The little known use of Boy soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars

In the 1790s the British Army faced a recruitment crisis as depleted regiments returned from the Caribbean. One of the novel approaches adopted by the War Office to fill its exhausted ranks was to recruit boy soldiers into depleted regiments such as the 22nd Cheshire Regiment. This talk explores how the battalion recruited the boys and their experience of serving in the outposts of the British Empire in South Africa and India.

Presenter:

Owen Davis is Membership Secretary for the Waterloo Association and an editor on the Napoleon Series, with a particular interest in the changes which took place in European armies from 18th century through to the Victorian era. He achieved a BA (Hons) in War Studies and History at King’s College, London, and is currently working on creating a series of historical documentaries, whilst teaching media production to Adult Learners.