ABSTRACT
This case of a soldier charged with being absent without leave can be found in the Guards’ rare but important records of the lower level of the military justice system. (For a more detailed analysis of the significance of these regimental courts martial records, see the description that accompanies a selection of cases from the Grenadier Guards collection in Part I , Experiences of Courtship and Marriage, p. 15.) The following case details the entanglement of a soldier’s mother in a common scenario for soldiers who found themselves charged with crimes in civilian courts. They left their regiments so that they could not be found when parish officials tried to make them accountable for offences against the local people among whom they were quartered. The army appears to have been receptive to this, visible not only in the recommendation of mercy seen here, but in other records as well. The latter show wives negotiating with officers to excuse their husbands from duty until the risk of arrest by local civilian authorities had passed. 1 Though a member of the more advantageous First Regiment of Foot Guards, Thomas Parker seems to have expected his mother to provide him with financial assistance, and this source is further demonstration of soldiers’ poor economic situation, and its impact on their families. It also hints at the way in which the popularity of drink among the soldiery could take a toll on kin like Mrs Parker.
