needed the patronage of superiors from the social elite. Rankers rarely reached beyond subaltern ranks. The majority of the officers were competent professionals with long time in service, without private means, living on their pay. The lifestyle required of an officer with the King's commission meant, however, that the living costs often exceeded the income, with permanent money problems and indebtedness as a result. Commissions in the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers required passing out from Woolwich. The time of study at the Academy was not precisely established, but after 18–24 months of study the officer cadet took his final exam, and if he passed, and there was a vacant post, he would be commissioned in the most junior rank. Officers with the best grades at Woolwich became engineers, the rest gunners. The "Ordnance corps" did not have a purchase system, and promotion was by strict seniority. Advancement was therefore very slow, and as there were no pensions, or commissions to sell, gunners and engineers remained in the service for a very long time, even as superannuated and unfit for combat. This in its turn affected the prospects of the junior officers negatively. References Citations Cited literature Bruce, Anthony (1980). The Purchase System in the British Army, 1660–1871. London. Brumwell, Stephen (2002). Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas 1755–1763. New York. Clayton, Anthony (2007). The British Officer: Leading the Army from 1660 to the Present. Harlow. Colquhoun, Patrick (1814). A Treatise on the Wealth. Power. and Resources of the British Empire. London. Frey, Sylvia R. (1981). The British Soldier in America: A Social History of Military Life in the Revolutionary Period. Austin. Glover, Michael (1977). Wellington's Army in the Peninsula 1808–1814. New York. Guy, Alan J. (1985). Oeconomy and Discipline: Officership and Administration in the British Army 1714–1763. Manchester University Press. Guy, Alan J. (1994). "The Army of the Georges 1714–1783". David G. Chandler & Ian Becket (eds.). The Oxford History of the British Army. Oxford University Press. Guy, Alan J. (1996). "The Irish military establishment 1660–1776". A Military History of Ireland. Thomas Bartlett & Keith Jeffery (eds.). Cambridge University Press. Holm, Richard (2002). Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket. Harper Perennial. Houlding, J.A. (1981). Fit for Service: The Training of the British Army. 1715–1795. Oxford. Oman, C.W.C. (1968). Wellington's Army 1809–1814. Francis Edwards. Reid, Stuart (1996). British Redcoat 1740–93. London.