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
Hellenic Army officer rank insignia Hellenic Army officer rank insignia This article describes the military rank insignia used by the Hellenic Army. The current insignia date back to the late 1930s, when British-style insignia were adopted. Since then, they have undergone minor changes to reflect the changes of regime, from the monarchy to the military regime and, since 1974, the current Republic. The insignia currently in use are: This system was based on the Russian imperial insignia, just as was the case in many other Balkan states in the late 1800s, with a slight adaptation. It was replaced with a British-style system (which is currently