On Becoming an Officer and a Gentleman
by Maria Grace In the Regency era, social status was closely related to career and wealth. An Army or Navy officer was considered a gentleman. Thus a man could gain an element of “respectability” by purchasing a commission that they might not hold by virtue of their birth or fortune. Moreover, an officer’s status was considered higher than that of other accepted gentlemanly professions: the church, the law and medicine. Why were commissions purchased? Though our modern sensibilities tend to be uncomfortable with the concept of buying a commission, in the Regency era, the belief was that paying for the rank meant that only men of fortune, character, and who had a real interest in the fate of the nation would be drawn to the military, thus reducing the number of unworthies serving in the officer’s ranks. Furthermore, since officers ‘owned’ their commission, they would be more responsible with their ‘property’ than someone with nothing to lose. P rivate ownership of rank also implied of...