Sadomasochistic training for the future soldiers of the British Empire: Stalky & Co.

Abstract

As you are aware, India had been the backbone to the British Empire. To rule such a nation as
India, there was a necessity of preparing efficient English soldiers on the part of Britain. United
Services College was one of the academic institutions in England which was established to train
boys as efficient soldiers to defend the British Empire. Rudyard Kipling was a student of USC
between 1878 and 1882. Stalky & Co. (1899) is a work written by Kipling based on his experiences
at the USC as a student. In this work, students seem to be trained rather sadomasochistically. They
needed to be trained that way to handle the masses of India capably. One of the leading characters
in Stalky & Co. is found to be using skills acquired at USC in real life as an English soldier in
India. His job is to see that Indians fight among themselves but not against Britain. It is detectable
in the tale “Slaves of the Lamp (Part II)” from Stalky & Co.. Before we look into the actual content
of this article, it could be good for us to know about the conditions prevailed at the United Services
College during 1880s.