Author Topic: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations  (Read 4872 times)

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Offline Gurkha

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Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« on: May 08, 2013, 05:58:23 pm »
Hi, I was wondering what are the correct abbreviations for the following British ranks Kingsman and Recruit during the Napoleonic era. I see some regiments use Kgn/Kgm for kingsman and Rec/Rct for Recruit. If anyone out there could tell me that would be awesome.  :)
« Last Edit: May 08, 2013, 06:25:26 pm by Gurkha »

Offline Eazy-E

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2013, 06:24:17 pm »
I too want to know this :D

Offline Gurkha

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2013, 06:26:22 pm »
I too want to know this :D

Aye... a head scratcher isn't it?   ???

Offline Eazy-E

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2013, 06:27:26 pm »
More about the Kgm issue, since I think Rec looks ugly regardless of historical accuracy

Offline Mr T

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2013, 08:00:29 pm »
Well I've never heard of Kingsman ever being a real rank, as for Recruit either Rec or Rct is fine, there is no official abbreviation for those.


Offline zac

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2013, 01:18:20 am »
Kingsman wasnt a rank in the Napoleonic era

Offline Duuring

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2013, 11:10:51 am »
And nor was Rec. And cadet was a term for officers in training.

Offline zac

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2013, 11:32:25 am »
^

Offline joer5835

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2013, 01:09:42 pm »
Kingsman was a rank, but not a very common one. I think it was mostly honourary.
Polan is of dangerous to FSE
Im from Poland , a land of lawlessness

Offline Menelaos

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2013, 01:42:45 pm »
But how many of you have actually looked at a muster roll? It's basically everyone without a sword is a grunt and needs no denomination.

Offline TheBoberton

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2013, 10:29:30 am »
As far as I'm aware, there wasn't an official rank for the average man in the British army at this point. They could be anything from 'Private', to 'Kingsman', to 'You there, with the musket and the funny hat'. They were, as Menelaos said, just grunts there to kill and die.

That said, I dunno if there's a way to 'properly' abbreviate the rank. Nor is there one with Recruit, as the rank doesn't exist in any army.

Offline Docm30

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2013, 11:31:56 am »
Private was at least a rank on the payrolls. Official documents are filled with references to "private men" or occasionally just "privates", so it's a fairly safe assumption that that was the correct way to refer to the lowest ranking men.

I've seen a lot of period documents and have never once come across the word 'kingsman'.

Offline joer5835

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2013, 01:13:55 pm »
If there is no such rank as Kingsman, then who the hell came up with it?
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Im from Poland , a land of lawlessness

Offline Mr T

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2013, 04:53:38 pm »
Some guy


Offline James Grant

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Re: Question about Napoleonic British rank abbreviations
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2013, 05:07:55 pm »
Historically all recruits were instantly a private man.
But if you joined a Guards regiment you were a Guardsman, if you joined a fusilier regiment you were a fusilier.

The only regiment which might have used Kingsman officially, though I doubt any used it in practice, is perhaps the 4th Kings Own but even that I'm doubtful. It is used today by the Duke of Lancaster's regiment and is equivalent like all others to private.

NW regiments just have recruit,private,regular,fusilier,guardsmen and all those others because it helps to create a chain of command.

Historically a British company at it's full strength of 100 men, though often the real figure was much less. Would have something like 3 officers,2 sergeants,4 corporals and the rest privates. I don't know the musician complement though.