BRAINS OR POLO? EQUESTRIAN SPORT, ARMY REFORM AND THE GENTLEMANLY OFFICER TRADITION, 1900-1914

Explores the role of equestrian sport in the gentlemanly officer tradition and describes the prolonged and ultimately futile attempts before 1914 to restrict it in the cause of a more diverse and meritocratic officer corps. In particular, the focus is on polo, a game introduced to the British army only in the later 19C, but which for its critics rapidly came to symbolise all that was wrong with the officer class. In the aftermath of the Boer war, polo was attacked as a major contributing factor in the extravagance that restricted commissioned ranks in the cavalry to those with substantial private incomes, and defended on the grounds that it promoted officer-like qualities and acted as a form of military training. The gentlemanly officer tradition remained alive and strong, particularly in the cavalry, right up to the First World War.