this environment offered to him to escape his unit, avoid recapture, and survive provided the catalyst [for running away]” (Linch, 2016: 816). For example, soldiers were keener to desert their ranks during the summer months, when they could command higher wages, due to the increased labor needs of the harvest season.…”

“…In 18 th -century Europe, desertion had become so widespread that “it was largely accepted as a facet of European military life” (Linch 2016: 809), forcing every regime (monarchies and republics alike) to deal with the issue by developing policy instruments of exceptional gravity. According to a military dictionary from the 1700s, “a deserter is, by the articles of wark, punishable by death, and, after conviction is, if in camp, hanged at the head of the regiment he deserted from, with his crime writ on his behalf; and suffered to hang till the army leave the camp, for a terror of others.” 1 Culture and public sentiments across time and space similarly target deserters as representing the lowest form of human weakness, like selfishness, lack of patriotism, and cowardice (Forrest, 1989).…”

“…They also find that deserters were more likely to relocate far away from their hometowns at the end of the war, possibly out of fear of being ostracized and shamed by their communities. Linch (2016) examines the causes of desertion in the British army during the Napoleonic wars, arguing that “desertion from the British Army stemmed from three main factors: adjustment to life as a soldier; discontent with the service; and opportunities outside the Army” (Linch, 2016: 808).…”

The Typography of Forgetting: The Unsettling of Dominant Social Narratives in the Resurfacing of a Military Deserter in Family Memory

“…Contrary to popular national narratives of any state which tend to obscure desertion in the army, Linch (2016) notes that military absenteeism is now receiving greater scholarly attention. That attention has shown that only a small number of cases actually made it to general court martials, for example, in the Napoleonic Wars, since desertion was so widespread in the British Army and Navy that there was simply not enough manpower to deal with it.…”

“…Only those that were the most serious became exemplary cases of believed dissuasion for others. Linch (2016) notes that there were 77,696 cases of desertion in the British Army between 1803 and 1815, "a loss it could ill afford when it struggled to recruit enough men to cover total casualties" (p. 809). It is also recently that research has emerged related to desertion in the British Army of World War I.…”