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
Recruitment in the British Army of the Empire policed from the sky at a relatively cheaper cost. The defence budget for the army was repeatedly cut yearly, as in 1923 the army defence budget was 43.5 million pounds sterling, and during the Great Depression in 1932 to just under 36 million pounds sterling. Only with the rise of Germany, would the budget for the British army again increase, by 1938 to 123 million pounds sterling; the army again started a rapid recruitment program. "Further information:" "Conscription in the United Kingdom during Second World War" The pre-war army was an all-volunteer army and recruits were allotted