Page 84 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

King George III studio of Sir William Beechey ca. 1800
Barrington, Secretary at War, revised maximum prices were established in 1766 ranging from £5,200 (nearly £500K in today’s money) for a cav- alry colonelcy to £400 (£35K in today’s money) for an infantry ensigncy. Although explicit orders were given that these prices should be adhered to, the law of supply and demand dictated other- wise! Despite various initiatives designed to curb excesses of the system, many conscientious but impoverished officers were unable to obtain promotion, especially during the long peacetime, because of the existence of purchase, and they tended to be commanded by younger and less able but wealthier officers.
More able senior officers were not unaware of the shortcomings of purchase, even though they themselves had purchased their commissions and advancements. In 1793, during the disas- trous Flanders Campaign (the first war against post-revolutionary France and the forerunner of the Napoleonic War), Major General Craig, an adjutant general to the Duke of York (the over- all Army commander in Flanders) wrote to his friend and fellow officer in the campaign, Sir Hew Dalrymple:
‘That we have plundered the whole countryside is unquestionable; that we are undisciplined, the most ignorant, the worst provided for army that ever took to the field is equally certain. Out of
the 15 regiments of cavalry and 26 regiments of infantry which we have here, at least 21 are commanded by boys or idiots.’
There was also an attempt to prohibit the sale of commissions that had originally been obtained without purchase but that, as with other Lord Bar- rington’s desired reforms, also failed to materialise. Until the appointment of the next army reformer of any significance, the Duke of York, the situation deteriorated with the wealthiest outbidding bet- ter officers for the higher ranks. The reform intro- duced by Queen Anne prohibiting purchase by youths and children also seemed to have been abandoned. The British Military Journal of 1801 noted that the number of pupils at Eton with the rank of Lt Colonel and Colonel commanding regi- ments had increased significantly!
But the Flanders Campaign, particularly high- lighting the lack of training and professionalism of the officer corps, was a catalyst for much- needed reform of the Army to be carried out over the next 20 years by the Duke of York as its Commander in Chief. Indeed, it was the debacle of Flanders that convinced Sandhurst’s own ‘founding father’, Lt Colonel John Gaspard Le Marchant, himself a cavalry and staff officer during the campaign, of the need for a properly trained officer corps, ideally with non-purchase commissions.
Lt Col John Le Marchant, 7th Light Dragoons, Founder of the Royal Military College, by JD Harding
82 HISTORICAL