Login
Login

Tommy Atkins

{{Short description|Nickname for a British soldier}}

{{For|other uses of the name Tom, Tommy or Thomas Atkins|Tommy Atkins (disambiguation)}}

{{Distinguish|Tommy Adkins}}

File:Royal Irish Rifles ration party Somme July 1916.jpg in the Battle of the Somme's trenches during the First World War.]]

Tommy Atkins (often just Tommy) is slang for a common soldier in the British Army.[https://rbli.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Who-is-Tommy.pdf Who is Tommy? Where does the term ‘Tommy’ come from?], rbli.co.uk, Retrieved 2024-01-25 It was well established during the nineteenth century, but is particularly associated with the First World War. It can be used as a term of reference, or as a form of address. German soldiers would call out to "Tommy" across no man's land if they wished to speak to a British soldier. French and Commonwealth troops would also call British soldiers "Tommies". In more recent times, the term Tommy Atkins has been used less frequently, although the name "Tom" is occasionally still heard; private soldiers in the British Army's Parachute Regiment are still referred to as "Toms".

Etymology

File:The German Spring Offensive, March-july 1918 Q6536.jpg, seated with a large doll in his arms, taken during the German offensive in Lys, 13 April 1918.]]

Tommy Atkins or Thomas Atkins has been used as a generic name for a common British soldier for many years. The origin of the term is a subject of debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. A letter sent from Jamaica about a mutiny amongst the troops says "except for those from N. America ye Marines and Tommy Atkins behaved splendidly".Laffin, John (2003). Tommy Atkins: The Story of the English Soldier, The History Press Ltd. p. vii. {{ISBN|0-75-093480-8}}. Quoted from Soldier Magazine, April 1949.{{Cite web |url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1262 |title=Why were English soldiers called 'Tommy Atkins' or 'Tommy'? |author=Imperial War Museum |author-link=Imperial War Museum |access-date=4 April 2013 |work=archive.iwm.org.uk}}

A common belief is that the name was chosen by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, having been inspired by the bravery of a soldier at the Battle of Boxtel in 1794 during the Flanders Campaign. After a fierce engagement, the Duke, in command of the 33rd Regiment of Foot, purportedly spotted the best man-at-arms in the regiment, Private Thomas Atkins, terribly wounded. The private said, "It's all right, sir. It's all in a day's work," and died shortly after.[http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-British-Tommy-Tommy-Atkins/ Johnson, Ben. "The British Tommy, Tommy Atkins", Historic UK] According to the Imperial War Museum, this theory has Wellesley choosing the name in 1843.

According to J. H. Leslie, writing in Notes and Queries in 1912, "Tommy Atkins" was chosen as a generic name by the War Office in 1815, in every sample infantry form in the Soldiers Account Book, signing with a mark. The Cavalry form had Trumpeter William Jones and Sergeant John Thomas, though they did not use a mark. Leslie observes the same name in the 1837 King's Regulations, pages 204 and 210, and later editions. Leslie comments that this disproves the anecdote about the Duke of Wellington selecting the name in 1843.{{Cite journal|journal=Notes and Queries|author=J. H. Leslie|title=Thomas Atkins|date=24 February 1912|issue=113|page=146|doi=10.1093/nq/s11-V.113.146a}}

Richard Holmes, in the prologue to his 2005 book, Tommy, states that:

{{quote|Atkins became a sergeant in the 1837 version, and was now able to sign his name rather than merely make his mark.{{cite book| author = Richard Holmes| title = Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914–1918| year = 2005| publisher = Harper Perennial| isbn = 0-00-713752-4| pages = [https://archive.org/details/tommybritishsold0000holm/page/ xv]| url = https://archive.org/details/tommybritishsold0000holm/page/}}}}

The Oxford English Dictionary states its origin as "arising out of the casual use of this name in the specimen forms given in the official regulations from 1815 onward"; the citation references Collection of Orders, Regulations, etc., pp. 75–87, published by the War Office, 31 August 1815. The name is used for an exemplary cavalry and infantry soldier; other names used included William Jones and John Thomas. Thomas Atkins continued to be used in the Soldier's Account Book until the early 20th century.Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925) [https://books.google.com/books?id=U_o3AQAAIAAJ&q=%22Tommy+Atkins%22 Soldier and sailor words and phrases; including slang of the trenches and the air force; British and American war-words and service terms and expressions in every-day use; nicknames, sobriquets, and titles of regiments, with their origins; the battle-honours of the Great War awarded to the British Army] Routledge, London (p. 287)

