There is a very interesting thesis from Ohio State University by E J Coss, titled "All for the King's Shilling", which deals with the background of English soldiers (among other things). I had long suspected that the 'scum of the earth' theory was an exaggeration, to say the least - apart from anything else, a surprising number of private soldiers seem to have been literate.

Unemployment, not surprisingly, seems to have been a major factor in enlistment, and in some parts of England in particular, the Industrial Revolution impact of the mechanisation of the textile industries led to skilled workers become unemployed and enlisting. A significant portion of private soldiers had been skilled or semi-skilled tradesmen in their former life.

It is also worth noting that some regiments had significant, and growing, numbers of Methodists in the ranks. These men would certainly not have fitted the popular image of drunken, illiterate criminal types, and would probably have exerted some influence on the general tone of the men around them.

Judging by information in this thread, this was far less the case in un-industrialised Ireland. Again, there would have been a higher percentage of Catholics and fewer Methodists in this group. It would seem that there was a considerable discrepancy in the nature of different regiments in the British army. A study of this would be most interesting. One wonders whether the attitudes expressed by senior officers about the 'scum' under them were shared by the men about other regiments. I imagine that there was a generally agreed and largely accurate hierarchy of social class among men as well as officers - the Guards regiments being at the top and, one fears, the Irish regiments at the bottom.

A comparison of social class and attitudes in and to Scots as opposed to Irish regiments would be interesting. Much more work needs to be done on this fascinating area.

Cheers

C