Wage

[Guest]

conas atá sibh, im new here so apologies if I posted this in the wrong section. Im doin a bit of research and was wondering, what would the average wage in the British army have been during the war? Firstly for a private the for a corporal, would specific nationality within the British empire make any difference to wages recieved?

go raibh maith agaibh (thanks)

[ulsterlad2]

Hi GaelUirbeach. Welcome to the forum.

I've read somewhere that a private in the British Army was on 1 Shilling a day.

I have the pay lists from my 2 CEF serving uncles' service files. They were paid 1 Canadian Dollar & 10 Cents field allowance per day.

[kenf48]

welcome to the forum and 'other' seems fine

In 1914 the British private soldier was paid one shilling a day and one penny a day 'war pay'. This was the rate in the pre-war army. There were opportunities to earn small amounts of 'proficiency pay' for various skills, say 3d a week for a driver.

Engineers and some other highly skilled men earned more. I think it was the tunnellers who could earn more than an infantry sergeant. Often when transferred soldiers continued at an enhanced rate even if they were no longer applying the skill. In 1917 there was a pay rise of thruppence a day (3d).

Married men could make an 'allottment' of sixpence a day i.e. half their pay to their wife, this was enhanced to 12 shillings and sixpence with small amounts for each child.

As with any pay scales there were variations and conditions across the Army, and naturally increases on promotion. I don't know the exact rate for each rank. It was more or less 'all found' with a rum ration and food and lodging!

So the rest was usually spent on cigarettes and the odd plate of egg and chips when out of the line.

This of course was old money, i.e. 20 shillings to a pound/12 pennies to a shilling, even allowing for inflation it was still less than the current minimum wage in the UK.

Can't help you with the Dominions!

Ken

[schooner]

Hi,

Australians received six shillings per day (I think one shilling was deferred for demob), hence the nickname "six bob a day tourists".

Cheers,

Phil.