Their Rates of Pay

From Nswcorps

Leaving for a later page the vexed question of the form in which members of the NSW Corps received their pay in a cashless society, their notional rates of pay when they were first raised are detailed in a letter dated 10th June 1789 from the Secretary at War to the Paymaster-General, but these rates (and those for all service personnel in the army and navy) were increased considerably as from 25th May 1797, triggered no doubt by the naval mutiny which had begun at Spithead and the Nore the previous month, coupled with the general difficulty of getting the extra number of volunteers required for wartime conditions to enlist.

The following gross daily rates were appropriate for a full strength Company of say 78 men in the NSW Corps:

                                 1789                     1797
 1 Captain			7s.6d	                  9s.5d                    
 1 Lieutenant		        3s.6d                     5s.8d                     
 1 Ensign			3s.0d			  4s.8d
 3 Sergeants     @ 1s.0d        3s.0d	    @ 1s.6¾       4s.8¼ 
 3 Corporals     @    8d	2s.0d	    @ 1s.2¼       3s.6¾ 
 2 Drummers      @    8d	1s.4d	    @ 1s.1¾       2s.3½ 
67 Privates      @    6d     £1.13s6d	    @ 1s.0d    £3.7s.0d
78	     		     £2.13s10d		       £4.17s3½ 

For a 30-day month the respective rates would be:

                            £80.15s 0d                £145.18s9d 
or, on an annual basis:    £982. 9s 2d               £1775.11s6d,

but except in the years 1808 and 1809 (when, exceptionally, there were about 100 men in each) it was quite rare to have Companies at full strength, and it should also be borne in mind that perhaps half the officers elected to receive their pay in London rather than New South Wales.

Bearing these factors in mind, it would be more reasonable to adopt for the annual pay required in New South Wales approximately £800 per Company for the years up to 1797 and £1500 thereafter, other than 1808 and 1809, when £2000 or more would be appropriate.

(These figures give some idea of the regimental funds at the disposal of the Paymaster and/or the Company Captains, and to reflect modern values it would not come amiss to apply a factor of at least 100 to the quoted figures.)

Deductions from Pay

In the army as a whole fairly substantial deductions from these gross rates were made for food and other necessaries, such that the 'other ranks' often had little left that they could call their own, but as stated earlier, the men in the NSW Corps, exceptionally, were originally placed in the fortunate position that as a condition of their enlisting, (they have) been promised the usual rations, except spirits, without any deduction from their pay. [HRA 1.1.331 + HRNSW 2.6 and 17], and this was the situation for a good number of years.

The Pay Sheets available in London commence on 25th June 1798 and it appears that at that time the 'other ranks' were still receiving their full gross entitlement of pay without deduction. However, a daily 3½ pence was deducted from their pay for provisions as from 25th November 1799, and one might surmise that this was to give effect to a warrant from H.M. King George III dated 6th February 1799:

And it is our will and pleasure that there shall be taken a deduction of 3½d a day from the full pay of each (ranker), when stationed in Jamaica, in New South Wales, ... etc.

News of this might well have reached the colony on the Walker, which arrived from London on 3rd November with Lt. Col. Paterson and Capt Abbott on board, both returning from extended home leave. This deduction meant that, for example, the daily amount payable for a private was reduced from one shilling (12d) to 8½d and the total monthly pay for the 'rankers' in a Company from say £100 to £70.

For reasons unknown, this deduction lasted only for just over a couple of months and the full gross rates of pay were resumed on 1st February 1800. (A new and recently arrived Paymaster - Cox - had taken over on 25th January, but it is doubted whether he would have instigated the resumption of full gross rates of pay.) Capt. P.G.King, the prospective new Governor, arrived later on 15th April per the Speedy, and one might assume that he also was aware of the royal warrant for the 3½d deduction. He took up his new apointment when Governor Hunter sailed for home on 28th September 1800, and in a dispatch the same day to the Duke of Portland King makes the observation that the NSW Corps were still receiving their full pay without deduction for their rations.

This situation continued until Christmas Day (of all days in the year!) of 1802, when, possibly as the result of some almost incomprehensible correspondence and enclosures exchanged between the War Office and Secretary Sullivan on 14th June 1802, (HRNSW 4. 788), the 3½d deduction was resumed for the bulk of the men whose rations were issued by the Commissariat/Quartermaster. (E.g. those troops recently sent to occupy Tasmania [Van Diemen's Land] and Newcastle received their full quota of pay, presumably because they were not supplied with rations from the Commissariat.) The deductions continued for nearly three years until 24th September 1805 when, again for reasons unknown, the Paysheets appear to show that, for example, the privates were paid their full one shilling a day.