King's shilling

A recruit was still entitled to return the shilling until becoming subject to military law upon formal attestation before a Justice of the Peace. At this point, a more substantial bounty was paid to the new recruit, which fluctuated from two guineas to a high of £23/17/6d in 1812.{{cite web|url=http://www.royalscotsgrenadiers.com/kingsshilling.html|title=To take the King's shilling|date=2004-01-20|publisher=Upper Canada Military Re-enactment Society|archive-date=2014-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513011527/http://www.royalscotsgrenadiers.com/kingsshilling.html|url-status=live}}{{cite book|last=Coss|first=Edward|title=All for the king's shilling the British soldier under Wellington, 1808-1814|date=2010|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=9780806185453|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/ap:0:0:APPLICATION_PROCESS=DOWNLOAD_ETD_SUB_DOC_ACCNUM:::F1501_ID:osu1117204657,inline|format=PDF|pages=113–114}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} However, this payment generally was quickly lost to various duties and dues, such as uniform. The monetary amount of this bounty, which might be equivalent to half a year's wages for the average unskilled worker, was enough to persuade most potential recruits to join.{{cite web|url=http://www.warof1812.ca/recruit.htm|title=Taking the King's Shilling: Recruitment for the British Army, 1812|publisher=The Discriminating General|author=Robert Henderson|date=2001|archive-date=2014-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512215203/http://www.warof1812.ca/recruit.htm|access-date=2014-05-13|url-status=live}} Those who hesitated were often won over by making them intoxicated with strong drink. The bounty was lucrative enough for some to repeatedly desert, then re-enlist. One man was hanged in 1787 for 47 repeat offences.

The pay for a private in the English Army was originally one shilling a day.{{cite book |author=Francis Grose|title=Military antiquities respecting a history of the English Army, from the conquest to the present time.| publisher = Bavarian State Library| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=8zhTAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA413| year = 1786| page = 413|oclc=21135023|author-link=Francis Grose}} A soldier was expected to pay for food and clothing out of their wages after using the initial sign-up bounty to purchase their initial equipment. It was not until 1847 that a limit was placed on deductions, ensuring that each soldier was paid at least one penny (a twelfth of a shilling) a day, after deductions.

Novel incentives were sometimes used to persuade soldiers to enlist in the army. Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon, was known to tour Scotland with a shilling in her lips for anyone wishing to join up to take.{{cite hansard |house=House of Commons of the United Kingdom |date=October 15, 1991 |chapter=Orders of the Day – Defence |url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debate/?id=1991-10-15a.209.0|speaker=Nicholas Fairbairn}}

The 1914 song "I'll Make a Man of You" posits a "new recruiting scheme" in which the female singer states: "On Saturday I'm willing, if you'll only take the shilling, to make a man of any one of you.""I'll Make a Man of You (Recruiting Song)," words by Arthur Wimperis; music by Herman Finck. Francis, Day and Hunter, 1914.

Press gangs had the power to compel British seamen into the Royal Navy. A man forced unwillingly into the Navy in this way was given the King's shilling, but was often offered a chance to volunteer: a volunteer would be eligible for an advance of two months' wages and would be treated more favourably than their pressed counterparts.{{cite book|last=Rottman|first=Gordon L.|title=FUBAR : soldier slang of World War II|date=2007|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Botley, Oxford, U.K.|isbn=978-1846031755|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPx1hL-vZZsC&pg=PA192}} Clothes and equipment, such as a hammock, had to be bought from the ship's purser out of the advance. Volunteers were also protected from creditors, up to the value of £20.{{cite web |title=Impressment |url=http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheet_impressment.htm |publisher=Royal Naval Museum |access-date=14 May 2014 |archive-date=10 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110181128/http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheet_impressment.htm |url-status=live }}

There are recurring tales of sailors being pressed after a shilling was slipped into their drink, leading to glass-bottomed tankards. However, this is likely to be a myth, for the Navy could press by force, rendering deception unnecessary.

