This wiki has been automatically Tommy Atkins or simply Tommy is a generic name for, and has become synonymous with, that of a common soldier in the British Army, particularly during the First World War. From the 1925 edition of Soldier and Sailor Word and Phrases by Edward Fraser and John Gibbons, Tommy Atkins is:
- “The popular generic name for the British private soldier. In its origin the name dates from August 1815 (Waterloo year), when the War Office issued the first "Solider's Account Book," which every solider was provided with. The specimen form sent out with the book to show how details should be filled in, bore at the place where a man's signature was required the hypothetical name "Thomas Atkins" (or, alternatively, for illiterate men "Thomas Atkins X his mark"). "Thomas Atkins" continued to appear in later editions of the Soldier's Account Book until comparatively recent times. It has now disappeared. A more or less current Service slang name from about 1830, the general popularity of the name "Tommy" for a soldier dates from about fifty years ago[1] Mr. Kipling's verses finally familiarized it all over the English-speaking world.” [2]
References / notes
- ↑ At the time the book was compiled this would suggest the name had become popular by 1875.
- ↑ Edward Fraser and John Gibbons (1925). Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases. Routledge, London p.287.
The above term is listed in our Compendium of the Great War.
This compendium forms the central hub of words, phrases, people, and places relative to the Great War period of 1914–1918. These also include battles, political events, ships, trench slang, British and American service terms and expressions in everyday use, nicknames, sobriquets, the titles of British and Commonwealth Regiments and their origins, and also warfare in general. These words and phrases are contemporary with the war, which is reflected in the language used, some of which may seem derogatory by today's standards. Feel free to expand upon and improve this content.