Pay

[David Seymour]

Does any one have information about rates of pay in the British Army of the First World War?

Many thanks,

David

[Steve Bramley]

Source: The First Day On The Somme- Martin Middlebrook.

Lt-Colonel 23 shillings p/day.

Captain 12s. 6d

2nd Lt 7s. 6d

L/Corp 1s. 3d

Pte 1s.

This was July 1916.

Yours,

Steve.

[fatbob]

From Soldiers on Service by Captain Horace Wyndham BEF:

"PAY

Before embarking for the front every NCO and man is provided with a copy of the 'soldier's paybook' for use in the field. This book has to be produced whenever an advance or cash payment is required. Should a man lose his paybook he must immediately report it to his commanding officer, who will produce him another copy.

While he is on active service a soldiers accounts are kept by the paymaster of the depot of his regiment in England; and it is to this officer that all communications respecting his account should be addressed.

ALLOTMENT TO DEPENDENTS

On recieving orders to embark for France a soldier should arrange to allot a portion of his pay to his wife or dependents. He has only to tell the paymaster what sum he is prepared to set aside for the purspose, and the amount will be regulary remitted and without any trouble to himself. The government also make a 'seperation allowance'; and this, together wirth the allotment of pay, gives a private's wife 12s. 6d. per week, and a sergeant's wife 15s. per week. When there are children the scale is increased, and is then as follows:-

[fatbob]

Weekly Rate.

Corporal

or Private Sergeant

Wife and 1 child . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£0 17 6 £1 0 0

" 2 children . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 0 1 3 6

" 3 " . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 3 0 1 5 6

and so on, with an extra 2s. a week for each additional child. This "seperation allowance," moreover, is payable in respect of all a soldiers children up to the age of 16. If a soldiers wife happens to be living in the London postal district at the time of her husbands enlistment a further 3s. 6d. a week is drawn by her as long as she lives there. In the case of unmarried soldiers the goverment grant "seperation allowances" to their dependants, proveided such soldiers also contribute to their support.

There is more on pay in the field and local coinage in the book. If you want that information i'll add it at a later date.

[John_Hartley]

My grandfather's pay book suggests he was paid 5 francs a week in 1916 (as a private), presumably that equated to 1 shilling a day.

John

[CROONAERT]

I don't know if it's of any interest, but here are the pay scales for the Canadian Army of 1918:

Dave.

[Kate Wills]

"We are but little Coldstreams meek

We only get five francs a week

The more we do the more we may

It makes no difference to our pay

Then to the trenches we do go

And carry sandbags to an d fro

Bully and biscuits is the bill of fare

For there is no Hotel Cecil there..."

Pte JJ Jackson, 3rd Coldstream Guards, wounded Lesbouefs 22 Sept 16,

written in Haigh Lawn Hospital, Cheshire Dec 16

[MartinWills]

I seem to recall that miners recruited into tunnelling companies as "clay kickers" received some phenomenal rate of pay (was it 6/- per day). Apparently there was a rush of applicants pretending to have been miners.

I believe there was a premium for those who passed a test as skilled marksmen with their firearm.

Another way to increase your pay was to take a trade test and go into the ASC with a mechanics skill. I guess that skilled mechanics in the RFC were also paid a premium.

What other ways were thre to obtain a premium?

[Muerrisch]

See my article "Bounden Duty and Service" in the most recent "Stand To", number 68, because this provides the answers to most questions on pay and allowances and is an attempt to answer every question I asked myself.

Specific detailed questions I can answer from my reference books and Orders/ Instructions, the official ones, not secondary sources. Just try me out, it's free.

One thing to throw in here: for modern equivalent, call £1 then about £40 now, but also consider that a labourer earned less than £1 a week, especially if in receipt of some benefits in kind. The soldiers' one third to one half of that figure was more-or-less all found.

If not a member of WFA, you really should consider it.

[Guest Pete Wood]

The thing that strikes me, looking at the rates of pay of a soldier from the UK and that of Canada, is that the Canadian OR's were on a good deal - earning around half of that earned by a Warrant Officer - or that the senior ranks weren't as well off as the UK guys....

