Big British Army Problem.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 20, 1913:
Officers and Men Want Order Compelling Mustaches Rescinded.
    LONDON, July 8.— The most important question in the British Army at present is that of the mustache. There is agitation by officers and men for the right to be clean shaven and the abolition of Command No. 1,695 of the King's Regulations, which reads:
    The hair of the head will be kept short. The chin and the under lip will be shaved, but not the upper lip. Whiskers if worn will be of moderate length.
    By this regulation all ranks of the army are bound, regardless of personal taste or hygienic conviction, to let the mustache grow.
    An attempt to elucidate the mystery of the military mustache law was made at the War Office yesterday.
    "If an officer shaves his upper lip it is treated as a breach of discipline, and the matter is dealt with by the commanding officer," said an official.
    "What is a whisker of moderate length?" was a question put to the official. The question was duly considered, but an exact definition was not forthcoming.
    Major-Gen. Sir Alfred Turner gave a brief history of regulations for wearing whiskers, beards, and mustaches in the army. "There is among officers a growing feeling against the mustache, which they are forced to wear," he said. "I have noticed an increasing number of army men who have deliberately shaved the upper lip in defiance of regulations. The offense, of course, is a trivial one, but it is a distinct breach of discipline.
    "By whiskers of moderate length, which men are entitled to wear, the regulation means that men shall not have long, flowing hair on their face — called, I believe, 'Piccadilly weepers' — but whiskers of the old-fashioned 'mutton chop' design."
    Until the end of the eighteenth century, said Sir Alfred, officers had to be clean shaven. About 1815 the mutton chop whisker, popularized by the Duke of Wellington, became recognized in an army order.
    A retired army officer said that there were no definite penalties for not wearing a mustache. "Commanding officers deal with such questions according to circumstances," he said. "If the offender has real conscientious reasons for not wearing a mustache he may be allowed to go without one, but if a junior officer refuses point blank to wear a mustache for no definite reason and deliberately defies his superior officer, then he commits a serious offence against discipline, although the initial cause is such a trivial matter. Arrest and imprisonment may follow."