There were a number of avenues by which an aspiring officer could obtain his first commission. The first, obviously enough, was by purchase. While all three Georges were opposed to the purchase of commissions, no realistic alternative had presented itself during the 18th century. Promotion was governed strictly by seniority in the East India Company service, as well as in those corps administered by the Board of Ordnance, but the obvious disadvantages deterred any thought of extending it more widely in peacetime. Nor was any serious consideration given to introducing a system based on merit. While this might appear surprising, there were indeed widespread political as well as professional objections to any proposals of this nature since it was considered that promotion would then come to depend upon patronage. In fact although the Navy pointedly looked down on the supposed lack of professionalism in the Army, the professional examinations or rather vivas which supposedly governed promotion in that service were wholly concerned with the unique skills associated with. ship-handling and maritime navigation. Once a candidate had successfully 'passed' as a Lieutenant his subsequent career depended entirely on seniority and patronage.

In order to purchase a commission a young gentleman had first to deposit the required sum of money with the relevant Regimental Agent. He in turn then submitted the applicant's name and any letters of recommendation to the Adjutant General's office at the Horse Guards for approval by the Commander-in-Chief. Once the commission had been obtained, subsequent, steps: could be purchased in exactly the same manner and if there was no vacancy in his own regiment the Agent could be relied upon to find one in another of the regiments in his management portfolio.

Throughout most of the 18th century there was an officially 'regulated' price for commissions in peacetime and to a rather more limited extent in peacetime it was also customary to smoothly progress by paying something more on top, but for the meantime it is important to appreciate the regulated price represented what might be termed the 'absolute value', not the sum which actually changed hands.

This requires some explanation. In the 1790s, the regulation price of an Ensign's commission in an infantry regiment was £ 400.00, and leaving aside the usual fees and anything else which be clandestinely agreed, this is exactly what it cost him. A Lieutenant's commission was valued at £ 500.00, but all that actually changed hands in purchasing it was the 'difference' of £ 100.00, and similarly with a Captain's commission valued at £ 1,500.00, a Lieutenant who wished to buy his way up only had to find the difference of £ 1000.00. Should he then decide to realise his investment by selling out, the £ 1,500.00 was made up by reversing the process; that is he was paid by all three officers benefiting from his departure. His immediate successor paid him £ 1000.00 for his Captaincy, another £ 100.00 came from the Ensign moving up into the Lieutenant's place, and the balance came from the young gentleman paying the full price for the Ensigncy. Although at first sight the process might appear cumbersome it was actually quite straightforward since all the paperwork and cash transactions were normally handled by the regimental agent.

Free Vacancies

Free vacancies were normally obtained in a variety of ways. The first was by way of a direct application to the Commander-in-Chief (most frequently composed by the would-be hero's father or widowed mother), accompanied by testimonials as to his fitness to serve the King. [16]

In many cases these testimonials were endorsed or even written by commanding officers, but where there was no such recornmendation such applicants tended to be offered commissions in colonial formations such as the 4/60th or one of the West India regiments. In the majority of cases however the Colonel's backing was crucial and he also provided the other avenues of entry, by recommending the promotion of outstanding NQOs, and allowing 'volunteers' to go on active service with the regiment in the hope of fillIng Any casual, vacancies which might arise in the course of a campaign.

Although Purchase might justifiably be regarded as the mainspring of the promotion system, seniority also played a very considerable part in determining how an officer's career progressed. It was of course the sole regulating factor in both the Ordnance and East India Company service, but its importance in the King's service should not be overlooked. In the first place if an officer died, the senior man in the grade below obtained the vacancy without payment and everyone else shuffled up behind him until eventually a free vacancy was created for a new Ensign.

Free vacancies also arose when an officer was dismissed from the service by the sentence of a court-martial. In this case however it was an invariable rule that the cashiered officer would be replaced by a man brought in from outside the regiment in order to avoid any suggestion that his colleagues might gain from convicting him. Secondly, when a commission did become vacant by purchase it was the senior man who had the right of first refusal.

