British Army: Officers' Commissions

Military Records Information 73

1. Background

Officers held their rank by virtue of a royal commission. The system of purchase and sale of commissions dated back to the reign of Charles II, and survived until 1871. Commissions could be purchased in the Guards and in the regiments of cavalry and infantry. Commissions in the Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery were granted to those men who had been selected to attend and successfully passed, a course of instruction at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Many officers purchased their commissions (up to the rank of colonel), although free commissions could be awarded by the Commander in Chief. If an officer died in service he forfeited his commission to the Crown. Opportunities for promotion by non-purchase expanded in time of war.

Social connections and patronage were all-important in the application process: entry was usually restricted to those of wealthy means. It was rare for an individual to receive promotion from the ranks. The financial transactions were handled by Army Agents. There were set prices for commissions, which in theory were meant to give some protection for the less well-off; but the normal practice was to demand considerably more than the official price. One factor which influenced the size of additional payment was the desirability of particular stations.

Once an officer had purchased a commission, then, subject to a number of provisos, he had a claim (by the seniority rule) to purchase the next highest rank, but junior officers sometimes managed to by-pass this rule. Another feature of the system was that of exchanges. Officers of equal regimental rank were permitted to exchange between regiments (or battalions), subject to a number of conditions. Illegal payments for exchanges were a common occurrence. The system received widespread criticism during the mid-Victorian period. There were calls for a system of promotion based on selection and professional qualification. The purchase system was finally abolished in 1871 by the Army Purchase Commission.

2. Printed Sources

Details of officers granted commissions before 1727, compiled from State Papers and other National Archives sources, can most easily be traced in Charles Dalton, English Army Lists and Commission Registers, 1661-1714 (6 vols, London, 1892-1904, reprinted by Francis Edwards, 1960) and George I's Army, 1714-1727 (2 vols, London, 1910-1912). Copies of Dalton's books are available at The National Archives. The broad outline of an officer's career should be fairly easy to discover from the official Army Lists. Manuscript lists of Army Officers were kept from 1702-1752 (WO 64 ); there is an index on open access at The National Archives. The first official Army List was published in 1740; since 1754 they have been published regularly. There are complete record sets, with manuscript amendments, of the annual lists (1754-1879) and the quarterly lists (1879-1900) in WO 65 and WO 66 : incomplete sets of the Army Lists are on open access.

Hart's Army List is a particularly valuable source, as it brings together the dates that individuals received their commissions in convenient tables, with useful footnotes. An incomplete set covering 1840-1915 is available on open access: a full set, and Hart's own papers, are in WO 211 . It should also be noted that all announcements of commissions were recorded in the London Gazette (ZJ 1 ).

3. Original Sources

The issue of a commission, or warrant of appointment, is likely to be recorded in several places. There is a great deal of duplication in the records, and the entries sometimes give minimal information. In a number of instances, you may prefer to bypass the original documents listed overleaf, as much of the information they contain can be obtained from the printed sources mentioned above. However, it is possible to find some very interesting information on individuals in the Commander-in-Chief's Memoranda in WO 31 , and there is also a useful sequence of indexed letter books in WO 4 (see below).

Table of Original Sources

4. Further Reading

Edward M Spiers, The Army and Society 1815-1914, (Longman, 1980)
Anthony Bruce, The Purchase System in the British Army, 1660-1871 (Royal Historical Society, London, 1980)

(ri2286) Last updated: 28 June 2004 | © Crown Copyright 2002