The Article 5 Project

PLEASE NOTE: THE RESEARCH GROUP "MUSIC, CONFLICT AND THE STATE" WILL BE DISBANDED IN ITS PRESENT FORM IN APRIL 2014 AND THESE PAGES WILL NOT BE MAINTAINED AFTER THIS POINT.


The image that we have chosen to represent the Article 5 project on our website was first published alongside an article entitled “Hey for the life of a soldier”, which appeared on the first page of the Chartist movement paper The Northern Star in 1838.



The Chartist movement was one of the most important movements for social reform in nineteenth century Britain. The article in question highlights the movement’s concerns regarding the flogging of soldiers and sailors as a disciplinary measure in the British armed forces at that time. The newspaper has recently been digitalized by the Nineteenth Century Serials Edition project, and you can read the full article and view the full image via their website at http://www.ncse.ac.uk

This image is one of only several that makes clear how flogging and other methods of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment in use at this time were staged as public events, during which military musicians - often very young soldiers, as the image also shows - also had their part to play. The longer history of the connection between music, torture and CID punishment is an integral part of the Article 5 project.

The drummer boy as icon
Article 5 project - Main page