Joining the British Army is still unofficially described as "taking the King's shilling".{{cite news |last=Gee |first=David |title=Selling the Queen's shilling |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/07/sellingthequeensshilling |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2007-01-07 |access-date=2014-05-13 |archive-date=2014-05-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513231207/http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/queen-s-shilling |url-status=live }}{{cite news|last=Taylor|first=Matthew|title=Racist slur or army banter? What the soldiers say|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jan/13/military-prince-harry-race-issues|access-date=14 May 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=13 January 2009|author2=Audrey Gillan|quote=When I took the oath of allegiance the man said to me, here's the king's shilling for a cup of tea and a chapati|author2-link=Audrey Gillan}} This includes non-British and Commonwealth soldiers who join the British Army.{{cite web|author=Nick Squares |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/4190698/Fighting-Fijians-flock-to-take-the-Queens-shilling.html |title=Fighting Fijians flock to take the Queen's shilling |publisher=The Telegraph |date=2003-11-13 |access-date=2014-05-18}} At least one airman was given the King's shilling upon attestation into the Royal Air Force in 1948. The phrase has been used{{cite web|title=The King's shilling|url=http://llbblogging.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/kings-shilling.html|access-date=19 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519135711/http://llbblogging.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/kings-shilling.html|archive-date=19 May 2014|date=24 February 2011}}{{Unreliable source?|failed=y|date=May 2014}} to refer to other modern practices, for instance to a member of the British House of Commons accepting an office of profit under the Crown, such as the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, in order to vacate their seats, as resigning is not permitted.{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/p11.pdf |title=The Chiltern Hundreds |date=August 2010 |work=Factsheet P11 Procedure Series |publisher=House of Commons Information Office |access-date=14 January 2011}} It has also been used to describe pay and expenses of Members of Parliament.{{cite web|author=Michael White|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2008/aug/08/michaelwhitespoliticalblog219|title=Removing the oath of allegiance to the Queen would just be window dressing |work=The Guardian |date=2008-08-08 |access-date=2014-05-19|author-link=Michael White (journalist)}}

It has been used metaphorically for other activities paid for by the British Government. Employees of post offices that were bailed out have been referred to as taking the shilling,{{cite hansard|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm110112/debtext/110112-0001.htm#11011258002774|column=298|speaker=Michael Connarty|date=January 12, 2011|house=House of Commons}} as have Conservative MPs accused of lobbying,{{cite hansard|house=House of Commons|url=https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1992-07-06a.119.0&s=%22king%27s+shilling%22#g125.5|speaker=Barry Sheerman|date=July 6, 1992}} unionist militia in Northern Ireland,{{cite hansard|jurisdiction = Republic of Ireland|url = http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1934020700033?opendocument|house = Dáil Éireann|date = 7 February 1934}} and judges upon taking office.{{Cite journal|url = http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/amlr42&div=67&id=&page=|title = Book Reviews|last = Atlay|first = J.B.|date = 1908|journal = American Law Review|volume = 42|page = 935}}

The term was mentioned in D. H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers.{{cite book|last=Lawrence|first=D.H.|title=Sons and Lovers|date=1913|publisher=Duckworth|location=London|author-link=D. H. Lawrence|chapter=8|quote=I have taken the King's shilling, but perhaps if you came for me they would let me go back with you.|lccn=50048147|title-link=s:Sons and Lovers}}

The term was also mentioned in the BBC drama Our Girl.

The phrase is used in the 1968 song "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" by the British band The Zombies, which is written from the perspective of a butcher serving on the front lines in the First World War.{{Cite web |date=1990-02-11 |title=Giving a Fresh Spin to History's Lessons : Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire' is popular--and perhaps it will lead listeners to rediscover some far more worthy songs |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-02-11-ca-1134-story.html |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

The term is used in the BBC television series Peaky Blinders (Episode 3.6) by the character Thomas Shelby. Addressing subordinates he says, "When you take the King's shilling, the King expects you to kill", in reference to killings that he had ordered.

The term is used in the ITV television series Sharpe, which takes place in the 1800s during the Napoleonic Wars.

{{Reflist}}

{{Wiktionary|King's shilling|take the shilling}}

Category:18th-century establishments in Great Britain

Category:1879 disestablishments in the United Kingdom

Category:19th-century military history of the United Kingdom

Category:British slang

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Category:Military history of Great Britain

Category:Military pay and benefits

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