Recruiting Redcoats

Professor Kevin Linch joins us again for what is Act 1 covering all things rank and file recruitment, join us as we uncover the truth behind 'Sharpe's Regiment'. Professor Linch is a Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds. He specialises in the history of Britain in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing on the history of Britain's armed forces and their relationship to wider political, social, and cultural trends. He is the author of the recently published, Templar Prize winning ⁠Pen and Sword Books: The British Army, 1783–1815 - Hardback⁠ and ⁠Britain and Wellington's Army: Recruitment, Society and Tradition, 1807-15 | SpringerLink⁠. Working with Dr Simon Quinn, he has also recently launched an online database of British Army Officers, available at ⁠georgianarmyofficers.org⁠. We discuss the men behind the thin red line and how they came to be one of the greatest fighting forces that Britain has ever deployed. We'll be covering recruiting parties, local identities, basic training and so much more.