Bombardier
20-02-04, 18:31
Why "TOMMY ATKINS"?
The origins of the term "Tommy Atkins" as a nickname for the British (or rather English) soldier are still nebulous and indeed disputed. A widely held theory is that the Duke of Wellington himself chose the name in 1843.
Lt. General Sir William MacArthur however, in an article in the Army Medical Services Magazine, says that the War Office chose the name "Tommy Atkins" as a representative name in 1815. Specimen forms of the "Soldier's Book" issued for both the cavalry and infantry in that year, bore against the space for the soldier's signature; "Tommy Atkins, his X mark". With the improvement of education 'his X mark' was dropped.
The phrase "Tommy Atkins" however was used before 1815. Just over a quarter of a century before the Duke of Wellington was born, in 1743 a letter sent from Jamaica referring to a mutiny among hired soldiery there said "except for those from N. America (mostly Irish Papists) ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly". At about the same time the English soldier was also nicknamed 'Thomas Lobster', because of his red uniform coat.
The Duke of Wellington's use of the expression is said to have been inspired by an incident during the Battle of Boxtel (Holland) against the French on September 1794. Wellington, (then Arthur Wellesley), led the 33rd Regiment of Foot, and at the end of the engagement Wellesley spotted among the wounded the right-hand-man of the Grenadier Company, a man of 6 ft 3 inches with twenty years' service. He was dying of three wounds - a sabre slash in the head, a bayonet thrust in the breast, and a bullet through the lungs. He looked up at Wellesley and apparently thought his commander was concerned, because he said, "It's alright sir. It's all in a day's work", and then died.
The man's name was Private Thomas Atkins, and his heroism is said to have left such an impression on Wellington, that when he was Commander in Chief of the British Army he recalled the name and used it as a specimen on a new set of soldiers' documents sent to him at Walmer Castle for approval.
Another version, given in 1900 by an army chaplain Rev E J Hardy, tells of an incident during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. When the rebellion broke out at Lucknow, all Europeans fled to the Residency for protection. On their way they met a private of the 32nd Regiment of Foot on duty at an outpost. They urged him to join them, but he said he must remain at his post, where he was killed. "His name happened to be Tommy Atkins", wrote Rev Hardy, "and so, throughout the Mutiny Campaign, when a daring deed was done, the doer was said to be 'a regular Tommy Atkins'".
The poem "TOMMY" of Rudyard Kipling helped to popularise the name throughout the quarter of the Nineteenth Century and especially during the Boer War, 1899-1902. Thus, by the outbreak of the First World War "Tommy Atkins" or "Tommy" was the almost universal nickname for an English soldier, ("Jack Tar" for a sailor): The troops during the war rather despised the name and only used the term derisively or when imitating the style of jingoistic newspaper like "John Bull" or a patriotic and charitable old lady.
It was used however, by troops from Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and also by the French and Germans.
The origins of the term "Tommy Atkins" as a nickname for the British (or rather English) soldier are still nebulous and indeed disputed. A widely held theory is that the Duke of Wellington himself chose the name in 1843.
Lt. General Sir William MacArthur however, in an article in the Army Medical Services Magazine, says that the War Office chose the name "Tommy Atkins" as a representative name in 1815. Specimen forms of the "Soldier's Book" issued for both the cavalry and infantry in that year, bore against the space for the soldier's signature; "Tommy Atkins, his X mark". With the improvement of education 'his X mark' was dropped.
The phrase "Tommy Atkins" however was used before 1815. Just over a quarter of a century before the Duke of Wellington was born, in 1743 a letter sent from Jamaica referring to a mutiny among hired soldiery there said "except for those from N. America (mostly Irish Papists) ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly". At about the same time the English soldier was also nicknamed 'Thomas Lobster', because of his red uniform coat.
The Duke of Wellington's use of the expression is said to have been inspired by an incident during the Battle of Boxtel (Holland) against the French on September 1794. Wellington, (then Arthur Wellesley), led the 33rd Regiment of Foot, and at the end of the engagement Wellesley spotted among the wounded the right-hand-man of the Grenadier Company, a man of 6 ft 3 inches with twenty years' service. He was dying of three wounds - a sabre slash in the head, a bayonet thrust in the breast, and a bullet through the lungs. He looked up at Wellesley and apparently thought his commander was concerned, because he said, "It's alright sir. It's all in a day's work", and then died.
The man's name was Private Thomas Atkins, and his heroism is said to have left such an impression on Wellington, that when he was Commander in Chief of the British Army he recalled the name and used it as a specimen on a new set of soldiers' documents sent to him at Walmer Castle for approval.
Another version, given in 1900 by an army chaplain Rev E J Hardy, tells of an incident during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. When the rebellion broke out at Lucknow, all Europeans fled to the Residency for protection. On their way they met a private of the 32nd Regiment of Foot on duty at an outpost. They urged him to join them, but he said he must remain at his post, where he was killed. "His name happened to be Tommy Atkins", wrote Rev Hardy, "and so, throughout the Mutiny Campaign, when a daring deed was done, the doer was said to be 'a regular Tommy Atkins'".
The poem "TOMMY" of Rudyard Kipling helped to popularise the name throughout the quarter of the Nineteenth Century and especially during the Boer War, 1899-1902. Thus, by the outbreak of the First World War "Tommy Atkins" or "Tommy" was the almost universal nickname for an English soldier, ("Jack Tar" for a sailor): The troops during the war rather despised the name and only used the term derisively or when imitating the style of jingoistic newspaper like "John Bull" or a patriotic and charitable old lady.
It was used however, by troops from Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and also by the French and Germans.