British Army Rates of Pay in WW2

[Ron Goldstein]

I am by nature a diarist and when asked a sticky question about WW2 can usually refer back to notes I have previously written and provide an answer.

Usually, but not in this case

Has anyone come across a link to a definitive list of Army Pay in WW2 ?

Wartime friends have given me some clues (the consensus of opinion is about two shillings a day) but I'd like to see it in print somewhere.

Answers to this thread please.

Many thanks

Ron

[Capt.Sensible]

I've got rates of pay for cooks etc from a 1945 manual of military catering: would this be of interest to anyone?

H

[von Poop]

Nice question, and I see the problem now as it doesn't appear to be a well-covered field at all. Lots of grumbling about others being on a higher scale but very hard to find decent info outside of the anecdotal. Been an interesting hour reading about pay corps of the world though . I thought George Forty's usually excellent British Army handbook might help but sadly not. Still, reasonably sure someone here will already have the definitive info.

Best I've seen yet is this sheet, for 1925+, somewhat marred by overenthusiastic copyright marking, which is presented as relevant to ww2, they seem high but presumably the figures are before deductions:
WW2_Pay_Rates.
& this for the Yanks:
GI Intelligence Dept - Pay.


One chaps memory of US Privates pay:
WORLD WAR 2 PAY.
A snippet from Peoples war:
BBC - WW2 People's War - Infantry rates of pay
A WAAF Clerk on 2s/2d a day:
WWII Stories

Cheers,
Adam.

[spidge]

Thought I would throw in the Australian rates of pay which seem to be on par with the British.

Pay rates for the 2nd AIF
1939 - 1945

On 20th October 1939, the Government of Australia announced new rates of pay for the members of the 2nd AIF.

The new rates were:
2nd A.I.F. Privates	Privates: 5/- a day (unchanged) deferred pay 2/-(up from 1/-) 3/- extra if married Allowance for dependent children unchanged, remaining at 1/- a day per child
Militia	8/- a day for 3 months camp (up 3/-) Married men 8/- a day plus 1/- a day for each child under 16
Compulsory trainees	Privates: 5/- a day

[Kyt]

RAF 1940 pay rates (this changed over the course of the war):

Recruits selected as suitable for air crews are first mustered as Aircraftmen 2nd Class with pay at the rate of 2s. a day during training. Pilots are then remustered and reclassified as Leading Aircraftmen and paid at the rate of 5s. a day plus flying instructional pay at the rate of 2s. a day.

Air observers under training are also remustered as L.A/C. and paid 5s. a day plus flying instructional pay at the rate of is. 6d. during training. Other members of air crews remain A.C.2S during training with pay remaining
at 2s. a day.

When their training is complete airmen are remustered and reclassified or' promoted according to the percentage of marks they obtain on passing out of training. An airman pilot becomes a sergeant with pay at the rate of 12s. 6d. a day. An observer may be either a sergeant or an acting sergeant. If the latter, he receives pay at the rate of 9s. a day.

A wireless operator may be classified on completing training as a L.A/C, an A.C.i or an A.C.2 with pay at the rate of 5s., 4s. 3d. or 3s. 6d. a day respectively, plus air crew pay and air gunner pay of is. 6d. a day.

An air gunner is classified in the same way but receives pay of 4s., 3s. 6d. or 2s. a day, plus the air crew and air gunner pay of is. 6d. a day. In all instances pay is for a seven-day week. A certain number of airman pilots and observers are selected for commissions on the results they obtain in the examination at the conclusion of their training. The wives of married airmen are paid a family
allowance varying from 17s. to 23s. 6d. a week according to rank with
additional allowances for children.

At the same time airmen receive free accommodation, food and clothing (or money allowances instead) and medical attendance.

http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPD...20-%201395.pdf

[Ron Goldstein]

Thanks everyone for your most interesting input.

Because I'm strictly a "belt & braces" man I posed the same question on Peter G's WW2 Blog:
WW2 - The Second World War
and you might be interested to see the thread that developed.

[51highland]

Always remember Dad saying he was paid 14 bob (14 shillings, about 70 pence today) a week when he joined up. though he seldom received the full amount, as there always seemed to be deductions for barrack room damages. The damages usually visible when they entered and, no doubt, the same deductions were made to the previous tenants. By the time he was a Sergeant he said he then received an extra 3d (1.5 pence) a day. Of course he also got bed and board. Unfortunately I cannot substantiate those figures. Was part of the pay paid into a savings account? as I remember he had a account with £84. 10 shillings when demobbed.

[Ron Goldstein]

Thanks for that 51H

One item that always used to rankle with me , and I'm sure with others, was having to buy our own Blanco from the NAAFI despite the Army's own insistence that all our webbing equipment had to be painted with the stuff.
During our Div's brief stay in Egypt it was nice to have this changed to having the webbing blancoed white and we soon realised we could get the same effect by washing the webbing, coating in sand and leaving it to dry in the sun.

[Capt.Sensible]

Right, this one is for the specialists out there. I have a copy of the Manual of Army Catering Part 1 - General, dated 26th July 1945. It appears to have a document ref. number of 22377. Section 7, page 16 observes that Non-tradesman cooks (regimental personnel) receive additional pay up to 6d per day, and that Unqualified cooks recieve up to 3d per day additional. Unhelpfully, it does not indicate what the normal rates of pay were, although I imagine that is a bit of a minefield anyway. Absolutley fascinating little book, with all sorts of stuff on nutrition, mess administration, 'Prevention of Waste', and the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of serving food. Bullets and POL are all very necessary, I know, but this is the sort of stuff that is absolutely critical to morale and good health of all troops. OK, I'll step away from the soapbox now...

[von Poop]

Originally Posted by Capt.Sensible

Right, this one is for the specialists out there. I have a copy of the Manual of Army Catering Part 1 - General, dated 26th July 1945. It appears to have a document ref. number of 22377. Section 7, page 16 observes that Non-tradesman cooks (regimental personnel) receive additional pay up to 6d per day, and that Unqualified cooks recieve up to 3d per day additional. Unhelpfully, it does not indicate what the normal rates of pay were, although I imagine that is a bit of a minefield anyway. Absolutley fascinating little book, with all sorts of stuff on nutrition, mess administration, 'Prevention of Waste', and the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of serving food. Bullets and POL are all very necessary, I know, but this is the sort of stuff that is absolutely critical to morale and good health of all troops. OK, I'll step away from the soapbox now...

And back to the field kitchen?
Maybe one day ....