the purchase of officer commissions in the british army was a common practice through most of its history. essentially, the commission purchase price was a cash bond for good behaviour, forfeited to the army's cashiers (accountants) in the event of cowardice, desertion or gross misbehaviour. the practice started in 1683 during the reign of charles ii and continued until abolished on 1 november 1871, as part of the cardwell reforms. ==united kingdom== commissions could only be purchased in cavalry and infantry regiments (and therefore up to the rank of colonel only). 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 was by seniority. 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 had purchased their commissions. nor did the royal navy ever practise the sale of commissions, with advancement in officer ranks being solely by merit and/or seniority (at least in theory). there were several key reasons behind the sale of commissions: * it preserved the social exclusivity of the officer class. * it served as a form of collateral against abuse of authority or gross negligence or incompetence. disgraced officers could be cashiered by the crown (that is, stripped of their commission without reimbursement). * it ensured that the officer class was largely populated by persons having 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 provided honourably retired officers with an immediate source of capital. the official values of commissions varied by regiment, usually in line with the differing levels of social prestige of different regiments. in 1837 for example: {|class="wikitable" !rank !life guards !cavalry !foot guards !infantry !half pay difference |- |cornet/ensign |Â£1,260 |Â£840 |Â£1,200 |Â£450 |Â£150 |- |lieutenant |Â£1,785 |Â£1,190 |Â£2,050 |Â£700 |Â£365 |- |captain |Â£3,500 |Â£3,225 |Â£4,800 |Â£1,800 |Â£511 |- |major |Â£5,350 |Â£4,575 |Â£8,300 |Â£3,200 |Â£949 |- |lieutenant colon
Military_history_of_the_United_Kingdom