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How did the British recruit enough men to keep up with the demands of the…
How did the British recruit enough men to keep up with the demands of the French wars? (navy and army recruitment)
Press Gang
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The gangs would roam the streets looking for seafarers and once they found one, the seafarer knew his time was up and agreed to go with them.
There was the idea that press gangs bullied drunks or hit people over the head...this wasn't the case.
Most of the men were taken from merchant ships at sea however, it was the law that the men taken must be replaced immediately.
However, navy captains would take the best and most experienced sailor and replace him with a poor quality sailor.
To avoid this happening, merchant captains would drop their best sailors off in Ireland before returning to home waters.
The Recruiting Sergeant
Unlike the Navy, there was no unlawful way a man could be pressed into the army
The recruiting sergeant would use all manner of persuasion, including giving the man alcohol in order to get him to agree to join up and physically take the king's shilling.
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Criminal l Courts
Often a good source of new recruits as recruiting sergeants would offer to pay men's fines if they joined.
That fine would then be deducted from the recruit's pay and so soldiers who were criminals might not get paid for years.
Judges were happy to conspire with recruiting sergeants who removed the criminal from the local area.
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