Skip to Content

The Redcoat and Religion

The Forgotten History of the British Soldier from the Age of Marlborough to the Eve of the First World War

By Michael Snape

Published May 30th 2008 by Routledge – 336 pages

Series: Christianity and Society in the Modern World

    Purchasing Options:

    Description

    This compelling study presents the most comprehensive examination available of the role of religion in the army during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

    Through extensive analysis of official military sources, religious publications and personal memoirs, Michael Snape challenges the widely-held assumption that religion did not play a role in the British Army until the mid-Victorian period, and demonstrates that the British soldier was highly susceptible to religious influences long before the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny rendered the subject of wider public concern.

    In The Redcoat and Religion Snape argues that religion was of significant, even defining, importance to the British soldier and reveals the enduring strength and vitality of religion in contemporary British society, challenging the view that the popular religious culture of the era was wholly dependent upon the presence and activities of women.

    Students of British history, military history, and religion will all find this an insightful resource for their studies.

    Contents

    1. Religion, the Soldier and the Rise of Methodism, 1702-1793 2. The soldier and Society, 1793-1914 3. The Churches and the Soldier, 1793-1914 4. The Soldier and the Churches, 1793-1914 5. Religion and the British Military Experience, 1793-1914

    Author Bio

    Michael Snape is Lecturer in Modern History at the Unviersity of Birmingham and a member of the University of Birmingham's Centre for First World War Studies. He is author of The Redcoat and Religion: The British Soldier from the Age of Marlborough to the Eve of the First World War (Routledge, 2005) and The Church of England in Industrialising Society (2003).

    Name: The Redcoat and Religion: The Forgotten History of the British Soldier from the Age of Marlborough to the Eve of the First World War (Paperback) – Routledge 
    Description: By Michael Snape. This compelling study presents the most comprehensive examination available of the role of religion in the army during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Through extensive analysis of official military sources, religious publications and personal...
    Categories: British History, Modern History 1750-1945, Religious History