Platoon sergeant major

{{Short description|Former military rank in the British Army}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Platoon sergeant major (PSM)Note that in the British Army, the plural was "platoon sergeant majors" and not "platoon sergeants major". {{London Gazette |issue=48587 |date=16 April 1981 |page=5671 |supp=y }} {{London Gazette |issue=25044 |date=2 December 1881 |page=6467 }} The earliest usage of "sergeant majors" in The Times is in 1822. The last of the (very occasional) usages of "sergeants major", except when referring to American NCOs, is in 1938. was an appointment in the British Army in the short-lived rank of warrant officer class III (WOIII), created in 1938p. 272 Banham, Tony The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru: Britain's Forgotten Wartime Tragedy Hong Kong University Press, 2006 by Army Council Instruction 398.

The platoon sergeant major, and his cavalry counterpart, the troop sergeant major, were part of a project giving experienced non-commissioned officers command of units (platoons and troops) formerly reserved for commissioned officers. With the outbreak of World War II, National Service supplied the Army with enough young men suitable for commissioning, so the rank was placed in suspension in 1940 and no new appointments were made. Most existing WOIIIs were commissioned as lieutenants.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}}

The WOIII wore a crown on his lower sleeve; WOIIs switched to a crown in a wreath during this period.