This, however, was not always as straightforward as it might at first appear. An officer's seniority in the army was primarily determined by the date of his commission "as it appeared in the official London Gazette. Ordinarily this also determined his standing within his regiment, but it was quite possible for Army and Regimental seniority to be at variance. This normally arose when an officer exchanged from one regiment into another or joined from the Half Pay - the latter was particularly common in newly raised battalions. His regimental seniority would then be accounted from the date on which he transferred, but his Army rank (other than by brevet) was still calculated according to the date of his original commission.

It was therefore possible for an officer to jump the queue as it were, since although he might then be at the bottom of the list regimentally, he could well be the most senior man by commission date and was therefore entitled to claim the next available purchase vacancy - although death vacancies were almost always filled strictly according to regimental seniority. While this might at first appear unfair, the opportunity to do so normally arose when none of the original officers qualified for promotion.

In 1795 the Duke of York insisted that no officer could become a Captain without at least two years service, or a field officer without six. There had been attempts to impose qualifying periods before, but this time they were pretty strictly enforced. Consequently the old complaint that it was possible for a schoolboy to purchase his way up to Lieutenant Colonel in a mere three weeks was firmly addressed. On the other hand it was quite possible to have a situation where those officers who had the necessary qualifying experience lacked the cash to purchase and those further down the list had the cash but not the experience. Therefore if there were no takers within the regiment there was nothing to prevent a suitably qualified outsider buying his way in to the regiment, either directly or by first exchanging with one of the disappointed. This seems to have more frequently occurred in promotions to field rank where both the 'difference' and the service qualification were substantially greater than at company level.

More Than One Battalion Per Regiment

Before leaving the subject of seniority one further aspect needs to be noted. On the outbreak of war with France in 1793 most infantry regiments had just one battalion, but by 1814 all but a handful had two or sometimes more. The Army List made no distinction between them and listed all the officers belonging to a particular corps in a single sequence. In theory the more senior half of the officers in each grade served with the 1st Battalion while the juniors served with the 2nd.

Consequently any promotion invariably led to an exchange of officers between the two. On being promoted, a Lieutenant serving with the 1st Battalion became his Regiment's junior Captain and as such was automatically posted home to the 2nd Battalion. In practice however he normally waited until the most senior Captain who had been serving in the 2nd Battalion came out to replace him. Depending upon a variety of circumstances he could wait for some time, or, if it was quiet enough at the front simply take himself off home without waiting.

On the whole this was an excellent system which helped to ensure that the 2nd Battalions were properly provided with some experienced officers - particularly as the original intention to reserve them for home defence was soon abandoned. There was however an unfortunate end to it in 1814 when the additional battalions were disbanded and their officers placed on Half Pay according to Regimental rather than Army seniority.

Despite an almost universal objection to a promotion system based on selection, or rather patronage, it did in fact take place not just in the recommending of deserving candidates for commissions, but also to a limited extent in the form of brevets.

Ensigns, Cornets and Lieutenants were not eligible to receive brevets, but otherwise almost any officer could receive a promotion by brevet under a variety of circumstances.

These could sometimes be quite indiscriminate as in the case of the 'victory' brevet of 1814 which advanced all those officers whose commissions dated to before the outbreak of war in 1803, and 'Local' brevets were granted to East India Company officers in order to place them on the same footing as Royal ones serving east of the Cape of Good Hope. Otherwise brevets were normally given to individual officers either by way of a reward for some exceptional service, to confer local seniority within a specified geographical area, or to lend added authority to a staff appointment. Promotion by this means could be incremental and it was quite possible for an officer to be a Lieutenant Colonel by brevet while still holding the regimental rank of Captain.

Brevets were invariably gazetted as conferring rank 'in the Army' and were considered as temporary. This meant that an officer so promoted had no right to sell and only drew the additional pay of his brevet rank while he was actually serving. In the meantime he retained his Regimental rank (and seniority) and eventually sold it or retired on to the Half Pay accordingly.

Officers and Gentlemen Part II: Commanding the British Army in the Napoleonic Wars

Part II: Background
Part II: Purchase and Promotion
Part II: Retiring
Part II: Richard Sharpe