The New York Times, 11 February 1903

British Guards Scandal

Subalterns Compelled to Submit to Severe Floggings for Various Social and Military Offenses.

LONDON, Feb. 11. – A letter from Rear Admiral Basil Cochrane on the treatment of subalterns in the Guards regiments, which was published yesterday in The Times, is republished throughout the press this morning. It has created intense indignation. Demands are made for a full inquiry into the cases referred to, and for a suppression of such disgraceful practices which are held to operate powerfully in the direction of the exclusion of a class of officers which the country needs, and which it so rarely gets. The whole subject will be fully aired in Parliament. Rear Admiral Basil Cochrane in his letter made astounding revelations regarding the “barbarous system” prevailing among the Guards regiments for the punishment of subalterns who are found guilty of social or military offenses. According to Admiral Cochrane, the Colonel of one battalion has been in the habit of handing over offending officers to the senior subaltern; the latter summons a court-martial, at which the attendance of all the subalterns is exacted, and the sentence is almost invariably flogging. This is administered on the bare back after the removal of all the clothing, and from six to forty blows with a cane are given with such severity that the smaller number is sufficient to draw blood. All the officers present, even the most intimate friends of the victim, are compelled to administer their share of the blows. The Admiral cites the instance of a young officer who fainted after receiving forty strokes, and he also refers to the case of his own nephew, who is not named, but who clearly is Capt. Leveson-Gower, who for an unintentional military fault was tried and flogged. Subsequently, according to Admiral Cochrane, his nephew was punished with great severity by Major Gen. Oliphant, formerly commander of the Grenadier Guards, for a petty fault. In consequence of continued ill-treatment, he resigned his commission last week. When Lord Roberts, the Commander in Chief, was informed of these occurrences through relatives, he severely reprimanded Col Ricardo, commander of the Grenadier Guards, and placed Lieut. Col. Kinloch of the same regiment on half pay. Rear Admiral Cochrane, in an interview, declares that all his statements can be sworn to. “These floggings,” he says, “have been going on for years, and I hope and trust that this exposure will end them.”