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
Michael Biddulph (British Army officer) Anglo-Afghan War. He was given command of the Rawalpindi district in India in 1880 and made President of the Ordnance Committee in 1887 until his retirement in 1890. In retirement he served as Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod 1896–1904 and was an Extra Groom in Waiting to King Edward VII 1901–1904. He also took to watercolor painting: Biddulph is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. In 1857 he married Katharine Stamati. Michael Biddulph (British Army officer) General Sir Michael Anthony Shrapnel Biddulph (30 July 1823 – 23 July 1904) was a British Army officer who became Black Rod. Educated at