Regulations for the allowances of the army, 1914.

[Muerrisch]

Please does anyone have access to the above? I crave a look-up regarding the £70 working pay added for W.O. bandmasters, authorized in KRs and QVRs.

 

[TullochArd]

This reference is from KR 1912.

Bandmasters in my Battalion were always surreptitiously referred to as "Mr. Ten Percent" which refers to their share of Band Fund working fees generated from certain paying performances. The group shares diminished downwards not dissimilar to the oft quoted RN Prize Money rates .........and attracted similar discontent amongst the lower ranks. 

Edited 12 March by TullochArd

[Muerrisch]

10 minutes ago, TullochArd said:

This reference is from KR 1912.

Bandmasters in my Battalion were always surreptitiously referred to as "Mr. Ten Percent" which refers to their share of Band Fund working fees generated from certain paying performances. The group shares diminished downwards not dissimilar to the oft quoted RN Prize Money rates .........and attracted similar discontent amongst the lower ranks. 

Thank you. The £70 was worth about £10,000 [2024]  in our period, and was a massive add-on to the per diem of about 5/6- which gave a basic of about £100.

However, some bandmasters became commissioned and the 2lt pay was very similar to the WO. I am looking for a reference to confirm or deny that they took the £70 bung with them. If not, who would be an officer with no guarantee of further rank?

[TullochArd]

2 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

Thank you. The £70 was worth about £10,000 [2024]  in our period, and was a massive add-on to the per diem of about 5/6- which gave a basic of about £100.

However, some bandmasters became commissioned and the 2lt pay was very similar to the WO. I am looking for a reference to confirm or deny that they took the £70 bung with them. If not, who would be an officer with no guarantee of further rank?

On commissioning a Bandmaster ceased to be a Bandmaster became a Director of Music - so not sure how that would carry forward if indeed it did as only mention of the £70 is for Bandmasters.

[Muerrisch]

Yes that is exactly the point. Neither KRs nor the Pay Warrant deal with 2lt [Hon or otherwise] DOMs. There was a lot of fiddling around with Hon v. substantive, and there was provision for time promotion to major [even lt col] but officers pre-Great War were not expected to live on army pay. A bandmaster risen from the ranks to a commission was unlikely to have private income. As a 2lt he received 5/3- A lieutenant only received 7/6-.

It seems a no-brainer unless the £70 was retained. The truth is out there perhaps. Hence the Allowances book is needed. The War Office never paid a penny unless it was official, in black and white.

[MaureenE]

14 hours ago, Muerrisch said:

Please does anyone have access to the above? 

It is available online in the Internet Archive, as part of digital file which consists of three unrelated publications in one digital book

Regulations for the Allowances of the Army 1914, [printed 10/14]. Contents, Index   (copied links. If you want the Book page, click on the Internet Archive logo, top left hand side of the Book Reader) 

Maureen

[Muerrisch]

Many thanks

[Muerrisch]

Maureen has allowed me to crack the matter:

seemingly, surprisingly, when a WO bandmaster was commissioned the band fund paid by the War Office was chopped by .................................... £70.

I can make no other deduction than that the commissioned DOM did not receive the £70 [unless the fellow officers paid extra band subs ........... unlikely].

A corollary would be that the fees from playing out would keep the new officer from penury.

Edited 13 March by Muerrisch

[FROGSMILE]

4 hours ago, Muerrisch said:

Maureen has allowed me to crack the matter:

seemingly, surprisingly, when a WO bandmaster was commissioned the band fund paid by the War Office was chopped by .................................... £70.

I can make no other deduction than that the commissioned DOM did not receive the £70 [unless the fellow officers paid extra band subs ........... unlikely].

A corollary would be that the fees from playing out would keep the new officer from penury.

Were the remuneration rates that you quoted for 2nd Lt and Lt those of a standard infantry subaltern?  I ask because I had thought that a director of music’s commission to be a discrete one financially, with specially scaled remuneration in the same manner as that of quarter-master, or riding-master.  I’d imagined that the pay rate would be set to ensure that any band-master was not disadvantaged by his commission via the effect it might have on his traditional share of band funds.

Edited 13 March by FROGSMILE

[Muerrisch]

Yes that kicked in May 1914, QM RM BM all same terms, 9/6 from memory, but previously I have found the small number with commissions look disadvantaged ....I find difficult to believe but still harvesting info.

Article for MHS brewing.

[FROGSMILE]

51 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

Yes that kicked in May 1914, QM RM BM all same terms, 9/6 from memory, but previously I have found the small number with commissions look disadvantaged ....I find difficult to believe but still harvesting info.

Article for MHS brewing.

The difference in the DOM’s rate of remuneration should in theory compensate for any proportionate loss of band funds.  It’s been a principle of military remuneration for a very long time (although I do not know when it was first promulgated) that no man should be penalised financially by promotion.  From that point it became a pretty much inviolate caveat.

Edited 13 March by FROGSMILE

[Muerrisch]

17 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

The difference in the DOM’s rate of remuneration should in theory compensate for any proportionate loss of band funds.  It’s been a principle of military remuneration for a very long time (although I do not know when it was first promulgated) that no man should be penalised financially by promotion.  From that point it became a pretty much inviolate caveat.

Of course. The matter is very complicated before the 1914 rationalisation, there appear to have been several expedients used to commission bandmasters without financial penalty.

 

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

Of course. The matter is very complicated before the 1914 rationalisation, there appear to have been several expedients used to commission bandmasters without financial penalty.

 

It will be interesting to learn anything more that you uncover.  It would be very odd indeed for the pay authorities to not have thought things through properly before promulgating the requisite rates of remuneration.

Edited 13 March by FROGSMILE