Owen Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Clearly, in 1837, the King was in no mood for long hair and whiskers... Circular is signed by the then Adjutant General, Lt General Sir John MacDonald, a known disciplinarian and veteran of the Peninsular Wars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Hmmm... how long is long? And how much facial hair is "facial hair"... I think nowdays they would need to be more specific ! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted October 28, 2012 Author Share Posted October 28, 2012 (edited) Agree Chris...I'm sure that the court marshal records of the day would make interesting reading....as young 'Private Whiskers Malone' tried to defend his position! Mind you, my first RSM was quite clear about hair length...still, it has helped ease the pain of male pattern baldness! Despite the views of His Majesty in 1837....clearly, things had slipped a little by 1856! Found on British Battles.com: http://www.britishba.../sevastopol.htm Reminds me of a story that my better half's cousin told me recently. He is a former Army Dentist....and, while serving in Germany, he took a call from the Garrison RSM (who, for some time, had been gently reminding him to visit the barber)...the RSM told him that there was no queue at the barber shop, so it might be a good time to pop round there. After a few seconds of thought, Dentist cousin told the RSM that this was a cooincidence as neither was there a queue at his dental surgery...so, it might be a good time for the RSM to pop round for his long overdue dental check-up! Edited October 28, 2012 by Monkey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter monahan Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) I have always had my suspicions about how the shaving/hair cut regs were interpreted in the nineteenth century. Someone once pointed out that the marvellous beards seen in Crimean War photos said as much about the advent of photography as the did about how often Tommy Atkins shaved. Remember that Pioneers were allowed beards because, in theory, they left camp ahead of the main body to clear roads and put in bridges. AND, in the Georgian period 'shaved' meant shaved twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays! So, while parade ground generals may very well have worked themselves into vapours over 'long hair', many officers on campaign or stationed in remote outposts of the Empire probably turned a Nelsonian blind eye on hirsute subordinates. Check any group of photographs of soldiers in ANY combat unit and try and find one where everyone is wearing the same head gear. Hardly ever happens! Wellington was notoriously hard on officers who didn't wear the correct uniform but of his men demanded only that they fire four rounds a minute and beat the trench. I suspect that that sort of pragmatic attitude was far more common than the regulations and drawing/paintings/prints - usually modeled on 'garri-troopers' - suggest. My tuppence worth! Peter Edited October 30, 2012 by peter monahan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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