ABSTRACT
The appeals which have been made on behalf of the widows and orphans of the soldiers who fell at the gallant defence of Rorke’s Drift will, we trust, direct the attention of the country to the fact that no regulations exist which make any grant whatever to the families of those of the non-commissioned ranks of the Army killed in action, notwithstanding that officers are admittedly unable to live on their pay, much less to support a wife and children upon it. The pension rules for the commissioned ranks are framed in no illiberal spirit. The pension for widows and orphans is not of great amount, but it is sufficient for bare maintenance, and the family of an officer dying in the Service—or indeed out of it, for retirement on half-pay does not forfeit pension rights—need never come to want the necessaries of life. With the men, however, the case is different. If a soldier marries with leave, his wife is placed on the married roll of his regiment, and she and her children enjoy certain privileges which enable them to live in comparative comfort. If the wife is a steady and industrious woman, she may by various means—washing, dressmaking, and such occupations—add considerably to her husband’s income, and enable him to put something by in the regimental savings bank. When, however, he dies, his widow’s position becomes by no means enviable. She, of course, cannot be permanently retained on the married roll of the regiment; but, as a concession, if the corps is abroad she is allowed, if she desires it, to remain six months before she is shipped home. But she has to make a fresh start in life on leaving the regiment, and it is not, we fear, very often that it proves successful. The alternative is to marry again into the corps within the six months’ grace allowed, and in India widows have no difficulty, as a rule, in finding non-commissioned officers entitled to be placed on the married roll ready to take them for better or for worse. Nor do these marriages de convénance turn out badly. Both husband and wife are well acquainted before they enter the married state, and if therefore they find themselves unsuited to each other, they only have themselves to blame. Soldiers marrying without leave, however, can do little towards the support of their families. When a man’s marriage is discovered, a certain portion of his pay may be deducted and handed over to his wife, but it amounts to but a few pence a-day, and the woman has practically to support herself and her children. When, however, the soldier dies, the Government washes its hands of all responsibility with regard to his widow, whether he may have been married with leave or without. With the exception of the six months’ grace to which we have referred, the authorities refuse to recognise the existence of these poor women, and appeals for assistance are invariably met with the reply that Parliament has voted no money out of which they might be relieved. The result is that women who have held most respectable positions—for it is those on the married roll who are the greater sufferers by the regulations—are suddenly deprived, not only of their supporter, but of the means of supporting themselves, and are reduced consequently to the greatest poverty. The authorities justify themselves by declaring that to institute a system of widows’ pensions for the non-commissioned ranks would be very expensive, and that Parliament would not sanction the increase to the Army Estimates which granting such pensions would entail. It is argued, and not unreasonably, that soldiers are or should be acquainted with the conditions of the Service when they enlist, and that if they choose to marry they must not look to the country to provide for their families. When, however, the soldier is killed in action or dies on active service, his widow stands in a different position. Her moral claim on the country for assistance is indubitable, and this has always been admitted by the readiness with which money has been forthcoming from private sources for the relief of the families of men killed in war. Notwithstanding, however, the large sums which have been collected, private charity has not been sufficient to meet the just demands on the country of the widows and orphans. The Patriotic Fund, for instance, though it reached a very substantial sum, could only partially fulfil the objects for which it was established, and the money in hand is barely sufficient to meet the claims of the widows and orphans of the men who served in the Crimea. That it should be made available for the families of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift was therefore out of the question, and the public have been called upon once more to subscribe to save the national honour from disgrace.
