Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified boy serving with the British Army, presumably in an Irish regiment. He looks very young, perhps 10-years old or so. Notice the nusic epleuttes. The CDV portraits is undated, but looks to us like the 1890s. This was before Ireland was divided and the whole island was part of the United Kingdom. Notice his cap and white gloves on the table. The studio was C.F. Croiwder which had studiosinm Enniskillen and Bundoran. These two towns are close, but one is now located in Northern Island and the other in the Republic of Ireland.

The British Army unlike other European armies was an all volunteer force. Britain like America had a very small Army, made possible by the English Channel amd Atlantic Ocean resptectively. Boys could enlist in the Army. We are not sure about the legal age limits. And recruiters were not always scrupulos about entrering in the actual ages. The boys involved may have run away from home or have been orphansd. Or they may have been the sons of soldiers serving in the regiment. We think that some people in Britain may have begun to have second thoughts on this after the Zulu War (1879). A widely distributed report of the Battle of Isandlwana describe the fate of a boys on active service by with the British Army. An eye witness account described, "Even the little drummer boys that we had in the band, they were hung up on hooks, and opened like sheep. It was a pitiful sight." Historiand now doubt that account. British Army records reveal that the youngest drummer killed was 18 years old. The youngest boy present was 16 years old. [Knight] We only have detaild information about ages beginning with World War I By his time, boys could not be poted in combst zons. Thi was not the case erlier. We see boys being posed with their regiments in the Boer Wa (1899-1902). Boys enlisted to Infantry Battalions could serve as trumpeters, buglers or musicians and each Infantry Battalion could have up to eight boys on their roll. The younger boys would have begun as drummers.

Sources

Knight, Ian. Zulu Rising: The Epic Story of iSandlwana and Rorke's Drift (Pan Books: 2011).

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Created: 2:56 AM 4/8/2022
Last updated: 2:56 AM 4/8/2022