By Isle of Wight Observer
The Isle of Wight Observer published on October 14th, 1899, gave a round-up of some stories from the national publications. The editor reproduced the following extract from The Sketch, a weekly society magazine published by the Illustrated London News. It tells how ‘a malingering’ soldier tried – and failed – to get out of going to church on Sunday when he came up against a senior office who very quickly saw through his ruse.
Here and there, as the Sketch remarks, a Jewish Tommy Atkins is found in the ranks, but they are few and far between. Every facility is given them to attend a synagogue when there is one within reach. There are not many synagogues in country quarters, and occasionally a Christian private has professed to be a Jew in order to escape church parade. One of these malingerers came up before a Colonel of the old-fashioned sort to announce his change of religion. “H’m!” said the Colonel; “you are a Jew now, are you?” and the man assented. “There is no synagogue nearer than London?” And the man said contentedly that such was the case. “Well,” the Colonel went on, “I am sorry for that. The Queen’s Regulations lay down that her soldiers must attend some place of worship. You shall have your choice. You shall go with the Methodists at 7 a.m., with the Catholics at eleven, and to the Church of England in the afternoon.” It only took one Sunday to reconvert that private.