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JACK TAR AND THE GENTLEMAN OFFICER: THE ROLE OF UNIFORM IN SHAPING THE CLASS- AND GENDER-RELATED IDENTITIES OF BRITISH NAVAL PERSONNEL, 1930–19391

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2003

Quintin Colville
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Abstract

Rather than examining the navy as a professional fightingorganisation, this essay approaches the institution as one in which a range ofmasculine identities and lifestyles were constructed. From this perspective, itsfocus is on the material culture of naval uniform, and the function of uniform indefining and communicating particular understandings of class and masculinity. Itdemonstrates that the respective uniforms of various ranks associated their wearerswith specific clusters of stereotyped socio-cultural qualities and characteristics,and indeed with substantially different incarnations of masculinity. The essay alsorelates the design of naval uniform to much wider class- and gender-related debateswithin British society during the period.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 13 , December 2003 , pp. 105 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society2003

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References

1 I would like to record my gratitude to my supervisors, John Styles and Professor Penny Sparke; to the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Institute of Historical Research for funding my doctoral research; and to the many retired servicemen from the HMS Ganges Association whose generous assistance made this work possible.