Home and Away

The experience of war is never confined to those who participate militarily: whilst soldiers defend their homes or fight far from them, the consequences of warfare ripple out across their immediate families and communities, and the lives of countless civilians the combatants will never meet. In the seventeenth century, as in any era, soldiers’ wives and children could become destitute or endangered in the absence of their menfolk, and many sought refuge elsewhere or followed the army on its travels. Meanwhile complex military and administrative machines were created to arm, feed and clothe the combatants, and to maintain distant territories – frequently by force. The speakers at Helion’s third ‘Century of the Soldier’ conference focussed on a variety of subjects, relating to both personal experiences of warfare, in distant conflicts and by domestic hearths, and the Herculean efforts required to keep conflict going.

Keynote speaker Professor Peter Gaunt explores what is arguably the most gruelling and uncertain aspect of warfare, besides battle itself: the necessity of travel, often for great distances and to unfamiliar or even hostile places. Simon Marsh examines the destruction of the Earl of Essex’s army at Lostwithiel in 1644, and the logistics behind its restoration in a matter of weeks; Rachael Abbiss takes us to the Indian War of 1688, where Britain’s colonies in North America permanently required armed defence and a vast cross-ocean administration. Stephen Ede-Borrett examines the phenomenon of “deserters’ notices” in the London Gazette in the 1680s, and the attempts of army commanders to retrieve missing recruits; Laurence Spring looks at the often gruelling experiences of the soldiers’ wives in Britain and Europe, both those who stayed at home, and those who followed their menfolk. Alan Turton brings together a range of contemporary and archaeological sources to give a detailed account of the thrice-besieged Basing House; the life and largely military-themed works of prodigious Bohemian sketcher and engraver Wenceslaus Hollar are examined in detail by David Flintham. Finally, Jon Day takes us to late 1640s Ireland with an account of how Colonel Michael Jones was instrumental in crushing the Royalist cause there, prior to the arrival of Oliver Cromwell.