The First Foot Guards

We are a Revolutionary War reenactment group based in Boston MA,
accurately portraying the royal household regiment that is now known as
The Grenadier Guards

 

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Cost of Officers' Commissions

"The system of buying and selling commissions was still in vogue despite repeated attempts to suppress it. A commission in the Cavalry was usually more expensive than one in the Infantry; and a commission in the Household Regiments were more costly than one in the Line Regiments.

It is not surprising that commissions in the Guards sold at higher figures. The Household troops were a privileged body. Lieutenants of Guards ranked as Captains in the rest of the Army, and Captains as Lieutenant Colonels of the Guards had 'better birth, more money and greater opportunities for pushing' their advancement. Indeed in 1769 out of every 12 commissioned officers one was a Guardsman, while out of every three men commanding a regiment, one had been a Guardsman."

Cost of Commissions

"L" refers to Pounds Sterling

Lieutenant Colonel
Guards regiment: L6700
Line regiment: L3500

1st, 2nd or 3rd Major with rank of Colonel
Guards regiment: L6300
Major, Line regiment: L2600

Captain
Guards regiment: L3500
Line regiment: L1500

Captain Lieutenant with the rank of Lt-Col
Guards regiment: L2600
Captain Lieutenant, Line regiment: L800

Lieutenant with the rank of Captain
Guards regiment: L1500
Lieutenant, Line regiment: L550

Ensign
Guards regiment: L900
Line regiment: L400

 

Quotation and data from Professor EE Curtis, The Organization of the British Army in the American Revolution, 1926, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

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