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GOOD CONDUCT PAY

The following information is quoted from Grierson (1899):^[1]

"For good conduct, which means, that the soldier has never been punished, he receives further extra pay (Good Conduct Pay). The daily rate amounts to 1d. The recipient wears a badge in the shape of a ^, pointing upwards, on the lower sleeve of the left arm. The first of these badges is awarded after 2, the second after 6, and the third up to the sixth respectively after 12, 18, 23, and 28 years of service. Every badge brings an extra penny a day. In case of punishment the soldier forfeits this extra pay or a part of it, but can recover it by good conduct. These extra payments and badges are only awarded to men from the corporal downward."

Over the years during the Victorian period there were several sets of rules governing the award of Good Conduct badges as shown below:^[2]

• The 1836 and 1854 rules awarded badges at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years of service.

• The 1860 rules awarded badges at 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, 28, 33, and 38 years of service.

• The 1870 rules awarded badges at 2, 6, 12, 18, 23, and 28 years of service.

• The 1876 rules awarded badges at 2, 5, 12, 16, 18, 21, and 26 years of service.

• The 1885 rules awarded badges at 2, 6, 12, 18, 23, and 28 years of service.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] GRIERSON, J.M. Scarlet Into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War. Greenhill Books, London, 1988, p. 227.

[2] LARIMORE, F., Rules for Awarding Good Conduct Badges., Philadelphia, 2003.