Page 82 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Queen Anne by Michael Dahl 1702
missions were sold, not necessarily to more junior officers as was expected, but often for vast sums to wealthy civilians who would pay a higher price. The system became infected by the growth of commission brokers, matching buyer to seller, and themselves making large sums as fees for their services. Queen Anne’s govern- ment attempted to reduce the abuses, firstly by prohibiting the purchase of commissions by youths and children, and then in 1711 by the issue of a royal warrant laying down basic rules. One such rule prohibited an officer from selling his commission until he had completed 20 years’ service, unless disabled or having performed distinguished service in battle.
Georgian England
As with William III, George I (1714 – 1727) was overtly against the purchase system, seeing it as prejudicial to the profession of arms. This could be explained by the earlier abolition of purchase by many of the German states, including Hannover. Although he tried initially to abolish purchase, he soon realised that alternatives would be ignored or circumvented, and therefore decided in 1720 to introduce, for the first time, a maximum rate at which commissions were officially permitted to be sold. These ranged from a high point of £9,000 (a little over £1M in today’s money) for a colonelcy of dragoon guards down to the lowest price of £170 (around £20K in today’s money)
for an ensigncy in an infantry regiment. The gov- ernment also attempted to control to whom a commission was sold, with the officer being not permitted to play a part in the selection of his successor. Private negotiations to sell for over the authorised rate were prohibited, and also there was an attempt to force officers to serve for an appropriate time in a rank before purchas- ing a higher rank. These, and other reforms, designed to both control the purchase of com- missions and to involve the government more in the affairs of the Army, seemed to have had a large measure of success. For example, of the 290 officers appointed to colonelcies between 1714 and 1763, over 150 had served more than 25 years before appointment, and another 90 possessed over 15 years’ service.
George II (1727 – 1760) was not a great inno- vator, but nevertheless seemed willing to retain the reforms of his father. There is not much information recorded from this period, except that purchase continued to be a complex issue, often open to corruption and fraud. The regula- tion price seemed to disappear from 1740, with a free market once again established, with the colonel of the regiment being very much involved in price setting.
At the beginning of the reign of George III (1760 – 1820) disquiet about purchase was once again evident and, resulting from initiatives of Lord
King George I studio of Sir Godfrey Kneller 1714
80 HISTORICAL