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Purchase a Commission! (For sale: Colonelcy in the Dragoon Guards for £1M)
A Brief History of the Purchase of Commissions in the British Army (1660 – 1871)
Introduction
For much of the 200 years from 1660 to 1871, the primary way of obtaining an initial commis- sion (and subsequent advancement) in the Brit- ish Army for guards, cavalry and infantry officers was by purchase. Once the Royal Military Acad- emy Woolwich was established in 1741, Ord- nance (Artillery and Engineer) officers obtained free commissions by successful attendance there. Also, after the establishment of the Royal Military College (Junior Division) in 1802 (initially at Marlow and then at Sandhurst) some cavalry and infantry officers were able to obtain free (non-purchase) commissions after success- ful completion of the course there. There were some other ways in which non-purchase com- missions could be obtained, for example as a
Ian Pattison
result of the retirement after a full career or death of an officer (sometimes given to senior NCOs for bravery in battle), and some free commis- sions and promotions were awarded by the Sov- ereign or Commander in Chief.
In contrast, commissions in the Royal Navy were never for sale, entry to commissioned life being by first obtaining a Midshipman berth in a ship, and then passing the Lieutenants’ exam. Offic- ers of the British Indian Army, formed after the India Mutiny (1857 – 1858) when British direct rule was established after the abolition of the East India Company, did not purchase their commissions. They were trained at Sandhurst, alongside cadets destined for the British Army, after the closure of the Company’s Addiscombe Military Seminary in 1861.
As Anthony Bruce writes in his scholarly 1980 work on the subject, this long-abandoned and archaic system for providing and promoting army officers does nevertheless have historical inter- est in helping to understand the Army’s political attitudes and behaviour during those 200 years, and indeed its connection with the civil society at the time. For example, the deliberate restricting of the officer class to a certain social group at the expense of others, probably had a profound effect on the loyalty of the Army to the political authority (government and monarchy).
The purchase of positions was not confined just to the military. Alongside that, as part of the general corruption of the period, it was common to purchase public offices, including Secretary- ships of State and commands of forts, castles and places of trust, although made technically illegal since the mid 16th century by a royal war- rant from Edward VI.
Colonel of Dragoons ca. 1720
HISTORICAL 77