A further suggestion was given in 1900 by an army chaplain named Reverend E. J. Hardy.{{cite web | url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/british-tommies.html | title=Why Were British Soldiers Nicknamed 'Tommies' During the Great War? | date=3 February 2023 }} He wrote of an incident during the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. When most of the Europeans in Lucknow were fleeing to the British Residency for protection, a private of the 32nd Regiment of Foot remained on duty at an outpost. Despite the pleas of his comrades, he insisted that he must remain at his post. He was killed at his post, and the Reverend Hardy wrote that "His name happened to be Tommy Atkins and so, throughout the Mutiny Campaign, when a daring deed was done, the doer was said to be 'a regular Tommy Atkins'".{{cite web | url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-i/british-tommies.html | title=Why Were British Soldiers Nicknamed 'Tommies' During the Great War? | date=3 February 2023 }}

Popular references

File:1894 Private Tommy Atkins composed by Samuel Potter (1851-1934) and Henry Hamilton (c1854-1918).jpg

Rudyard Kipling published the poem "Tommy" (part of the Barrack-Room Ballads, which were dedicated "To T.A.") in 1892. In reply, William McGonagall wrote "Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins" in 1898, which was an attack on what McGonagall saw as the disparaging portrayal of Tommy in Kipling's poem.

In 1893, for the musical play A Gaiety Girl, Henry Hamilton (lyrics) and Samuel Potter (music) wrote the song Private Tommy Atkins for the baritone C. Hayden Coffin. It was immediately published by Willcocks & Co. Ltd. in London{{cite news |title=New Military Song |work=Volunteer Service Gazette |date=4 November 1893 |access-date=20 March 2018 | url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001104/18931104/077/0011 |at=P. 11 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} and published by T. B. Harms & Co. in New York the next year.{{cite web |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-06cd-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |title=(notated music) Private Tommy Atkins, (1894 - 1894) |author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |access-date=8 April 2018 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lennox, and Tilden Foundation}} The song was also reintroduced into later performances of San Toy for Hayden Coffin. He recalled singing it on Ladysmith Night (1 March 1900) where "the audience were roused to such a pitch of enthusiasm, that they rose to their feet, and commenced to shower money on to the stage".{{cite news |title=Mr Hayden-Coffin interviewed |work=The Bristol Magpie |date=8 March 1906 |access-date=8 April 2018 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002146/19060308/022/0006 |at=P. 6| via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}

In the children's fantasy novel The Indian in the Cupboard (1980) by Lynne Reid Banks, toy soldiers representing various historical wars are brought to life by magic. One is a World War I medic who says his name is Tommy Atkins. Steve Coogan plays this character in the 1995 film adaptation.

"Tommy cooker" was a nickname for a British soldier's portable stove.Weeks, Alan (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=0Xuznbi4P28C&dq=Tommy+cooker&pg=PT30 Tea, Rum and Fags: Sustaining Tommy 1914–18], The History Press (Chapter 6)

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Wikisource-multi|Tommy|Private Tommy Atkins|Lines in Praise of Tommy Atkins}}

  • [http://tommy-atkins.org.uk/ Tommy Atkins Society] British Second World War Reenactment Society in the UK, and winner of the Best Display Award at the Victory Show 2007 sponsored by the Armchair General Magazine
  • "[http://www.cuteybunny.com/Comix/Tommy1a.html The last time I saw Tommy]", illustrated poem by Joshua Quagmire
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20160315015306/http://www.thelasttommy.com/ The Last Tommy]—a campaign to mark the passing of the last First World War Tommy with a state funeral.
  • {{Cite web |url=http://archive.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.1262 |title=Why were English soldiers called 'Tommy Atkins' or 'Tommy'? |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=4 April 2013}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Tommy}}

Category:History of the British Army

Category:Military slang and jargon

Category:Placeholder names