LB, I am always impressed with your detailed research. But I am confused about your £1 in WW1 being worth £40 in today's money.

I had presumed that £1 would be worth more like £80 or £100. But how do you work out an equivalent wage - by comparing a basket of groceries, cost of a car, house etc??

[Joe Sweeney]

John,

The exchange rate was set by Army order for pay drawn locally. It was governed by AO 301/1915 and then revised by AO 177/1917. 177/1917 set the rate as 5 francs = 3s8d.

When drawing pay in France for ORs the amount drawn was less than the actual pay authorized. It could be looked at more as an allowance from his pay. The real purpose was to ensure that the soldiers account always had more money in it than was being paid out in francs.

Teapots.

I may be missing your point but the exchange rate per the Field Service Pocket Book 1914 (reprint 1916) lists $1 CDN as being equivelent to 4s 1 1/3d.

A Canadian Pte of Infantry was paid over 4 times that of his British counterpart. A Canadian Warrant Officer was paid at the British rate of 8s 2 2/3d a day where his British counterpart for Serjeant Major, Infantry of the line was paid 5s a day (regimental pay). The Canadian WOI being paid around 1 1/2 times more than his British counterpart. So I'm not sure what you meant by "or that the senior ranks weren't as well off as the UK guys...."

Joe Sweeney

[Guest Pete Wood]

A Canadian Pte of Infantry was paid over 4 times that of his British counterpart.

Joe, I am probably getting things wrong as usual. But if you look at Dave's clipping above, it seems to suggest that a Canadian Warant Officer is only earning around twice that of a Private.

Am I getting mixed up between a cash payment and the remainder - an overseas allowance, so to speak - being paid to dependents...?

[Joe Sweeney]

I think I misinterpreted what you said. I though you were making a Canadian British pay comparison. I see now you were just making a comparison with-in the table.

Joe Sweeney

[David Seymour]

EVERYBODY, thank you very much for your swift and fascinating replies. I wonder how much British soldiers knew about the pay gulf between themselves and the Canadians. Settling on a comparative value for currency in different ages is always difficult but it is interesting to hear some suggestions for this period.

DAVID, thank you for reminding me of your article in Stand To. I must pay more attention in future!

David

[Muerrisch]

LB, I am always impressed with your detailed research. But I am confused about your £1 in WW1 being worth £40 in today's money.

I had presumed that £1 would be worth more like £80 or £100. But how do you work out an equivalent wage - by comparing a basket of groceries, cost of a car, house etc??

Try:http://www.eh.net/ehresources/howmuch/poundq.php.

I agree that x40 does not seem enough, but several sites agree with each other, more or less. Fact is, many things were very cheap in 1914.

As an observation by a Pommie, when I was in Oz for a month I was very impressed by just about everything, and one thing I did notice was that it was a comparatively low wage AND low cost economy.

As to how the boffins work these things out ..........?

[Alan Lines]

Canadian soldiers were docked 50c a day whilst in hospital being treated for VD!

[zooloo]

Any ideas or suggestions on The Indian Army pay-rates please?

Cheers

Peter

[Borden Battery]

There is a comment from the Desmond Morton book "When Your Number's Up - The Canadian Soldier in the First World War" on pages 87-88 regarding the pay rates of Canadian volunteer soldiers.

I have paraphrased as follows: owing to heavy drinking, venereal disease and resentment from British troops, in early 1916 the Canadian government ordered paymasters to hold back half the pay of the men in the ranks.

I believe this money was either directed to one's parents or used to provide some of the separation support for wives and families left in Canada.

[carninyj]

Though it is somewhat belated (and I think I may have posted it before), have a look at an actual page from a paybook. It agrees with much of what you have been told about a private soldier's pay in WW1.

Regards

Carninyj

[carninyj]

and again ...

Carninyj

[Muerrisch]

and under no circumstances could service pay and proficiency pay be paid to the same soldier. Service pay was well on the way out by 1914.