Celts under the Knife: Surgical Fortitude, Racial Theory and the British Army, 1800-1914

Abstract

The nineteenth century saw an extensive cult of the heroic fortitude of the British soldier in surgery. Tales of men laughing through unanaesthetised operations were endlessly repeated in newspapers, military memoirs, surgical literature and boy’s own stories. However, the identity of the “British soldier” was by no means obvious, since the British state itself was multi-ethnic. This paper considers thinking on the ‘natural’ martial qualities of ‘Celtic’ Scottish and Irish soldiers and how they were reflected in discussions of what behaviour could be expected in surgery, considering the impact of cultural explanations, racial theory and implicit political agendas.