Jacob Reed joined the army to escape the disease-ridden poverty of 1840s Carlisle, but his years of peaceful soldiering came to an end with the outbreak of the Crimean War where disease and combat took their dreadful toll of life.

Army-mad Isaac Scott left a comfortable trade as a tailor in Penrith to join up, and found himself in India, where cholera was just as deadly a killer as the rebel forces.

Dan Daley, keen on sport and physical activity, found himself in the army almost by accident fighting the formidable Boers in South Africa.

Martin takes three men from his own family history and paints a vivid and fascinating picture of their lives, from their backgrounds in Carlisle and Penrith to their army careers and back to their civilian lives, once their military careers ended.