The Flashman Papers: Culture and Travel Context

Harry Flashman is a fictional character in a series of comic historical novels and short stories by George MacDonald Fraser. The character first appears as a bully in Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays; toward the end of that novel he is expelled from Rugby school at 17 for drunkenness. Fraser takes up the tale from there, having him join the army.

Flashman participates in all of Britain's major wars of the late 19th century, plus other conflicts. The military history is generally quite accurate, except for having Flashy inserted. The tales are written in the first person, with Fraser claiming to be just Flashman's editor. All the books have extensive "editor's notes" giving historical background, and some have appendices for longer background essays. Important characters like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi have biographies as appendices.

Flashman is a thoroughly despicable character; Fraser describes him as "a scoundrel, a drunk, a liar, a cheat [and] a braggart" and "an unrepentant old cad". He is a rake who pursues women from prostitute to princess, a bully who thoroughly enjoys beating servants, and distinctly racist. Worst of all for a military officer, he is an utter coward. Despite that, through a combination of luck and knavery, he comes out of each adventure looking like a hero. He ends up as General Sir Harry Flashman with medals from many countries, including the highest that Britain, the US and France give: the Victoria Cross, the Medal of Honor and the Légion d'honneur.

Flashy claims his only talents are with languages, horses and women. His language skills get him sent into various places as a spy or diplomat, then political and sexual complications usually get him into trouble. The tales are hilarious and definitely bawdy, though never even close to pornographic.

Avoid reading Flashman if you will be offended by his attitudes, which are an exceedingly long way from politically correct by current standards. Almost any 19th century colonial soldier would have ideas some would find offensive today, but the cynical, lecherous scoundrel Flashy is downright outrageous.

Trying to follow Flashman's routes today would be largely impractical since his adventures take him to so many places. However, his tales are worth considering as background reading if you are going to some of those places, especially the battlefields.

1 Retreat from Kabul. This was the worst defeat Britain suffered during Victoria's reign, perhaps their worst ever, as their forces tried to withdraw from Kabul to Jalalabad. At least 16 thousand started on the retreat (4,500 fighting troops plus support troops, families, servants, etc.) and in the usual histories only one man made it out alive. In the novel, Flashy also gets out and he has some scathing comments on the bungling generals.

2 Piper's Fort. Flashy gained a heroic reputation as the only survivor of the defense of Piper's Fort, just outside Jalalabad. He was found wounded and unconscious with the Union Jack in his hands; only he knew he'd been trying to surrender.

Royal Flash (1842-43 and 1848-49). Flash is forced by Bismarck and his henchmen to impersonate a Prince and marry a Princess. This is the only Flashman novel that has been made into a movie.

The real conflict this was based on was the Schleswig Holstein question, a complex dispute between Germany and Denmark.

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Source and licence

Text adapted from The Flashman Papers by Wikivoyage contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.