Religion and the military has been the subject of a welcome recent spate of studies, highlighting an often forgotten dimension of military history. A number of these studies have concerned chaplaincy in British and Commonwealth armies and navies. Richard Blake's Religion in the British Navy assumes a broader perspective, exploring religious expression within the navy as a whole, and acts as a sequel to his earlier Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775–1815: blue lights and Psalm-singers (Woodbridge 2008). While it deals with the less dramatic, largely peacetime, era of Victorian naval history, the period provides more material for discussion, being one where overt religiosity was probably at its peak. While the title of this volume does not identify a particular focus on Evangelicalism, it follows in the footsteps of its predecessor in paying special attention to the development and impact of Evangelical influences in the Royal Navy during the sixty-odd years after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Blake divides his work into three sections, preceded by an introduction that effectively summarises the character of Evangelicalism and the impact that it had had on the Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Part i, ‘Surviving and Spreading’, explores the years 1815–49, perhaps the most difficult in terms of Christian ministry to and in the Royal Navy. Blake documents the problems in a navy shrinking rapidly into a peacetime establishment, but notes how religious influences filtered through from the merchant navy and from lay ministries established ashore, run by ex-Royal Navy men whose sea service gave them credibility with sailors. These private ventures grew to encompass more than just strictly spiritual services, also engaging in a host of related charitable work. During this time, the official influence of Evangelical Christianity was at low ebb, with many leading supporters either retired or unemployed. But Blake argues for a continuing presence, promoted against official fears over ‘enthusiasm’ in religion which might manifest itself in unsanctioned religious activities such as prayer meetings and Bible studies run by passionate laymen, both officers and sailors. He identifies a network of navy professionals, Evangelical organisations and influential patrons ashore, whose collaborative work maximised the impact of religion over the coming decades.
The second part, ‘Mid-Century Tendencies’, explores five ways in which an Evangelical influence became central to the navy. The first identifies the way in which Evangelicalism interacted with developing ideas about authority, rank, discipline and punishment. Blake argues that Evangelical commanders had powerful spiritual influences on their methods of command, and their enlightened and humane command created ships in which obedience owed more to loyalty than compulsion.
Perhaps the greatest force propelling the navy to heightened religious sensitivity was the recognition that religion, far from undermining the martial qualities of a sailor, vastly improved them. Blake shows how even non-religious naval officials understood that a navy that was more moral would also be more efficient. This period saw effective measures on board and ashore to reduce alcoholism and venereal disease, particularly through wholesome shore-based facilities and more humane provisions for family leave, although the reformers also faced accusations of wowserism. Growing professionalism and improved career paths ensured that the navy increasingly became a skilled and respectable career for the family man, and along with that came a more middle-class respect for religion. The growing interest in religion drew the established Church into naval affairs, and a chapter examines the roles of chaplains in providing regular religious services as well as education for the boys, and general counselling and moral guidance. It also examines the degree of inter-denominational cooperation. Chaplaincy became better regulated and a system of accountability improved the quality of chaplains on board.
The final part, ‘Naval Piety's Global Reach’, identifies the impact of the navy on the world through its overt and covert support for missionary activity and also through its work in exploration and mapping, especially in Arctic waters, and in ensuring safe naval commerce for ships of all flags, thus projecting Britain's Protestant imperial reach around the world, halting evils such as the slave trade and piracy while simultaneously expanding the evil of the opium trade. Blake explores the moral ambiguity of Evangelical officers enforcing morally ambiguous or evil policies and the tensions which might exist in men who followed both a profession of arms and the Prince of Peace.
The book offers an insight into the influence of Evangelical religion on the Victorian navy, an influence which might otherwise pass entirely unnoticed. By connecting the moral and religious character of Victorian Britain with its primary source of power, Blake has enabled us to understand how religion came to be central to the story of the mid nineteenth-century Royal Navy. There are weaknesses in the book: at times the examples selected to illustrate points have been drawn from the same few officers, and one has to project that these were somehow representative of a larger influence. A fuller exploration of the relationship between the professionalisation of the navy and its improved moral standards, situating this in a discussion of the evolution of Victorian-era public morality, would have contextualised the argument better. The glossary at the end occasionally overlooks some terms that could be useful to the reader, such as Tractarianism. A minor annoyance for this reviewer was the extensive use of rhetorical questions, a stylistic feature that may not bother other readers.
However, Blake is careful not to overstate his case, treading with caution at various points when considering the impact of religion on the navy, and scrupulously flagging other points where the evidence is too thin to draw definitive conclusions. He has highlighted areas where further investigation could shed more light. This is a valuable extension of recent studies which have tended to focus on the more glamorous periods of military history. The Victorian navy may not make for a best-seller, but this invaluable study of religious influences sheds light not just on the development of the Royal Navy but also on Victorian Britain.
