British Army other ranks rank insignia

They, as well as their counterparts in cavalry and artillery, were also permitted sashes of crimson wool, with a single stripe of facing colour following the clothing regulations of 1727.

[3] Sergeants of highland regiments wore their sashes over the left shoulder and tied at the right hip in the same manner as the officers.

The Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps also had an additional rank of second corporal, who wore one chevron.

Both of these ranks, their squadron, and battery equivalents, and staff-sergeants in other arms, wore three chevrons and a crown, although, in 1915 company, battery, squadron, and troop sergeant-majors became warrant officers class II (by Army Order 70) and thereafter wore a single large crown, without any chevrons, on each forearm.

Regimental quartermaster-sergeants wore four chevrons on the lower sleeve, point upwards, with an eight-pointed star above, but adopted the crown when they too became warrant officers class II in 1915.

Regimental sergeant-majors, who before the Boer War had worn four chevrons with a crown, were given in 1902 the badge of a single large crown on the lower arm but adopted a small version of the Royal arms in its place in 1915 when they became warrant officers class I.

Certain senior grades of warrant officer were also peculiar to the specialist branches, which ranked above regimental sergeant-majors.

The grades of lance-sergeant and lance-corporal were not strictly ranks but were appointments, held by selected corporals and privates, and usually carrying extra pay.

The appointment was made by the man's commanding officer and could be taken away by him for disciplinary reasons, unlike full sergeants and corporals who could only be demoted by order of a court-martial.

As most units in the British Army have long traditions (some dating as far back as the 1600s) some variation has developed in the terminology and insignia used for non-commissioned ranks, most notably in the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry.

In common usage, the modern spelling sergeant was already more usual, as in the volumes of the Official History which began to appear in the 1920s.