Page 86 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Mary Anne Clarke by unknown artist 1809
for a captain, around as much again as the reg- ulation price. These were illegal payments, but very common, especially in peacetime when demand outstripped supply. Over payment was fuelled entirely by the desirability of the regi- ments. In social acceptability and reputation, the Guards ranked first, followed by the Household Cavalry, cavalry and then infantry.
Overpayments also depended on the location of the regiment. For regiments stationed in, for example, the West Indies overpayments were much lower than when they returned home to England. Although the authorities made some attempt to remove the practice of these illegal payments, they were half-hearted and inef- fectual. It felt that as overpayments were and always had been an integral part of the purchase system, they could probably never be prohibited without the wholesale abolition of the purchase system as a whole.
The Household Cavalry was more active than other regiments in suppressing the unsavoury activities of ‘commission brokers’ whose exist-
Frederick Duke of York after John Jackson 1822
84 HISTORICAL