Sale of commissions

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Through most of the history of the British Army it was common practice for officers to purchase their rank.

The practice started in 1683 during the reign of Charles II and continued up until the 19^th century when the Army reform act introduced by British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone abolished it.

Commissions could only be purchased in cavalry and infantry regiments. Commissions in the Royal Engineers and the Royal Artillery were awarded to those who graduated from a course at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and subsequent promotion went by seniority only. Such officers (and those of the Army of the British East India Company), were often looked down upon as being not quite "gentlemen", by officers who purchased their commissions.

There were several key reasons behind the sale of commissions:

• It prevented the poor from becoming officers, thereby reinforcing the class system.
• It gave the officer class a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, thereby reducing the possibility of Army units taking part in a revolution or coup.
• It ensured that officers had private means and were unlikely to engage in looting or pillaging, or to cheat the soldiers under their command by engaging in profiteering using army supplies.

It was not unknown for officers who incurred or inherited debts, to sell their commission to raise funds. In theory, a commission could be sold only for its official value, and was to be offered first to the next most senior officer in the same regiment. In practice, desirable commissions in fashionable regiments were often sold to the highest bidder after an unseemly auction. A self-interested senior officer might well regard his commission as his pension fund, and would encourage the inflation of its value.

An officer convicted by a court martial of grave misconduct or incompetence might be sentenced to be deprived of his commission without its value being returned to him, or cashiered.

The worst potential effects of the system were mitigated during intensive conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars by heavy casualties among senior ranks (which ensured that the vacant commissions were exchanged for their face value only), and the possibility of promotion to "brevet" army ranks for deserving officers. An officer might be a subaltern or Captain in his regiment, but might hold a higher local rank if attached to other units or allied armies, or might be given a higher Army rank by the Commander-in-Chief, or the Monarch, in recognition of meritorious service or a notable feat of bravery. Officers bearing despatches giving news of a victory (such as Waterloo), often received such promotion, and might be specially selected by a General in the field for this purpose.

The malpractices associated with the purchase of commissions reached their height in the long peace between the Napoleonic Wars and the Crimean War, when Lord Cardigan paid £40,000 for his commission. It was in the Crimea that it became most obvious that the system of purchase led to incompetent leadership, such as that which resulted in The Charge of the Light Brigade. An enquiry (the Commission on Purchase) was established in 1856, and commented unfavourably on the institution.

The practice was abolished as part of the Cardwell reforms which made many changes to the structure and procedures of the Army.

Sources

• The Reason Why, Cecil Woodhma smith, Penguin, 1953, ISBN 140012788