A private in the Royal Scots Fusileers, aged 17, was charged with
murdering a bugler boy, aged 16, in his regiment. The private became
mad drunk in the camp canteen, went back to his hut, locked himself
in and fired two shots, one of which entered another hut and killed
the bugler. “Was there no one with power to say how much drink
should be given?” asked the judge, and an officer said there was no
one. “Then it was high time power was given to the commanding
officer,” said the judge. “Was there to be no restraining hand to
prevent young boys from fuddling themselves in canteens?”
_Facts in the “Times,” November 21, 1916_
An old man sat in a tram in great distress. He had lost his boy at
the Front. When he joined the Army he had never tasted alcohol, but
when he came home on leave to see his mother he was drunk every
night. He was drunk the night he went away, and in three days he was
dead. “The last we saw of him,” said the poor old man between his
sobs, “was his going away drunk, and his mother, who is
old-fashioned in her faith, cannot get it out of her mind that no
drunkard can enter the Kingdom of God.”
_Facts told by Dr. Norman Maclean_
Many young officers, called upon to share the wine bill at mess,
naturally say, “If I have to pay I may as well drink my share,” and
one man accounted for ten glasses of champagne. On a Guest night in
his mess several more “were under the table.”
_Facts in “Dublin Daily Express,” April 1916._
A boy got his V.C., and came home wounded. The publican in his
street sounded his praises in the taproom, where they subscribed to
the bar for 120 pints for him when he arrived. He came home and
began to drink it, and was nearly dead with it before he was
rescued.
_Facts related by Bishop of Lincoln_
When the Scottish Horse Brigade were at Perth whisky was literally
forced down the men, and they were inundated with floods of bad
women.
_Brigadier-General Lord Tullibardine_
A teetotal household had two boys in an officers’ training camp, and
they gave pitiable accounts of drinking. Boys from school had a
drunken sergeant put over them, and a canteen in the midst of them.
“Our boys never saw drink before,” one father wrote.
_From a letter to Dr. Norman Maclean_
A boy of 17, discharged from the Navy, spent 8_s._ one night on beer
and rum, and created a disturbance in a workshop at Sheffield.
_Facts in “Sheffield Star,” November 11, 1916_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account