Recruitment in the British Army from families with a military tradition. (This contrasted with the Navy, whose officers were more often from a middle-class background.) The second son of King George III, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, did much to improve the standard of officer recruitment from his position as Commander in Chief of the Army (from 1795 to 1809, then from 1811 to 1827). The sale of commissions, finally abolished in the Cardwell reforms in 1868–1874, and the further Childers Reforms. In spite of its abolition, the status of an officer being from a privileged background and that of another rank being
John McNeill (British Army officer) "the Battle of McNeill's Zeriba". [Note: in 19th century records, McNeill name is sometimes spelled M'Neill.] McNeill later achieved the rank of major general, and in retirement became an equerry to Queen Victoria. John McNeill (British Army officer) Major General Sir John Carstairs McNeill, (28 March 1831 – 25 May 1904) was a senior British Army officer and Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the son of Anne Elizabeth McNeill née Carstairs, and Alexander McNeill (1791–1850), brother of