General officers Before 1767, there were no definite badges for Field Marshals and
general officers. In 1767, the British Army issued an order to distinguish Field Marshals (once the rank was established in 1813) and different graded General officers by the combination of
chevron-shaped ess pattern laces on the sleeve. • Field Marshal: Evenly spaced six laces. • General: Evenly spaced four laces. • Lieutenant General: Six laces in threes. • Major General: Four laces in twos. • Brigadier General: Three laces. Upper twos were in pair. During the
Napoleonic Wars, field marshals wore oak-leaf embroidered collar and cuff; and shoulder cord instead of previous pattern. It was continued until the end of 1830. At the beginning of 1831, new rank distinction was ordered for field marshals and general officers. • Field Marshal: Cross
baton and wreath designed device was on epaulettes and buttons were evenly spaced . • General: Cross baton and sword with crown designed device on the epaulettes and buttons were evenly spaced. • Lieutenant General: Cross baton and sword with crown designed device on the epaulettes and buttons were in threes. • Major General: Cross baton and sword with crown designed device on the epaulettes and buttons were in twos. • Brigadier General: No device on the epaulettes and buttons were in two. After the
Crimean War (30 January 1855), the
War Office ordered different rank badges for British general,
staff officers and
regimental officers. In 1791 the War Office ordered officers to wear different graded epaulettes and wings to distinguish regimental officer ranks (Colonel to Ensign/ Cornet). This was ordered only for
line infantry officers. According to the Army Order, • Field officers (Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major) wore epaulettes on both shoulders. • Company officers (Captain, Captain-Lieutenant, Lieutenant and Ensign / 2nd Lieutenant) of centre companies wore a single epaulette on right shoulder only. • Grenadier and Light companies Captain and Subalterns wore wings on both shoulders. In 1795, a special pattern of epaulettes was ordered for
Fusiliers and
Light Infantry officers. Field officers of those regiments wore epaulettes over wings. Company officers wore wings. A specific system of rank insignia for field officers probably existed beginning from the 1790s. This is suggested by a General Order of the
HEIC dated 21 July 1796: It was ordered that lieutenant colonels had to wear one six-pointed star in the centre of the strap of both epaulettes, while colonels had two stars on the epaulettes' strap (majors had no insiagnia). Presumably the HEIC followed one of the uniform regulations of the British Army, which it usually adopted very quickly after its publication. In February 1810, an order was issued by the War Office to distinguish Field officer ranks. The following devices were introduced in the epaulettes: • Colonel: Crown and
Garter star • Lieutenant Colonel: Crown • Major: Garter star These badges were issued for all infantry regiments except the
Foot Guards. In 1815, badges for Foot Guards were ordered. In Foot Guards regiments, all Field Officers were equivalent to the Colonels of line infantry regiments. Captains were equivalent to Lieutenant Colonels, Lieutenants were equivalent to Majors and Ensigns were equivalent to Captains of Battalion companies. • Field Officers: Crown and star (
Grenadier Guards and
Coldstream Guards used the Garter star, and
Scots Fusilier Guards used the
Thistle star). • Captain: Crown • Lieutenant: Star • Ensign: No device. (Ensigns of the Grenadier Guards wore epaulettes on both shoulders, but the Ensigns of the other two regiments wore a single epaulette on the right shoulder.) In 1829, epaulettes and wings were standardised by maintaining the badges of rank issued in 1810 and 1815. According to the order, epaulettes of all regular infantry regiments and foot guards regiments would be in gold and other regiments were in silver. All officers including field and company officers wore epaulettes and wings on both shoulders. The epaulettes over wings system was abolished. Different graded officer wore different sized bullion to distinguish themselves from other. • Colonel: Epaulette bullions were three and half inches in length. Insignia was a Crown and a
Bath star. • Lieutenant Colonel: Epaulette bullions were three and half inches in length. Insignia was a Crown. • Major: Epaulette bullions were three inches in length. Insignia was a Bath star. • Captain of Battalion company: Epaulette bullion were two and half inches in length. No insignia device. • Subaltern of Battalion company: Epaulette bullion were two inches in length. No insignia device. • Captain of
Flank companies: Wings bullions were one and quarter inches in length and half inches in wide. • Subalterns of Flank companies: Wings bullions were one and quarter inches in length and quarter inches in wide. In January 1855, at the end of the Crimean War, the War Office abolished all epaulette and wing rank badges. New rank badges were introduced in the collar. It was first time that a complete set of rank badges was used by the British Army. • Colonel: Two rows of half inch laces in collar with Crown and Bath star. • Lieutenant Colonel: Two rows of half inch laces in collar with Crown. • Major: Two rows of half inch laces in collar with Bath star. • Captain: One row of half inch lace on the top of collar with Crown and Bath star. • Lieutenant: One row of half inch lace on the top of collar with Crown. • Ensign/Sub Lieutenant: One row of half inch lace on the top of collar with Bath star. In April 1880, rank badges were moved from collar to shoulder and officers of all regiments wore the following rank badges. • Colonel: Crown and two
Bath stars. • Lieutenant Colonel: Crown and one Bath star • Major: Crown • Captain: Two Bath stars • Lieutenant: One Bath star • Second Lieutenant: No device In May 1902, rank badges were moved to sleeve's cuff and company-grade officer badges were slightly modified: • Captain: Three Bath stars • Lieutenant: Two Bath stars • Second Lieutenant: One Bath star In 1919, a new order was issued by the Horse Guards office—all Guards officers would wear special star badges. • Grenadier Guards:
Garter star • Coldstream Guards: Garter star • Scots Guards:
Thistle star • Irish Guards:
Shamrock star • Welsh Guards: Garter star During
World War I, some officers took to wearing tunics with the rank badges on the shoulder, as the cuff badges made them too conspicuous to snipers. This practice was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an optional alternative, being made permanent in 1920, when the cuff badges were abolished.
Historical insignia Historical ranks •
Captain-general (c. 17th century): a full
general. • Sergeant-major-general (c. 17th century): shortened to
major general. • (Lieutenant-)Colonel
Commandant (c. 19th century): most senior commanding rank in artillery bataillons and regiments, but sometimes also in cavalry (especially when the latter was stationed in India). Around the year 1850, the lieutenant-colonel commandant's rank insignia consisted of two silver stars (while a major had one star, a lieutenant-colonel one crown and a colonel crown and star). •
Captain-lieutenant (c. 17th & 18th century): the lieutenant of the first company in a regiment, whose captaincy was held by the regimental colonel. On promotion to full captain, the period in this rank was treated as having been a full captain for pay and pension purposes, since he effectively commanded the company. •
Ensign: lowest subaltern rank in infantry regiments; replaced in 1871 by
second lieutenant, but still used to refer to second lieutenants in some Guards regiments. •
Cornet: cavalry equivalent of ensign replaced in 1871 by
second lieutenant, but still used to refer to second lieutenants in some cavalry regiments, including the Blues and Royals and
The Queen's Royal Hussars. ==See also==