Soldiers pay

[Mick M]

How were soldiers paid?

I'm assuming cash pay packet whilst at home. Abroad I saw a pic (probably IWM) i now cant find of an exchange booth at a station or port, were they paid in sterling or currency of the country they were in. Were they paid in full or was it split in some way for family. I did see on a soldiers file once he had agreed to a sum to be deducted and sent to his wife....

 

He 

[kenf48]

They were paid in the local currency.  Pay parades were often erratic, they should have been once a fortnight, but seldom were.  Getting pay to active service units was not always a priority.

George Coppard remembers always being hard up in France.

 

The Rates of Pay and a picture of a pay parade in the field are on the LLT

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/british-army-rates-pay-1914/

 

A soldier could make an allotment of up to half his pay to, usually his wife, but if unmarried his mother or other dependent

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2014-07-29-1

 

There are many threads on the topic on this forum

 

Ken

 

[Mick M]

1 hour ago, kenf48 said:

They were paid in the local currency.  Pay parades were often erratic, they should have been once a fortnight, but seldom were.  Getting pay to active service units was not always a priority.

George Coppard remembers always being hard up in France.

 

The Rates of Pay and a picture of a pay parade in the field are on the LLT

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/british-army-rates-pay-1914/

 

A soldier could make an allotment of up to half his pay to, usually his wife, but if unmarried his mother or other dependent

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=2014-07-29-1

 

There are many threads on the topic on this forum

 

Ken

 

Thank you for that Ken I have George Coppards book I will reread it...I expect the picture I saw of a currency exchange booth was in this country...

 

Mick.

[RussT]

I remember reading about one at Victoria railway station. Can't remember where I came across that bit of information at the moment

 

Russ

[kenf48]

 

56 minutes ago, Mick M said:

I expect the picture I saw of a currency exchange booth was in this country...

 

 

Actually I think the picture you refer to in your OP is in George's book!

 

Reference IWM Q 30515 It was Victoria Station

 

Can't find the original but this article has three images, it appears there was more than one booth at Victoria

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4791800/Photos-reveal-British-troops-enjoying-break-WWI.html

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

[RussT]

Yep, here's a famous one

 

 

[Mick M]

4 hours ago, RussT said:

Yep, here's a famous one

 

 

That's the one...looking at it again I suspect that is on British soil for returning troops to revert their pay back to sterling....

 

Thanks all yet again...great answers and part of my education.

Mick.

[exXIX]

On 22/04/2020 at 22:00, Mick M said:

That's the one...looking at it again I suspect that is on British soil for returning troops to revert their pay back to sterling....

 

Thanks all yet again...great answers and part of my education.

Mick.

Indeed the photo is annotated as 'London Victoria Station' interestingly, these men must have come straight out of the line as their boots and uniforms are still muddy! 

[FROGSMILE]

For @Mick M: Pay parades (as they were called) generally took place when units were out of the line when on rest.  As such they needed to be in a relatively safe area.  Generally done by companies the men formed up in alphabetical order and stepped forward one at a time to a [usually] blanket covered table where sat the paying officer supported by a colour sergeant or other NCO if he wasn’t available.  Another NCO, or if available the CSM ran the process and called men forward in their turn.  At the table the soldiers pay book (AB64) was double checked and the amount due paid out in cash less any ‘stoppages’ (of various types, often connected with lost kit or damages, but also allotments to family). The soldier then signed (to confirm in the presence of the NCO witness) and declared verbally his ‘pay correct’ before saluting and departing to make way for the next soldier.  That process continued until all were paid.  Men allocated leave of absence were also paid individually before leaving their unit by calling in at the unit pay office at its rear echelon before departing as part of a set procedure for men going on leave.  As mentioned above the routine could be interrupted by unexpected events, offensives and emergencies and sometimes the interval between pay parades could be much longer than intended.  In peacetime the parades were more formal but even in war the protocols remained.  The amount of cash necessary was determined by communication between the unit (i.e. its nominal roll) via an imprest account linked to the Army Pay Offices (APO) back in Britain, where individual soldier’s accounts were maintained via card index.  This was constantly changing as casualties and replacements created churn and it required an army of auxiliary clerks (increasingly women) back home to stay on top of things.  The APOs in turn reported to, and demanded from, a pay department at the war office.

 

Edited 24 December , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[Mick M]

frogsmile.

That's a very useful description of events thank you.

[FROGSMILE]

23 hours ago, Mick M said:

frogsmile.

That's a very useful description of events thank you.

I’m glad to help.  The process led to a very old Army expression, “to salute for one’s (or my/your) pay”, now long forgotten.  Cash pay in the manner I’ve described was finally phased out for regulars in the mid 1970s, but lingered a little longer for Territorials.

Edited 1 November , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[Mick M]

Very interesting thanks.

[Fromelles]

In Australia (Regular Army) I can still remember receiving cash pay, in much the same way as described by frogsmile, in 1989/90.

Once paid, we'd have to run the gauntlet as there'd be a line of those who then expect us to contribute to Regimental Funds, Legacy, or any other 'charity' 

Dan

[FROGSMILE]

47 minutes ago, Fromelles said:

In Australia (Regular Army) I can still remember receiving cash pay, in much the same way as described by frogsmile, in 1989/90.

Once paid, we'd have to run the gauntlet as there'd be a line of those who then expect us to contribute to Regimental Funds, Legacy, or any other 'charity' 

Dan

I know the feeling Dan.  In earlier decades I recall vividly having to pay barrack damages (regardless of whether there were damages or not) and company fund subscriptions, in the same exact manner that you described.  It was impossible to refuse and it became part and parcel of army life and just something that we accepted.  The cash collected was scrupulously recorded in a ledger and then used to defray company “smoking concerts” (a Victorian/Edwardian military term for all-ranks functions), and “extra messing” for the annual Christmas lunch.  Such routines were of very long standing and went back generations.

Edited 7 November , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[A Lancashire Fusilier by Proxy]

Not adding anything particularly new to what others have said in this thread, but in Tilsley's Other Ranks, Tilsley describes pay parades in the Magazine at Ypres (page 101 of my 2019 edition) "where the click of your heels and the smartness of your salute was regulated by the number of francs you received", and typical pay parades after coming out of the line to 'B' Camp in the vicinity of Poperinghe (page 157) as being occasions when "two or three weeks of penury ended ... with a munificent pay of five or ten (sometimes twenty if you weren't in debt) francs".

My grandfather, an officer in the LF, on more than one occasion describes riding to a nearby town to collect money to pay the men, but unfortunately he does not describe the pay parade itself.