White feather
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The single white feather as a symbol of cowardice derives from cockfighting and the belief that a cockerel sporting a white feather in its tail is likely to be a poor fighter. Pure-breed gamecocks don't show white feathers, so its presence indicates that the cockerel is an inferior cross-breed.
The symbol is particularly recognised within the British army and in countries associated with the British Empire since the 18th century.
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The Four Feathers
The book The Four Feathers was written by A. E. W. Mason and first published in 1902. It tells the story of the fictional character Harry Feversham, an officer in the British Army who decides to resign his commission on the eve that his regiment is dispatched to fight in Sudan (the 1882 First War of Sudan leading to the fall of Khartoum). Harry's three fellow officers and his fiancée conclude that he is resigning in order to avoid fighting in the conflict and each send him a white feather
Stung by the criticism, Harry decides to sail to Sudan, disguises himself as an Arab and looks for the opportunity to redeem his honour. He manages this fighting a covert war on behalf of the British, saving the life of one of his colleages in the process. On returning the England he gives back each of the feathers.
The romantic idealism of the novel has been popular for over a century and it has been the basis of at least six feature films between 1915 and 2002
Order of the White Feather
In August 1914, a few months after the start of the First World War, Admiral Charles Fitzgerald founded the Order of the White Feather with support from the prominent author Mary Ward. The organisation aimed to coerce men to enlist in the British Army by persuading women to present them with a white feather if they were not wearing a uniform.
The campaign was very effective, and spread throughout several other nations in the British Commonwealth. So much so that it started to cause problems for the government when public servants came under pressure to enlist. This prompted the Home Secretary, Reginald McKenna, to issue employees in state industries with lapel badges reading 'King and Country' to indicate that they too were serving the war effort.
The white feather movement was the inspiration for the Weddings, Parties, Anything song Scorn of the Women, which concerns a man who is deemed medically unfit for service when he attempts to enlist, and is unjustly accused of cowardice.
Pacifism
In contrast, the white feather has been partially embraced by pacifist organisations as a sign of harmlessness. During the First World War the pacifist Fenner Brockway received so many white feathers he was known to comment that he now had enough feathers to make a fan.
Some time after the war, pacifists found an alternative interpretation of the white feather as a symbol of peace. The story being that in 1775 Quakers in a Friends meeting house in Easton, New York were faced by a tribe of Indians on the war path. Rather than flee, the Quakers fell silent and waited. The Indian chief came into the meeting house and finding no weapons he declared the Quakers as friends. On leaving he took a white feather from his quiver and attached it to the door as a sign to leave the building unharmed.
The story may not be true, but in 1937 the Peace Pledge Union sold 500 white feather badges as symbols of peace.
In 1985, progressive rock band Marillion released a concept album entitled Misplaced Childhood, whose final track, White Feather, was an explicit reference to pacifist idealism.
Surprisingly the white feather doesn't appear to be associated with the dove of peace.
References
- The Four Feathers (http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/4Feathers/00000001.htm) text online
- Order of the White Feather (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWfeather.htm)
- Peace Pledge Union (http://www.ppu.org.uk/poppy/new/tx_feather.html)