Overview
A fascinating study of midshipmen and other ""young gentlemen"", outlining their social background, career paths and what life was like for them. Officer recruits - ""young gentlemen"" - entered the Royal Navy with dreams of fame, fortune and glory, but many found promotion difficult, with a large number unable to progress beyond lieutenant. Recent scholarship has argued thatduring the wars of 1793-1815 there was greater social diversity among naval officers, with promotion increasingly related to professional competence. This book, based on extensive original research, examines the social backgroundof around 4,000 ""young gentlemen"" a term which includes midshipmen and various other categories, including captains' servants, volunteers and masters' mates. It concludes that in fact high birth became an increasingly important factor in the selection of officer candidates, and that as the Admiralty grip on the appointment and management of officer aspirants increased, especially after 1815, aristocratic presence in the ranks of young officers increased significantly as a result of deliberate Admiralty policy. The book also discusses the assertion that the increase in elite sons led to a dramatic increase in cases of indiscipline and insubordination, concluding that although therewas a marked increase in courts martial for insubordination during and after the French Wars there is no evidence that such cases related more to the elites than to young aspirants in general"". The book includes many case study examples of midshipmen and other ""young gentlemen"", illustrating what life was like for them and how they themselves viewed their situation. S.A. CAVELL is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology and Louisiana State University and completed her doctorate at the University of Exeter.
Full Product Details
Author: Samantha Cavell (Customer)
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint: The Boydell Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 23.40cm
Weight: 0.467kg
ISBN: 9781843837190
ISBN 10: 1843837196
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 21 June 2012
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Contains rich detail and sound analysis. HISTORY An engaging examination and a welcome addition to the social history of the Royal Navy. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY This book does a great service in furthering our understanding of officer entrants at perhaps the apogee of the Royal Navy's history and reputation. [It] is a necessity on the shelves not only of institutions and individuals studying the development of navies and of officer development, but also, [...] on the shelves of wherever social history of any period is studied. NORTHERN MARINER A fascinating book. [...] Anyone interested in the period or the evolution of the Naval officer should read it. NAVY NEWS
Contains rich detail and sound analysis. * HISTORY * An engaging examination and a welcome addition to the social history of the Royal Navy. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY * This book does a great service in furthering our understanding of officer entrants at perhaps the apogee of the Royal Navy's history and reputation. [It] is a necessity on the shelves not only of institutions and individuals studying the development of navies and of officer development, but also, [...] on the shelves of wherever social history of any period is studied. * NORTHERN MARINER * A fascinating book. [...] Anyone interested in the period or the evolution of the Naval officer should read it. * NAVY NEWS *
Contains rich detail and sound analysis. HISTORY An engaging examination and a welcome addition to the social history of the Royal Navy. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY This book does a great service in furthering our understanding of officer entrants at perhaps the apogee of the Royal Navy's history and reputation. (It) is a necessity on the shelves not only of institutions and individuals studying the development of navies and of officer development, but also, (...) on the shelves of wherever social history of any period is studied. NORTHERN MARINER A fas on the shelves of wherever social history of any period is studied. NORTHERN MARINER A fascinating book. (
A fascinating book. (...) Anyone interested in the period or the evolution of the Naval officer should read it. NAVY NEWS
