General Information | Officers' Mess

The boiled meat in the army was infamous. It was given the nickname Harriet Lane, this being the name of a woman hacked to pieces by a notorious murderer, Henry Wainwright.

Two kitchens were provided to cook for the 327 soldiers and one large kitchen and two smaller ones to cook for the 11 officers.

Bread was an important part of a soldier's diet. Each soldier was issued as much as 1.5 lb. per day, along with ¾ lb. of meat and 1 lb. of potatoes, ¹/₃ oz. coffee. ¹/₆ oz. tea, 2 oz. sugar, ½ oz. salt and ¹/₃₆ oz. pepper. If a soldier wanted vegetables he would have to buy them or grow them. Detachments were often given permission for garden plots.

A soldier's wife, on the strength of the regiment, received half of these rations and children under the age of 14 received a quarter of these.

After 1857, an extra 3½ pence per man was allotted for extras, such as coffee, spices, butter, cheese, biscuits and vegetables. Since cooking space was limited, food was usually combined into basic stews or soup.

The rotating task of being the company's cook was undertaken by the single men, who would begin after the evening meal on Saturday and continue for one week.

They would have an assistant. Other than the cooking (or more appropriately "boiling"), duties included cleaning of equipment and cookhouse, issue of meat and accompanying the Mess Corporal for grocery purchases. Often the soldiers knew little about cooking and the food was often not of very good quality.

"It takes a great deal of dirt to poison sogers." — Soldier, 1860.

Huge ovens were built to cope with the amounts of bread required daily by the garrison. They were eight and a half feet long and six feet wide. Each of them could hold 120 loaves. The flour used was whole wheat.

Soldiers did not starve but they did not grow fat either: "When a man entered a soldier's life he should have parted with half his stomach."

Soldiers were also given a ration of alcohol, as the British Army considered it essential to the morale of the men. Soldiers were allowed to buy alcohol, but they were not permitted to keep it in the barracks. Soldiers could afford little luxuries in their sparse life in the garrison. Alcohol, because it was relatively cheap, accessible and its effects were instantly gratifying, became a significant part of a soldier's life. It also led to many problems (see Health).

Next Page: Officers' Mess..

HOME | BACK TO TOP